Another bastion bites the dust?

This isn’t the case anymore. Secondary school attainment is exam focussed with students hot housed to answer core questions rather than expand their knowledge with coursework.

Some subjects, including English, maths and science, are assessed purely by exam. Others include an element of coursework or practical work. For example, 30 per cent of the marks in design and technology are allocated to practical work, and in modern languages, 60 per cent of the marks come from coursework and practicals. Dance and drama are 60 per cent practical, and art and design is 100 per cent practical.

I believe birth control methods, particularly the pill, have made a massive difference. We can have a sex life and still work and play sport etc.

When the next Euro football contest of men takes place, will it be called the Euro football whatever or the Men's Euro football whatever?

That is, will the contest of men be labelled as Men's or will it be presumed to be the men's game if there is nothing to indicate of which sex the contestants will be?

And...Maw, Last weekend we finished watching the WOMEN'S Tour De France whiuch was really exciting and such a great achievment. !!

If you divide the world by stereotypes, men are this and women are that then you will always be wrong and the millions of people that do not fit those stereotypes will suffer.

Paperbackwriter

If men are wanting to be equal to the modern women, then they need to try harder. For too long they've been lazily assuming a dominant role and now it's being challenged, then tough!
As for exams etc, it's a well known fact that back in the days of the 11 plus, in order to get an equal number of boys and girls into grammar schools, there had to be an acceptance of a lower pass mark for boys as girls did so much better. It meant that many girls who were brighter than some boys who passed, missed out on a top education. I'll not be feeling sorry for men. And I certainly won't be blaming domestic violence on their wounded pride as if 'we' are to blame!

I like to think that I never tried to assume, nor did assume, a dominant role over anybody.

There seems to be lot of sweeping generalisations about men.

Many are very varied. Some are aggressive, some are not.

There used to be an Open University television programme on psychology that I saw a couple of times.

A group of men were given a questionnaire and from this questionnaire the experimenters deduced who were the most cooperative types and who were the most pushy types.

There was this sort of basic video game.

The two most cooperative ones played each other.

The two most pushy ones played each other.l

The game had one screen and they had a controller ach.

On the screen, there was a river across the middle.

There was a single rack bridge over the river.

Each player had a tractor and cart.

The idea was to cross the bridge, get a "load of hay", go back over the bridge and store the hay. Repeat continually. Money paid to each player for bales of hay gathered.

The cooperative ones.

"So, let's take turns to cross the bridge - you go first."

So they proceeded. gathering bales of hay.

The pushy ones.

They meet head on in the middle of the bridge.

"Pull back so I can get through"

"No, you pull back"

and on it went.

Then the experimenters changed the game slightly.

They added two gates, so each could control the gate on the opposite bank relative to his home position.

The cooperatives ones.

Puzzled look.

"So, we just leave the gates open and carry on as before."

"Yes."

The pushy ones.

Utter chaos. One man managed to convince the other that he had the upper hand, by some reasoning that was in fact untrue.

So not all men think and act in the same way.

2 women a week are killed by their partner.

Women commit domestic violence too.

If men are wanting to be equal to the modern women, then they need to try harder. For too long they've been lazily assuming a dominant role and now it's being challenged, then tough!
As for exams etc, it's a well known fact that back in the days of the 11 plus, in order to get an equal number of boys and girls into grammar schools, there had to be an acceptance of a lower pass mark for boys as girls did so much better. It meant that many girls who were brighter than some boys who passed, missed out on a top education. I'll not be feeling sorry for men. And I certainly won't be blaming domestic violence on their wounded pride as if 'we' are to blame!

welbeck

Jackiest

It is not just in schools we are conditioned to think we are the weak ones that need looking after. Just take a man is expected to give up their seat to a woman rather than everyone should give up their seat so someone who needs it more than they do.

it would be quite an improvement if anyone would glance around and be willing to let someone who is struggling sit down.
very rarely happens now.
as to the long ago man standing up for woman thing, i don't see that as implying women are weaker; but the fact is no man is pregnant, a woman might be, and it benefits all society to assist that woman to a healthy outcome.

If a woman is pregnant then she will almost certainly need the seat more than the person sitting. It does not matter what gender the person is.
If I noticed a woman standing that looked pregnant or anyone that had any difficulty then I would give up my seat. I would not sit there waiting for a man to give up their seat.

Mattsmum2, I so agree. Its horrible to hear some of the constant misandery, especially with regards to boys in school. The education system appeals to those who want to sit, listen and absorb, not those who want to explore, decipher and construct, all the approaches that require movement, discussion and Teamwork. If you're a boy, this is often seen as 'naughty' behaviour if you're a girl you're 'strong'. I don't like hearing constantly about girls being given educational encouragement, whilst boys are left to languish in teaching environments that simply don't bring out the best in them.
I can't point to a single young male I know, who behaves or speaks musogynitically. The younger men should not be patronised into treating women better, (have you seen that insulting ad with the footballers?), the older men are the ones who need the education to change their preconceptions and behaviour who then in turn will be role models for young men.
After all our trials and struggle as women, we've learned a thing or two about getting the best out of people. Why do we now have to down tread, sideline or patronise men, especially the younger ones? This is not equality.

If only women would support one another more. Used be called the sisterhood during the rise of the Womens Movement.

Grandma70s

I did A level English like Gagajo, without the texts. I didn’t find it horrible - I loved it!

There was a lot of the fear of the impending exams culture.

It would have been far better if it had been regarded as an intellectual sport and one goes into training to perform well and one looks forward to the exmination as a wonderful opportubity to show how good one is at intellectual sport.

Sor of great, the exams this week rather than argh the exams this week.

Perhaps some schools got pupils into that way of thinking and they did better for it.

I was thrilled to watch the Euro final etc and support our team but, did you see the singers and dancers at the opening? I was appalled, they wore gross, sexy, explicit costumes, danced around in a suggestive way and seemed to me to be absolutely what I do not want my granddaughter to aspire to. it was horrible and put womens' lib back years............

Exactly Navvyhands. It's also no coincidence that now I tutor, rather than teach, that my tutees are 90% girls. All of whom think they're really not very good, when in fact most of them are destined for 9s/A*.

Don't get me wrong. I love working with boys too. Got flowers just last week from a grateful lad who I'd lavished help on.

I admire you, Grandma70s. I love writing, but suffered doing 4 essays without the texts in 3 hours!

I was a seventies feminist and felt very much the daily sexism to which women were subjected. I believed in equality of opportunity and rights.

Now, my daughter is a fourth wave feminist (whatever that is) and her view of men and that of her female friends is that they are part of a toxic patriarchy and to be battled on all fronts.

I think in some cases the war of the sexes has gone too far and resulted in the belittling of men and boys. Indeed, working class white boys are identified as the least educated and privileged group of all youngsters. Older men cannot compete in the job market with young women and many boys sit in their bedrooms watching porn and playing computer games as there is no obvious place for them in society. The Incel movement is truly horrifying, too.

I have a decent, hardworking, good DH and DS as well as a DD and I can see that they are equal but different.

That's all I wanted for both sexes: equal opportunities and rights, not that one 'side' be sacrificed for the other. Surely the qualities of men and women are complementary and best used to work with and for each other?

welbeck

Jackiest

It is not just in schools we are conditioned to think we are the weak ones that need looking after. Just take a man is expected to give up their seat to a woman rather than everyone should give up their seat so someone who needs it more than they do.

it would be quite an improvement if anyone would glance around and be willing to let someone who is struggling sit down.
very rarely happens now.
as to the long ago man standing up for woman thing, i don't see that as implying women are weaker; but the fact is no man is pregnant, a woman might be, and it benefits all society to assist that woman to a healthy outcome.

I saw somewhere that some men are now very wary of offering a seat to a woman for fear of being snubbed or ridiculed or treated as some sort of pervert.

Hopefully not applying if the woman is clearly elderly or obviously pregnant.

How do women here feel about the situation if, say, at a supermarket a man and she are approaching a doorway from opposite directions and he pauses, stands back, and lets her through first?

Jackiest

It is not just in schools we are conditioned to think we are the weak ones that need looking after. Just take a man is expected to give up their seat to a woman rather than everyone should give up their seat so someone who needs it more than they do.

it would be quite an improvement if anyone would glance around and be willing to let someone who is struggling sit down.
very rarely happens now.
as to the long ago man standing up for woman thing, i don't see that as implying women are weaker; but the fact is no man is pregnant, a woman might be, and it benefits all society to assist that woman to a healthy outcome.

Yes! Out of all my friends/peers who were supposed to be going to the grammar school, only one girl got in, but all the boys did.

Completely not true! The government CHANGED GCSEs to NOT include coursework because it "benefitted girls" who work harder and are prepared to redraft workand put boys at "disadvantage".. They changed it some years ago and reduced coursework to 0% in most subjects (maths, English and science included) to benefit boys, but guess what? Girls still outperform boys. I've been teaching since 1999 and when I started, GCSEs were 40% coursework. This was fairer because it showed examiners what students could do throughout the year as well as what they could do in a couple of hours under exam conditions. It also benefitted SEND students. Exams now are 0% coursework and geared towards boys. But girls are still superior. If girls were doing worse than boys, exams would NEVER be changed. We live in a man's world.

I did A level English like Gagajo, without the texts. I didn’t find it horrible - I loved it!

I went to girls-only schools for both junior and senior education. I don’t know who “got the crates of milk and so on”, but it wasn’t us. Probably domestic staff. We played netball, lacrosse, rounders and tennis, not rugby or football. We learnt Latin and chemistry, but for physics we had to go to the boys’ school.

My granddaughter, now 10, is also at an all-girls school. They play football, which she quite enjoys.

StarDreamer

I know that with hindsight it is obvious, but it only occurred to me recently that as there were an equal number of boys and girls in the cohorts, that the 11+ was really two contests, one of girls and one of boys, even in a coeducational area. So some girls might have not got to grammar school even if they got a better mark in the 11+ exam than some boys who did go to grammar school.

Girls had to achieve 30% higher in the 11+ than boys. It was positive discrimination in favour of boys.

Kryptonite

Knittingnovice many subjects have thankfully long since dropped coursework (including Maths and English). Also, English is from memory with the open book idea also dropped since 2017 (or earlier?).

My English Lit A Levels were done without the books. Three X three hour exams for one subject. The killer exam was 3 hours and required FOUR essays. All without the texts in front of us.

It was horrible.

Love it. Volver