2015 - The General Election - Discussion Forum

[Snipe Watson]

I would envy young people trying to get a job out of Uni nowadays.

You could extend that to, any kids trying to get a job these days. Plenty about if you are happy on minimum wage & a you'll work as & if you are required basis.

Better a plumber than a law graduate these days. Better a hairdresser FFS, jobs that will always be with us unless bald becomes the new black.

I'm moving out, a man with a plan and setting up a business for my kids. DIY - the way to go.

Education is a wonderful thing, but it's less wonderful than it used to be in regards to employment.

The problem is that there is a massive disconnect between what people are being trained for and what the economy needs. Education is a bums on seats game. There is a lot of lip service paid to the education community working hand in glove with industries, but in reality colleges and universities are providing students with the courses they want to do rather than the courses they need to get a job.

[Russ]

It's all about entrepreneurial spirit

[BaggyTrousers]

I would envy young people trying to get a job out of Uni nowadays.

You could extend that to, any kids trying to get a job these days. Plenty about if you are happy on minimum wage & a you'll work as & if you are required basis.

Better a plumber than a law graduate these days. Better a hairdresser FFS, jobs that will always be with us unless bald becomes the new black.

I'm moving out, a man with a plan and setting up a business for my kids. DIY - the way to go.

Education is a wonderful thing, but it's less wonderful than it used to be in regards to employment.

The problem is that there is a massive disconnect between what people are being trained for and what the economy needs. Education is a bums on seats game. There is a lot of lip service paid to the education community working hand in glove with industries, but in reality colleges and universities are providing students with the courses they want to do rather than the courses they need to get a job.

With three teachers in my close family, it seems to me that rather than educate kids, they are spending time simply preparing children to do exams rather than teach them in a way that makes them thinkers. You need a memory for exams, not intelligence, & yes I know that is very simplistic. League tables have dictated that I suspect, doesn't matter if you turn out rounded people, turn out exam passers at all costs.

I also wonder WTF teachers do these days, schools seem to close on an inordinate number of days & half days, kids sent home at the drop of a hat. Insistence they are collected early after sports days rather than holding teachers back from the pub. Suppose all that admin isn't going to do itself.

[big mervyn]

A bit late I know but lets try starting a brief discussion on this weekends Turkish Election. Useful information for those of you not up to scratch on Turkish politics - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkish_ge ... tion,_2015

If there is a Mustafa Christmas on the ballot paper I'm mildly interested - otherwise, no fecks given.

[Snipe Watson]

In schools the whole thing is target and league table driven and you are exactly right, it's about teaching kids to pass exams rather than developing those higher level problem solving skills. I'm sure like me, you remember 'never mind the quality, feel the width'. There are still some teachers who actually teach, but most coach exam technique.
All of it is the outworking of the Blairite policy of all must go to university.

[solidarity]

In schools the whole thing is target and league table driven and you are exactly right, it's about teaching kids to pass exams rather than developing those higher level problem solving skills. I'm sure like me, you remember 'never mind the quality, feel the width'. There are still some teachers who actually teach, but most coach exam technique.
All of it is the outworking of the Blairite policy of all must go to university.

Same's true at uni level as well, with one addition... the big driver is 'student satisfaction'. I reckon the logic is that kids looking to go to uni will see that their predecessors had a great time and will choose to follow. Puts real pressure on teachers, not to teach well, but to keep students happy (to be fair, good teaching sometimes keeps students happy). Students are now 'consumers', to be pleased with a product, rather than learners who want to know and grow.

Cynical, me? Absolutely.

[Gary]

Like Baggy, I'll have moved well away from here before the next General Election. The weather used to be the main reason for my decision, but that's been overtaken by my dislike of a right-wing, selfish government whose sole mantra seems to be "I'm alright Jack" , and which seeks to punish the less fortunate in society instead of helping them. The idea of taking benefits away from people to force them to earn their keep is a complete nonsense in an economy where jobs are hardly hanging from trees.

The U.K. is a strange place to be worried about immigration - there are better countries to go to, I'd have thought. I'm going to somewhere where families still help each other out, where folk still look after their elderly neighbours, (rather than let their dead bodies lie for seven weeks in their house), and where the government still does try to care for all the citizens.

I can't wait until it's time for my move to what is almost considered a third world country. But a place that still has a word for "compassion" in its language.

Little rant over.....but I detest the likes of Cameron. Osborne and Duncan-Smith. Not forgetting our own local collection of wallies up on the Hill.

Anyone want to join me???

[rorybestsbigbaldnoggin]

I would envy young people trying to get a job out of Uni nowadays.

You could extend that to, any kids trying to get a job these days. Plenty about if you are happy on minimum wage & a you'll work as & if you are required basis.

Better a plumber than a law graduate these days. Better a hairdresser FFS, jobs that will always be with us unless bald becomes the new black.

I'm moving out, a man with a plan and setting up a business for my kids. DIY - the way to go.

Education is a wonderful thing, but it's less wonderful than it used to be in regards to employment.

The problem is that there is a massive disconnect between what people are being trained for and what the economy needs. Education is a bums on seats game. There is a lot of lip service paid to the education community working hand in glove with industries, but in reality colleges and universities are providing students with the courses they want to do rather than the courses they need to get a job.

With three teachers in my close family, it seems to me that rather than educate kids, they are spending time simply preparing children to do exams rather than teach them in a way that makes them thinkers. You need a memory for exams, not intelligence, & yes I know that is very simplistic. League tables have dictated that I suspect, doesn't matter if you turn out rounded people, turn out exam passers at all costs.

I also wonder WTF teachers do these days, schools seem to close on an inordinate number of days & half days, kids sent home at the drop of a hat. Insistence they are collected early after sports days rather than holding teachers back from the pub. Suppose all that admin isn't going to do itself.

Ironically enough, the teaching profession is one of the worst examples of QUB and UU providing postgraduate courses in teaching, when we don't need any more teachers. Madame Noggin did a PGCE year before last, and reliably informs be the labour market is (anecdotally) 70/80 applicants per job.

The whole higher-ed system needs to be pinned closer to market demand where possible; eg dentistry in NI - if (say) 50 dentists will be needed in 2025, 50 dentists will be enrolled in 2020. There's an approximately similar system for Medicine, I think, but done on a UK-wide basis . . .

[Russ]

Question time

Shadow international development minister (half northern irish, half irish) called northern irish in the uk immigrants

Vermin person

[BaggyTrousers]

Like Baggy, I'll have moved well away from here before the next General Election. The weather used to be the main reason for my decision, but that's been overtaken by my dislike of a right-wing, selfish government whose sole mantra seems to be "I'm alright Jack" , and which seeks to punish the less fortunate in society instead of helping them. The idea of taking benefits away from people to force them to earn their keep is a complete nonsense in an economy where jobs are hardly hanging from trees.

The U.K. is a strange place to be worried about immigration - there are better countries to go to, I'd have thought. I'm going to somewhere where families still help each other out, where folk still look after their elderly neighbours, (rather than let their dead bodies lie for seven weeks in their house), and where the government still does try to care for all the citizens.

I can't wait until it's time for my move to what is almost considered a third world country. But a place that still has a word for "compassion" in its language.

Little rant over.....but I detest the likes of Cameron. Osborne and Duncan-Smith. Not forgetting our own local collection of wallies up on the Hill.

Anyone want to join me???

Good to welcome you to the Escape Committee Gary.

I refuse to end my days in this shithole and yes the weather is a big attraction, the aches and pains improve & I always lose weight in warmer weather............. feck, I could live for ever Ah well if I get fed up with living, I could always come back here for a short while............. or there is always Dignitas.

Tempting fate that ...........I could be dead in the feckin' morning.

[Gary]

Baggy, I've decided that the day I leave Will be my last day here. Even an Ulster Euro final wouldn't bring me back,! Reckon I'll add a decade to my life just by escaping our wee religious fundamentalist country.

[damianmcr]

Where are you boys of? I love getting away but there's only so much of the heat I can take.

[BaggyTrousers]

Baggy, I've decided that the day I leave Will be my last day here. Even an Ulster Euro final wouldn't bring me back,! Reckon I'll add a decade to my life just by escaping our wee religious fundamentalist country.

I am a weaker man Gary, I would return occasionally to see a few friends & watch the odd game.

Where are you boys of? I love getting away but there's only so much of the heat I can take.

I'm off to Spain Damo, to set my son up in business - his Ma says she'll never retire so best of luck to them - as soon as is feasible I'll be resting on my laurels ...... or vine leaves or whatever.

Spain for plenty of reasons other than the obvious weather. I have decent contacts for the business we have in mind, have already been dabbling & know the market but in more general terms, many of what Gary said, still a family based society, equality and awful lot easier to come by - unless you are black I'm afraid for they are way off the mark with racism.

Pace of life is the main thing for me, "siesta" is still a big thing in my part of Spain ......but when you come down to it, the sun on your back for most of the year is a big attraction as well as the flight from bigotry (FFS & for Jesus Christ's name and the wee ballix of a donley, would the moderators catch a fecking grip with this shyte) - starts with big & ends with otry Damo, here.

[Gary]

Damian, I'm heading for my other home - Ukraine. Love the place as long as Mr Putin and Mrs Merkel keep their noses out of it. If the Russians decide to invade properly, then Moldova or Bulgaria will do.

[BaggyTrousers]

Damian, I'm heading for my other home - Ukraine. Love the place as long as Mr Putin and Mrs Merkel keep their noses out of it. If the Russians decide to invade properly, then Moldova or Bulgaria will do.

I believe ze vinters are cruel comrade, you can always pop down to Casa Baggy for a couple of months, to escape the worst of it.

Na zdorovie.