Education: Where did it go wrong?

I’m bored!! Infact I’m tired, actually I’m bored and tired and furthermore frustrated, disappointed and deeply concerned.  WHY??? I hear  you ask… What has got Madeline McQueen going today. Well frankly it is the lack of education many of our young people seem to be receiving in schools and at home today.

David and I spend quite a bit of time in schools delivering motivational speaches, workshops on confidence building and presentation skills as well as coaching young people who seem to have lost their way. What we are finding on an almost daily basis is that the level of literacy within specially London’s schools is very, very poor.  We tend to work with 14-19 year olds and often find that reading, writing and spelling is abismal.

I really do feel very sorry for the young people who have gone through the entire eduational system and who aged 14/15 are struggling to read basic instructions. What hope do they achieve at exam time or in the world of work? I fail to understand how this has not been picked up by their educators and worse still how parents are unable to prioritise spending time children to understand their educational needs. I know that today I am sounding exceptionally judgemental, but I feel exceptionally frustated!!

Reading is the key to learning, it helps with writing and vocabulary it enables students to understand concepts and read questions, especially since many mathematical questions in school these days tend to use scenario’s to present a question. I feel very, very saddened much vocabulary is lost on many of our youth today.

Whilst I applaud teachers for the job that they do, especially since governmental changes has broaden their remit too far beyond learning. Government has placed far too much responsibility on their shoulders with far too little discipline options, with funding relating to bums on seats exceptionally unruly children can take too long to be dealt with. There are some absolutely fabulous, passionate and amazing teachers who are changing lives and feeding our children outstanding knowlege on a daily basis who love the work that they do regardless of the pressures placed on them. However, I have come across too many teachers who are in the wrong profession, who are not at all passionate about teaching and far too willing to wield their power over those they are meant to educate and inspire.

How can we expect our young people to behave better and to do better if we have not given them some of the basic tools to success. I listen as many young people do not have the vocabulary to express themself effectively, where they answer a question are unable to present an arguement to support their answer. I listen as young people often have very little knowlegde of their forefathers, inventors, or change makers in world. They just don’t know!

Between the play station, Big Brother, the mobile phone and too much time on the streets their education is very limited and worse still the education that they are recieving is likely to reduce their chances of success and in the current climate their chances of a long and prosperous life.  Why is it that our young people are on the streets until and after 2.00am in the morning aged away from 13/14 upwards? Where are their parents?No wonder they turn up at school completely out of it and unable to interact effectively or learn. Why are many of our 16 year olds living on their own attempting to survive on benefits with little or no education? Why are there so many young people who are NEET (Not in Education, Employment or Training)?  Why does our education system allow young people to take exams which offer them a qualification that employers think useless? Who wants to spend years working towards a foundation GCSE which will only ever give them absolute top grade of a C (if they are lucky) the range being between a C-G grade? You can just here the thought pattern of many a youngster…”If the best I can do is get a C and to be honest I’m only predicted an E what’s the point of going to school?”

Sadly, some research shows that the best teachers in school are reserved for the higher A-C tier of GSCE classes and the less able banished to the lower tier. According to the Institute for Public Policy Research “Poor Secondary Teacher can mean the difference between a pass and a fail”  At to this the false assumption that we hear regulary that many young people feel that their success will be based on the chance of being a celebrity thanks to reality TV. Then throw in the 24 hour entertainment culture that has grown rapidly in the last ten year, the bombardment of sex and instant gratification and parents who have no idea how to be parents. Alcholism, obesity/unhealth diet (Why is there either a fried chicken/kebab takeaway or McDonalds close to most schools)and drugs we have a receipe for failure on a collosal scale.

Where will it end? Parents, Teachers, Goverment and pupils all need to step up and do something about this.

I’m bored, tired, frustated, disappointed and downright concerned. Something has to change.