[Phys-L] Re: student mathematical capabilities

[Brian Whatcott <betwys1@SBCGLOBAL.NET>]

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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