Valleys Mam there was no golden age in school!

First I agree that this is appalling and needs to be addressed. But before I go on lets get real about how things were in the so called “golden age” when a teacher taught 50 kids without the aid of a paraprofessional and never took breaks, and kids were allowed to be thrashed. Not that it did do me any harm (as I was one of those who never was) . No, I was just one of those who was publicly humiliated for being slow (ADD was not known about then). However let me tell you about my school in the good old days of the 1970s.

First the head teacher (who had survived Colditz) died of a heart attack in his office, then there was the art teacher was put in gaol for being naughty. Our music teacher taught us by showing us kids programs on TV. The RE teacher was often reduced to gibbering and in the end and in fact ended up breaking the skull of one of my class mates. The math teacher was known as the “happy wanderer” and the geography teacher was often intoxicated. Now that this myth of the good old days has been truly kicked in the subjective cojones lets address the issue.

I will be brutally honest. If teachers cannot take the strain of the class room then they should not be there. Buts lets be even more honest. There are parents who cannot take the stress of being parents and they should not be parents. They do not teach their children the basics (that I know is true because my wife who is a special education teacher told me that they would have to teach them how to use a tooth brush etc). Parents take no interest instead let them go to their rooms to play on their computers, where they exposed to all sorts of dangers, which includes the sexual variety. But the biggest problem is that that there is no communication between kids and parents, no interest in home work or what goes on in school.

The world has changed. Its pointless to look at successful countries like Finland, Japan or even China, until you address the real reason. The break down of community and the family.

My wife taught all over south Wales and all the teachers she worked with were caring and hard working professionals who cared about the kids they taught, and that is the key. She now leaves for work at 630am and never gets back before 630pm. She has not taken day (either personal or sick) in years. Many of her colleagues have not either but some are on anti depressants. There are more rules and regulations than in my day (thank God) so what I put up with does not happen. My wife does not have time for a break during the day, she cannot speak for others.

I think the answer is to repair the family, and provide the proper training for teachers that is needed, and smaller schools.

But let me hand over to someone who has some ideas. Robert Reich.

Sorry Valleys mam, there was no golden age in school!

First I agree that this is appalling and needs to be addressed. But before I go on lets get real about how things were in the so called “golden age” when a teacher taught 50 kids without the aid of a paraprofessional and never took breaks, and kids were allowed to be thrashed. Not that it did do me any harm (as I was one of those who never was) . No, I was just one of those who was publicly humiliated for being slow (ADD was not known about then). However let me tell you about my school in the good old days of the 1970s.

 

First the head teacher (who had survived Colditz) died of a heart attack in his office, then there was the art teacher was put in gaol for being naughty. Our music teacher taught us by showing us kids programs on TV. The RE teacher was often reduced to gibbering and in the end  and in fact ended up breaking the skull of one of my class mates. The math teacher was known as the “happy wanderer” and the geography teacher was often intoxicated. Now that this myth of the  good old days has been truly kicked in the subjective cojones lets address the issue.

 

I will be brutally honest. If teachers cannot take the strain of the class room then they should not be there. Buts lets be even more honest. There are parents who cannot take the stress of being parents and they should not be parents. They  do not teach their children the basics (that I know is true because my wife who is a special education teacher told me that they would have to teach them how to use a tooth brush etc). Parents take no interest instead let them go to their rooms to play on their computers, where they exposed to all sorts of dangers, which includes the sexual variety. But the biggest problem is that that there is no communication between kids and parents, no interest in home work or what goes on in school.

The world has changed. Its pointless to look at successful countries like Finland, Japan or even China, until you address the real reason. The break down of community and the family.

 

My wife taught all over south Wales and all the teachers she worked with were caring and hard working professionals who cared about the kids they taught, and that is the key. She now leaves  for work at 630am and never gets back before 630pm. She has not taken day (either personal or sick) in years. Many of her colleagues have not either but some are on anti depressants. There are more rules and regulations than in my day (thank God) so what I put up with does not happen. My wife does not have time for a break during the day, she cannot speak for others.

 

I think the answer is to repair the family, and provide the proper training for teachers that is needed, and smaller schools.

 

But let me hand over to someone who has some ideas. Robert Reich.

 

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Teachers are stressed in south Wales

This article (Teachers stress, December 27^th) on the curse of stress in teaching makes for depressing reading, however it does not come as a shock to me, as a spouse of an educator who has taught both in south Wales and the US in the last 10 years, I know how it is. She worked for a agency and taught mostly in the Valleys. She was always impressed with the high caliber and hard working nature that she found with all the teachers and paraprofessionals that she worked with. This makes nonsense of the comments made on the online edition of the article. These people are totally ignorant of how hard teaching actually is, and contributes to why education in both Wales and the US is in the mess it is. My wife finished her teaching at Ysgol Ty Coch special school in Tonteg, and it was the great experience and working with a great team of caring professionals that enabled her to be a successful teacher in one of the best elementary schools in Kansas (with a population smaller than Wales). She was nominated in 2007 for “Special Education Teacher of America”. This would not have happened but for her teaching in Ysgol Ty Coch. Teachers cannot be blamed if they are not properly prepared, and teachers cannot be blamed when they are not properly supported. I have read those comments from people who talk about their own experience years ago. I would remind them that this 2011 and not 1911, we are living in a totally different world where parents leave their kids on automatic pilot (in their rooms texting or playing on the computer). Also we were not competing with China, Japan, and Korea, who value both education and teachers more than we do, which is why they are light years ahead of us in test scores. I leave it to Robert Reich on how education can be improved.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smBqQibkCXE

Welsh Liberals at 6 %

The Welsh Labour party must be absoluty besides themselves at the latest poll figures from YouGov putting Liberal support at 6%.

They probably looking forward to running Wales on their own, you wave bipartisanship goodbye.

Good for Wales? I don't think so.

here it is ITV Wales

http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fitvwales.wordpress.com%2F2010%2F12%2F22%2Ffor-whom-the-poll-tolls%2F&h=e7307

Has Vince cable come to his senses?

Vince Cable: I could bring down the Government - Telegraph

Cardiff get the hell outta of Wales says Mr Gall Stone

This letter caught my eye in the Western Mail today. Mr Gall stone was obviously responding to one of those nasty letters describing the Welsh language as dead and useless. And though I certainly do subscribe to such a view. I think that his letter should make English speakers nervous.

I am sure that most Welsh speakers believe that their English speaking Welsh are truly members of the Welsh nation, I know that Mr Gouldstone is not alone in that extreme view.

in fact he should also add most of Pembrokeshire and eastern Powys.

Its stupid assed letters like this that is a gift to the “no’ team.

Re-draw Wales

SIR – Mr C E Lambert of Barry is mistaken when he states that the population of Wales has chosen to join the English speaking world (Letters, Dec 9).

The two counties of Glamorgan and Gwent alone have chosen to join the English only speaking world and the Welsh language thrives in everyday use alongside English in the rest of Wales.

Also, why shouldn’t our native language have equal status in law as the English language? It is not a question of whether one speaks Welsh but more of a question whether there is more to Welsh culture than putting on a red shirt and shouting racial obscenities at sporting events.

All the objections to support of our native language comes from the above two counties who make it clear they have no regard (or possibly knowledge) of our history and perhaps it is time to re-define our borders.

Why not transfer Glamorgan and Gwent to the West of England and move the capital to either Aberystwyth or Caernarfon?

Cardiff is a nice place to live in but it is not a Welsh city and it would transfer easily to England. Wales and the true Welsh would be better served through relocation of the capital to either of the two towns. The benefits to both communities are obvious.

The rest of Wales can enthusiastically support all of our culture without the constant whingeing of the two Wenglish counties and people like Mr Lambert will have no fear of their children being brought up in a bilingual country.

He and his like-minded souls can immerse themselves in the Anglo culture they hold in such high regard, although I doubt whether most of them could tell the difference between Shakespeare and the Simpsons.

I see only one problem. Would the English want such people? I doubt it.

PETER Gallstone

Roath Park, Cardiff

Gordon Brown on American Telly this morning

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

I watched Gordon this morning freezing to death. he's selling a book too!

Teachers (mostly) are responsible for poor education in Wales, says Leighton Andrews!

Teachers (mostly) are responsible for poor education in Wales, says Leighton Andrews!

---

According to the BBC’s Ciaran Jenkins teachers need to take responsibility for the poor state of Welsh education.

Wrong Mr. Andrews you are in charge you are responsible, fess up or resign!

“While he did say the assembly government shared some of the responsibility, the education minister did go on the attack and say that teachers were guilty of complacency in the classroom and schools weren't delivering.

What he didn't really tell us was where the assembly government was going wrong. It's been 10 years since devolution and his government and previous governments have been driving education policy in that time.

He sits around a cabinet table with three previous education ministers. The question people will be asking is where they have gone wrong, and what policies must now be reviewed.

Was the decision to abolish school league tables the correct one?

Could schools benefit from more freedom?

Are the facilities and in some cases the teachers up to the job?

The minister has asked the profession some searching questions.

But with an assembly election in six months, the electorate could well be asking ministers why our schools, by the government's own admission, are failing.”

random thoughts on Welsh education

It does not surprise me (I would suppose being the spouse of a educator and in-law of a senior school administrator). There have always been these little stories that appear on page 3 of the papers about how bad things actually were. And I guess that all we will here from those in charge is excuses. It’s the LEA or the schools or even Westminster, but no word or taking responsibility. "The buck stop here" and getting together and seeing what can be done. No thinking outside the box, when the UK is 5 places behind the US with all its problems with its public school system, you know that something is seriously wrong. What can be done. First I think there should be Welsh version of “No Child Left Behind”, that focus on pupils in deprived areas and their needs, and would facilitate communication between school and parents. Finally I think that politicians should stay out of education. Kids should not be used as footballs by different  political parties. If there’s failure, then there is plenty of blame to go around.

 

Devolution should not stop at Cardiff Bay!

This article by Stuart Weir illustrates the problem over democracy, and the only way that we will have true democracy is to have a constitution which guarantees democracy to the lowest level.

In other words democracy. It bothers me that the main bloggers seemed to leave local government alone.

All I can say is thank God for the Druid, Jaxx, VM, etc. We need more local bloggers looking at their own localities. Blogging Localism. If that makes any sense.

http://www.opendemocracy.net/ourkingdom/stuart-weir/talk-of-localism-is-sham-without-real-constitutional-power-to-local-government

BBC - Soutik Biswas's India: How Churchill 'starved' India

A very interesting story. Appalling truth.

I had always heard that Winston Churchill was a fan of the eugenics movement. An insane form of Darwinism.



BBC - Soutik Biswas's India: How Churchill 'starved' India

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Leighton Andrews Minister of Education and LieLong Learning!

If I was the Assembly Minister of Education I would check my facebook page for mistakes!

This one’s a cracker!

http://www.facebook.com/LeightonAndrews

I think if one of Leighton's staffers is reading this, he/she should make the relevant changes, this is public you know!

Education and Work

Employers	Welsh Assembly GovernmentDecember 2009 to present Welsh Assembly GovernmentDecember 2009 to present Minister for Children, Education and Lielong Learning The people of the RhonddaMay 2003 to present Assembly Member for the Rhondda
College	UCNW Bangor '78 University of Sussex '80

Likes and Interests

Saunders Lewis was not a fascist!

“no question Saunders Lewis is an interesting and important historical welsh figure but i do feel bound to ask what this narrow minded bigot has to offer the modern multi-lingual multi-racial and secular wales that exists at the end of the first decade of the 21st century?”

I must confess that my knowledge of Saunders Lewis (like most Welsh) is very little, mores the pity. However leigh I think we should celebrate Saunders because he did have a vision of Wales (somewhat flawed) of that did exist both in reality and as a ideal. I think it is fair to challenge him over the charge of anti Semiticism. However even that was quite common in between the wars spread across the political spectrum (which included ironically enough Leon Trotsky). It was usually directed against the perceived Jewish plutocracy. As for SL alleged Fascism, people just loved Mussolini, and even Lloyd George said nice things about Hitler (its all on tape). The war and the holocaust put an end to the love affair with Fascism and anti semiticism (except it seems amongst the extremes of right and left).

For SL the Welsh language was the one thing that represented the core of the Welsh identity (something I disagree with vigorously). For him industrialism spelt its doom, which was his dark vision. His polemic was more borne out of frustration over the fate of Wales and its native language, than as plain hated for the English and its nation, that Jon Manchip White (Cardiff born author and Professor in Tennessee) testified to in his book “journeying Boy, A Welsh Childhood” who was his good friend who recalled him proposing a toast to the Queen, hardly an act of a rabid Anglophobe. RS Thomas was certainly a Anglophobe (ironically my favourite poet). He probably had more in common with Thomas Jefferson who’s vision of America was that of small communities and not of large cities which he despised, in other words an Agrarian Republic. SL saw the salvation of Wales and its language surviving in the small communities of the west and north. It is a tribute to him that he did not spend his final years in the west but in Penarth, which must puzzle those who accuse him of his alleged rabid anti English, it could be said he was more pro Cymraeg than the former.

Also as a dedicated Catholic he would have paid heed to Pope Pius XI condemnation of both racism in Mit brennender Sorge . believe as a English speaking Welsh that SL should be celebrated for his vision of Wales and not for the calumny leveled against him. He was a pacifist who served in WWI and saw what war could do, he was wrong about WWII as was many.

Chilean miners out!

I think the whole World must have been with the miners during their own ordeal. How many people could spend 2 months in a small hole, I know I could not.

 

What surprises me that the Welsh blogosphere had not played closer attention to this whole episode, considering the mining traditions we share with these miners. along with the mining tragedies that Wales has had.

Thank God they are out!

Mayors, why we cant be bothered!

You have to ask yourself what happened to the “hot debate” on Cardiff having an elected mayor. Truth is there was no real debate city wide about it. I realize living 3000 miles way how would I know? Its simple it’s Facebook and Twitter, as well as talking to family. My mother (who is a dedicated voter) had not heard about this “hot topic”. The reason why, to paraphrase James Carville “It’s the media stupid”. There is no city wide “conversation” about this, its all in the heads of the bloggers, and the wider media has chosen not to run with it, because it doesn’t sell papers! I read a tweet from Cllr Cerys Furlong that said that public was not interesting in changing Cardiff’s city government based on poll of 101 people on Wales online, hardly a large or scientific sample of opinion, so why would Cllr Furlong dismiss it based not only on a really ridiculous poll, and a lack of a wider debate. You could take it at face value, because she thinks that an elected mayor concentrates power in the hands of one person. Any different from the current cabinet system, and the old committee system was just the same.

However still the people of Cardiff should have a right to debate how their frontline services are run. Jonathan Morgan began this debate, and he seems to be “missing in action” over it. According his blog post Cardiff needed this urgently. Yet even he has lost interest in the project with the speculation that he had only brought it up because he might lose his seat to a very strong Julie Morgan.

Cardiff I believe it would be more like 24000 ( I have seen smaller, however I think that they thought it was based on 5% and not 10% which after discovering that the hard work may have put them off)

I do think it’s a shame that people in wales get more bent out of shape over fields, parks, and having their kids attend Victorian asbestos ridden schools, than looking forward. Its true that in America we vote in small numbers (though I think turn out here is about the same as in the UK now) for every office, however there is not the apathy here that one finds at home, and along with a local newspaper Dodge City that is more widely read than the Echo, and radio and TV stations that at least have nearly 21/2 hours of local news a day, people know what is going on, especially in the schools.

I think that people at home (Wales) are not really apathetic, they are just resigned to fact that politicians really in general look after their selves, and nobody else , and that they will do what they like anyhow.

But maybe there is light at the end of the tunnel

Can Wales compete? Learning from Ethan Allen

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

I have just caught an episode of the Dylan Ratigan show and Dylan was speaking to Farooq Kathwari CEO of Ethan Allen Furniture in the United States. Ethan Allen is an American success story, and proof that American manufacturing can compete with low cost countries like China and India. At the moment Ethan Allen produces most of its furniture (65%) in the US with the goal being 70% in the near future. Ethan Allen has shops in China selling its US made furniture..

Mr Kathwari made a interesting point that Germany cost is very high yet Germany is still on of the World’s largest exporter. Surely that Wales could compete with high quality products, a matter of quality over quantity.

However we need a well trained and well educated work force and the question is? Is the Welsh education system up to the challenge?

Americans conducted tests on Guatemalans. Infecting them with syphilis

A rather disturbing story has just come out of the US. Apparently the americans were conducting tests on Guatemalans by deliberately infected them with Syphilis between 1946-48. The full story can be found here.

Not that sort of thing that would endear Americans to Latin America.

Hugo Chavez must be having a field day!

Related articles by Zemanta

• U.S. to Apologize for Infecting Guatemalans with STDs (livescience.com)

The despicable state of Welsh schools!

This did not come as a surprise to me. I had always had known that Welsh schools were in a poor state of repair, by personal observation over a number of years , observation by my own children who attended Cardiff schools (usually comparing it to the good condition of their US High schools), reports that appeared in the Echo and Western Mail that were usually forgotten. And a former assistant director of education I knew in Cardiff who told me that Cardiff and South Glamorgan County Council had neglected repairs on schools for over 20 years (and that was in 2004). So I was not surprised when I had read this report from the BBC today by Ciaran Jenkins (the blogger formerly known as Blamerball)

It just illustrates how politicians in Wales will talk about education but will do nothing. This is the backlog of repairs that need to be done.

Swansea

£147m

Caerphilly

£130.9m

Rhondda Cynon Taf

£63m

Carmarthenshire

£48m

Bridgend

£37.5m

Flintshire

£35.5m

Neath Port Talbot

£27m

Anglesey

£16.5m

Conwy

£12m

Blaenau Gwent

£10m

Merthyr

£9.7m

Ceredigion

£7.2m

That I believe is probably the tip of the iceberg. An estimated One Billion Pounds. This is a disgrace. How can you talk about schools fit for the 21^st Century, when some of them were not fit for the 19^th.

Unfortunately everyone has to take responsibility for this. Politicians, Parents, and educators. We do have responsibility to do something for this before we bankrupt the next generation with the repairs. This has to be done now, and the government should borrow beg and steal to pay for this.

Wales wake up, before it is too late!

"Mr Ed" Milliband, Labour's New Leader

My answer to Richard Dawkins!

Hey, Mark Zuckerberg could you spare Welsh schools a 100 Million quid?

I was impressed when heard that FaceBook’s Mark Zuckerberg had donated 100 Million Dollars to Newark schools on CNN.. I understand that Bill and Melinda Gates have donated half a billion Dollars to American education for teacher training.

This is a great example of what philaphropy can do for education.

I think it would be great if Wales own billionaires and millionaires could work together and invest in Wales crumbling schools and teacher education.. Even better what about business’s operating in Wales? They complain rightfully about inadequately trained our kids are. How better than for then to work with the schools and educating our kids for the 21st century.

So Sir Terry Matthews, Howard Stringer etal what do you think? Tesco?

Welsh kids do not need to be educated in schools that look and sound like something out of Charles Dickens.

We want Wales to to a prosperous place that people do not feel the need to leave. We want Wales to a Celtic Tiger like Ireland was until recently. And not like the Ireland of the Great Famine, except the this a famine of opportunity!

Maybe next year its time for the people of Wales to say good bye to the outmoded ideology of yesterday that has kept us poor and unknown.

Edwina Hart's new brief. Minister for outer space.

Is This The Age Of the Train for Cardiff?

When we were living at a unnamed theological college in Llandaff in 2008 , we often used the Radyr to Coryton line to travel around Cardiff , (especially after our car had been stolen and wrecked) . Trains run twice an hour Mondays to Fridays, I dont think they ran on Sundays. Most of the time the service was not that well used. That was a shame as it is the fastest and most painless way to get into town, and then catching trains to Barry or the valleys.

I believe this line was reopened as a imitative between BR and the old South Glamorgan County Council.

It struck me that with the fact that the Swansea mainline not going to be electrified in the foreseeable future. Why can they not electrify the local lines. Surely this is something that could be worked with the cooperation of the WAG, Cardiff, Vale, and valleys councils.

They should integrate the bus and train services like they do in the US, rather like the RTD in Denver.

If this was properly planned out with some vision, then Cardiff could see a solution to its problem with congestion.

Just needs someone with vision!