Winding up the kids!

I feel a bit weird. Kinda tired but wired at the same time. Just been playing the piano, I think it drained my brain. On the plus side, have marked all my Y10 books :) But I have pulled my hamstring, which is no good.

Want an early night tonight, have a busy day tomorrow...excitement includes a department meeting and a TF event on "Personal Presentation", Obviously my personal presentation is awesome, but there'll be snacks there, so it'll be worth it.

Today I wound up my Y12 sociology group big time, it was lots of fun. We're studying theories of class and educational achievement. They all get deeply offended whenever anyone suggests anything negative about the working class, or about ethnic minorities. This happens all the time in the Education module, so we have regular riots.

In the lesson we looked at theories of material deprivation and cultural capital. Lots of outrage ensued when I suggested that working class families had fewer resources for their children, which may lead to lower initial ability and motivation. It got worse when I suggested that middle class families cared more about education and wanted to keep their children within middle class social groups, and also that schools are middle-class institutions based on the values, principles and methods of the middle classes, making it easier for them to succeed. Cue lots of angry outbursts such as "just cos my family are working class doesn't mean they don't care about education - I'm here now aren't I?" and then sullen looks. Heehee. Just to push them a little further, I brought up Herrnstein and Murray's Bell Curve - the idea that certain groups fare better in society because of their intelligence, which itself is fundamentally genetically determined i.e. some groups are more affluent because the genes of their race promote superior intelligence. They loved this theory, in that it was so ridiculous to them that it sealed the idea that sociological theories of class and educational achievement are all a load of bull.

Good, I am glad I am conveying the learning well.

And finally, my little brother is back from Tanzania. He brought me this back from Zanzibar. If only I was that revolutionary.

A-Level Day

It's A-Level results day. A day of celebrations and commiserations. I remember something about it making or breaking us when I was back at school. Perhaps a little too much emphasis on the significance of it all.

I don't really know what it feels like to collect exam results - I've never done it. They've always been posted to me, and back in the day I was always having too much fun in the summer to worry. Besides, confidence (or naivety) meant any worries I could have had were swiftly neutralised. But no doubt across the country kids today have had that A-Level feeling, sinking or otherwise.

Apparently one in four A-Levels this year was at grade A. I'd hate to join the "dumbing down" crew, but how is this possible? According to the BBC 43.7% of maths A-Level candidates were awarded an A. For the non-mathematicians out there, that's more than two-fifths of all entrants. Not quite the Normal distribution. The biggest gains in performance were in private and grammar schools. No worries though, apparently comprehensives and colleges had the most improved E grades. Nice to see we're all improving on the same level.


I heard a worrying thing today. Edexel are rumoured to be threatening to send the exam performances of teachers to the parents of exam candidates. By that I mean class by class breakdowns of the grades each class achieved through the teaching of their teacher. This is simply awful - how can the entire responsibility of a child's education (by education I mean exam performance...sad that I can equate the two) be pinned upon the teacher? Surely the parents, and, I dunno, maybe even the child himself, should take on some of the liability?

And finally, the other day, when I was a bit hammered, I went and posted bids on eBay for a load of mobile phones. Thankfully I was outbid on all but one of them, for which I duly stumped up the cash. It arrived today but I'm feeling guilty about using it right now because I'm convinced it has been stolen. There are songs and contacts and photos of people and profiles and everything stored on there. Someone's whole "phone" life. I reckon if it was really the seller's phone, he would have deleted all of that stuff himself. In fact, the more I think about it, the more I realise that eBay is the perfect forum for stolen goods. But rather than raising my suspicions with the vendor, or indeed with eBay, I've just deleted all traces of the previous owner. Does that make me a criminal too?

Last day of internship tomorrow, then a bit of viva Espana till Thurs. Will be back with banter then :) See, I can still smile with a guilty conscience.

Bricks in the freezer

Having wasted an epic amount of time not making the EAL (English as an Additional Language) maths exam keywords dictionary that I intended to compile this evening, and having not completed a strenuous workout at the gym (Hollyoaks is my downfall), I figure I'd not bother to waste more time but instead just ask you the burning question of the day instead...

So, in the Proper Education video, the kids are all saving the environment etc. and at one point the kids break into a flat and put a brick in the freezer. How is this helping the environment? I can't figure it out and I really wanna know!

Mouche, good geekiness, but what do the words mean? I know I could look them up, but we're all about not taking responsibility today.