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[Phys-L] Re: student mathematical capabilities



I'm surprised that BW didn't point out that Thatch was minister of ed.
before becoming PM. At that time I heard she attempted to "shut down"
Keele. Perhaps HRH Princess Margaret (Keele's Chancellor) used her
influence.

BW's history is truly amazing. I'll add (from poor memory) Admission
at Keele required 5 O (ordinary?) levels and 3 A levels. I suspect an A
(advanced?) corresponded to AP here.

bc, never attended the annual Royal Ball, tho encouraged by his student
friends. He did often the KRA (Keele research Assoc.) where Joule's
Stone Ale was on tap -- BTW pronounced jowl as in cheek by ~:


"How does one pronounce his name? A discussion in C&ENews (25/10/93)
relates that in the North of England where he lived, Joule is pronounced
to rhyme with jowl, although most of us would probably pronounce is like
jewel or jool. The Joule brewery used to take advantage of this
confusion of pronunciation in its advertising, which went something like
this:

'Do you pronounce it Joule's to rhyme with schools,
Joule's to rhyme with Bowls,
or Joule's to rhyme with Scowls?
Whatever you call it, by Joule's
or Joule's
or Joule's, its GOOD!'

(This takes some working on to pronounce it properly!)"


p.s. I don't think anyone in the UK considers Staffordshire,
Warwickshire (Birmingham now in the County of West Midlands (1974), or
Cheshire the North; it's in the Midlands.



Brian Whatcott wrote:

One might as well "blame" the U.S educational system for the sea-change in
British education.

Once upon a time (clear through the fifties at any rate), there was a
clear cut selection system:
select the best performing children on an IQ test at age eleven,
after six years of primary education. This represented about 10% of
the school child population.
To these fortunates, add those whose parents could afford private schooling.
That was several percent more. Expose these kids to selective high schools
(there called "Grammar Schools", with some preparatory, technical and
vocational
schools thrown in)
Abandon the remainder to "Secondary Modern" schools where they were
warehoused until age 15, at which time, they were released to employment.

Not only the American life style as portrayed in movies but also
some insights into Americans' behavior led the British to suppose that
another 30 or 40% of the population could usefully be exposed to some
higher education, so the war medal for clearing the first educational
hurdle was changed from the "GCE" General Certificate of Education
O for Ordinary level to a somewhat watered down GCSE, S = Secondary.

More extraordinary, the British started a tertiary external avenue named
The Open University - which allowed the great unwashed to work on
college level material while gainfully employed - who lacked any of the
requisite war-medals.
The material was closely examined for intelligibility - and where lab
experience was needed, lab materials were produced on a scale
heretofor unknown. These materials are (or were when I looked them over)
a joy. This was the educational experiment over which Prime Minister
Thatcher presided, or perhaps one could call it, the experiment that
she failed to suppress.

This leavening effect will be shown to have had exactly the desired effect
on that formerly class-riddled society - so that now one sees MIT
and the Ivy Leagues throwing open their course materials too....

Brian W


At 02:09 AM 9/17/2005, BC, you wrote:

"So what?"
///
Has anyone attempted to blame Thatch for the state of teaching in
England?


Jack Uretsky wrote:

///

We have a frequent visitor from Edinburgh who decries the teaching of
elementary mathematics in British secondary schools today. The message is
that Britain is not the place to look for guidance on how to teach.





Brian Whatcott Altus OK Eureka!

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