Question for socialists

[Churchill]

You are all individuals!

Yes, we are all individuals!

He's the Messiah!!!

[d000hg]

What utter tosh. I went to one and the emphasis is very much on the collective. Individualism is definitely frowned upon.

Similarly my parents' generation (in their 60s) were taught by rote a lot more, without such flexibility to target each child's needs. It is their generation - and their parents' - who are typically compared with the current system.

However I think people do idealise the old ways... and most of the people of that age I know are successful middle-class types who are at the brighter end and therefore succeeded.

[LisaContractorUmbrella]

You are all individuals!

Yes, we are all individuals!

I'm not

[LisaContractorUmbrella]

What utter tosh. I went to one and the emphasis is very much on the collective. Individualism is definitely frowned upon.

Or maybe the school wasn't quite ready for your particular brand of individualism

[Mich the Tester]

What utter tosh. I went to one and the emphasis is very much on the collective. Individualism is definitely frowned upon.

WHS, so did I. Individualism was something the headmaster talked about during his sports day speech (ed: sales pitch), and other than that it was discouraged.

[DodgyAgent]

WHS, so did I. Individualism was something the headmaster talked about during his sports day speech (ed: sales pitch), and other than that it was discouraged.

I think we are confusing individualism with individually. Although schools teach kids collectively and encourage the ethos of teamwork and leadership the better ones also take care of and develop pupils individually.

[Mich the Tester]

Or maybe the school wasn't quite ready for your particular brand of individualism

Ah, you may be joking now but here's the problem when former private school pupils dare to criticize the private education system; whatever you say people will claim it's your own fault, you didn't 'fit in' (which hasn't got much to do with this individualism thingy), you wouldn't have done well in another school either, you don't appreciate the sacrifices your parents made etc etc bla bla bla. Now I'm sure that some people have a good time at private school and some do better than they may have done in another school, but the system is not one big unmitigated success and it's actually worth finding out about some of the negative experiences people had before making your mind up.

[LisaContractorUmbrella]

Ah, you may be joking now but here's the problem when former private school pupils dare to criticize the private education system; whatever you say people will claim it's your own fault, you didn't 'fit in' (which hasn't got much to do with this individualism thingy), you wouldn't have done well in another school either, you don't appreciate the sacrifices your parents made etc etc bla bla bla. Now I'm sure that some people have a good time at private school and some do better than they may have done in another school, but the system is not one big unmitigated success and it's actually worth finding out about some of the negative experiences people had before making your mind up.

I've had experience of both and although private schools are not perfect they seem to turn out much more well rounded, ambitious, competitive, successful individuals because those are the things that they encourage. State schools these days cannot even identify an individual by name when they are being disruptive, they cannot have winners and being ambitious is seen as something negative.

[Mich the Tester]

I've had experience of both and although private schools are not perfect they seem to turn out much more well rounded, ambitious, competitive, successful individuals because those are the things that they encourage. State schools these days cannot even identify an individual by name when they are being disruptive, they cannot have winners and being ambitious is seen as something negative.

You might just be exaggerating a little teensy weensy bit there. Britain is a wealthy industrialised country, albeit it with some debt that now has to be dealt with; if the education of most people was really as bad as some people claim it would be a turd world country by now.

[DodgyAgent]

You might just be exaggerating a little teensy weensy bit there. Britain is a wealthy industrialised country, albeit it with some debt that now has to be dealt with; if the education of most people was really as bad as some people claim it would be a turd world country by now.

90,000 students left school without basic literacy or numeracy in 2007 alone It might not be enough to make the UK a third world country but parts of the UK are most certainly "third world" such as "The North" .