Archives
Beating the system?
The other night we went round to the neighbours for a curry. Instinct encourages me to describe them as a 'young couple' but really they are not that much younger than us, it's just that their children are young, 9 and 5. As is usual we got on to the topic of schools, education, 11-plus. Yes, we live in one of the areas that openly selects children for a type of school. Now all my children have waved goodbye to that traumatic period of their lives I think I may be more censorious of the process. At the time we only had cause to question whether one of our lovelies would 'be selected' (you must not say passed or failed). After a chat with her teacher, where we were advised that "he could teach a monkey to pass the 11-plus, but would it do the monkey any good?", we took the decision not to enter that offspring for selection, but send her out of county to the nearest church school, which was a well spoken of comprehensive. The other two, as predicted, were selected for grammar schools. Well, to get back to our neighbours........ their 9 year-old son is already being coached to be selected (pass). It turns out that nearly all the pupils in his year, at all the local junior schools, are attending tutors. I'm amazed, horrified really, on several counts.
Why train a child to perform well in a certain type of test when s/he is probably not suited to that type of education?
It is devaluing the test itself, it makes it a screening tool only capable of indicating whose parents have the financial ability to provide tutoring.
It disriminates against children, who may be very able, but who come from a less affluent background.
There are practice papers available in the local bookshops, whats wrong with parents spending time with their little einsteins and doing the tutoring themselves? At least that way they may appreciate that although little Jimmy can achieve a high score in verbal reasoning he is actually not a high flyer academically and that to enter him into an extremely academic environment may not be the best choice. It could stress him +++, he may decide that since he never achieves, however hard he works, to give up, and what often seems to happen, in this area, is that the parents have to employ tutors to help their hard-pressed child get any where near the standard expected of him/her.
The more I have dwelt on this, the more angry about the whole selection proceedure, I have become.
I have finished decorating, making curtains, lampshades etc. for the grandchilds 'room away from home'. My lawnmower is still with the repair man so my grass is now of meadow proportions. My obsession with E-Bay continues, kooshie nappies and a new computer being my objectives at the moment, and Jack has gained 300gms since he was born.
Choices
Do I buy a new PC off E-Bay or, buy from a man down the road I can speak to, who seems to do a good deal on re-cons and will do part X on my two, old, computers? I'm favouring man down the road purely because if it's no good I can talk to him. Any suggestions?
Clinic today was like a coffee morning. All the women were returnees from two years ago so it was very social, one of them had even brought a pram blanket for Jack. People are so lovely.
Learning a new language
My brain is fried. I'm sitting here trying to interpret a new language.
'Overclocked', has the 'drive' been used too much?
Firewall, as opposed to firewire. I think I want one, but am not too bothered about the other.
I know I want to 'burn' CD's, but is Nero really a neccessity? Can't I do it without his help?
I don't think I need a modem because I'm broadband but what do I need? Is it anything to do with LAN?
If I want to network do both computers need a network card?
There are so many terms that I know make sense to someone but its like a foreign language to me. All I want is a new PC, black would be nice, so I can let Hubby have my PC. My first ever PC was black. I bought it 11 years ago at an auction. I had no idea what to look for, all I knew was that all the other machines were grey/cream and that my little box of tricks looked really good in comparison. Would that I were so innocent now and that appearance was all that I attempted to decide by. I know what would be sensible - if I want black get a Dell. Well, I phoned them today to establish what their attractive little 'dimension' offers. After the longest pre-amble ever, with me having to spell my name using police call names, the difficult to understand gentleman at the other end of the line, gave me the final price, £150 more than the flyer suggests. The delivery is £56, not installation + delivery, no just delivering the system. That is a rip-off. Any number of reputable courier/delivery firms would do it next day, not 7 days as Dell offer. I do love the look of their PC though. Another possibility is son's fiancee, she works for Elonex so she is asking her boss what sort of deal I could get from them, at least I wouldn't have to fork out 4% on delivery!
Devil's advocate?
BREASTfeeding. Now, if I wrote FINGERfeeding, or TONGUEfeeding, those six uppercase letters wouldn't, in most people, attract as much attention, even though all three words have sexual connections. Why? It may be because fingers and tongues are not, in western cultures, hidden. There again though, both sexes have these appendages, but only females have breasts capable of lactation, is this where the attraction lies? Or is it that womens breasts have become so associated with sexual function that their true purpose has now become the embarrassment? It's acceptable to have mammaries plastered all over the tabloids, or exposed safely when on holiday, or used to sell mechandise, but its hugely embarrassing to see them being used to feed a baby. How often, in soaps, dramas, films is breastfeeding portrayed positively and in a fashion that presents it as being totally normal? Not that often, infact hardly ever. Isn't that odd? 70% of women are breastfeeding when they are discharged from hospital so it would seem to be the norm. However, this figure drops dramatically once women are back in the 'real world' and I feel that much of that has to do with society's perception of breasts as being sexual. They can be both. Other parts of our anatomy are capable of dual roles, why not the old mammaries? I don't want to ban bottles or stop formula milk but please lets put all this into perspective and appreciate that the primary function of the breast is to feed an infant.
Pooped
I have just hosted a luncheon party for a two week old, an eight month old and a twenty month old and, pathetically, I am exhausted. I am surveying the carnage around me and wondering how on earth I coped when my cherubs were younger. Perhaps I didn't. Did I live in this chaos of food trodden into the carpet, brightly coloured, noisy toys, spilt juice, sodden tissues, and a slight whiff of soiled nappies and not feel jaded by the end of the day? How did my cats cope? They all fled the house within 10 minutes of the first small person arriving and are now sitting on the patio debating who should be sent in to check that the coast is clear. Whenever I open the back door and invite them in they all behave as if they have no idea who I am and begin cleaning their nether regions with a manic intensity. I have also been left with one orange beaker, a naked doll and an assortment of cast-offs, including a play-nest and a bouncing, reclining chair to go towards the 'Nanny Fund'.
My Grandsons, second cousins, Mother has a blog. In her 10th May entry she is inviting people to ask her three questions, which she will answer honestly - dangeroux n'est pas? Unfortunately I cannot participate in this as I don't know how to cut and paste! That's my excuse, and I'm sticking to it!
Yesterday I went up to our local shops with daughter and grandson. Usually if I venture into 'town' I am guaranteed to meet loads of people I know, yesterday I saw one acquaintance, I think there is a law that governs this, something along the lines of 'If you want to be quick you will meet at least ten people who want to have a chat. If you want to meet ten people, have a chat AND show off your grandson, you will not meet any'. Blow.
The Challenged
Is anyone else's partner obsessed with The Second World War? At the moment he is sitting there glued to some documentary about American bombing raids on ball-bearing factories. Why is that interesting? What possible use is he going to put the information he absorbs towards? Perhaps he is thinking of offering his tactical expertise to the Bush/Blair 'lets waste a few more billions of our nations finances and sacrifice a few more young peoples lives' campaign. Or is it that he is hoping little snippets about of types of plane will give him the advantage when we do our weekly battle against University Challenge? I suspect that it is. That just shows how naive he is, does he think that I am not also listening intently to every detail about the pay-load on a B17? Does he not realise that I also know the the make of gun and how many rounds it shoots per minute employed by the rear-gunner? Boy, will I surprise him if that question comes up on Monday!