Is anyone else fed up with this 'Boomers' nonsense?

[stevensfo]

A girl explained it to me the other day, perhaps because she heard me debating with someone else as to whether obesity in the UK was better or worse than obesity in the US. Her problem (apart from the difficulty in getting all of herself comfortably on a single chair!) was entirely due to society, she didn't want to be fat but she was addicted to 'comfort eating'.

Just as well it was you talking with her rather than me. I am notably lacking in sympathy.

When I look at pics from the 70s, no one is fat. Since then food has become too cheap, fast food has appeared, ready-to-cooks, people have forgotten how to cook and it seems are no longer taught in school.
When I see fat children I blame the parents. TV dinners, takeaways, no family meals.
There should be sanctions if primary school children are fat or unable to use a knife & fork.

But the whole issue seems not to be discussed in any meaningful fashion in the media... mumbling about exercise, which is irrelevant, and people suggesting that there should be supersize models so as to begin normalising the waddling lumps of blubber blocking the aisles at Aldi.

Harrumph.

V8

I remember a story getting into the papers over ten years ago, about a headteacher who wrote a letter to a girl's parents expressing her concern about the girl's weight. She was worried not just about the girl's health, but they'd recently started swimming lessons and the girl obviously had some problems. So there were safety aspects as well.

The letter was written in confidence but the mother treated it as an insult, made a complaint, went to the press and escalated the whole sorry story, dragging the name of the school into it as well as her own name - and thus identifying the young girl concerned.

Perhaps allowing your child to become dangerously obese should be viewed and treated in the same way as if you were to starve them! Both situations are cruel.

Steve

[bungeejumper]

[She was worried not just about the girl's health, but they'd recently started swimming lessons and the girl obviously had some problems. So there were safety aspects as well.

The letter was written in confidence but the mother treated it as an insult, made a complaint, went to the press and escalated the whole sorry story, dragging the name of the school into it as well as her own name - and thus identifying the young girl concerned.

Good grief, I'm glad I'm not in teaching any more! (I gave it up 45 years ago. Couldn't stand the stress any longer. )

All right, it was a tough inner-city school that served a number of very deprived estates. Violence among the pupils was an everyday event, and a fair chunk of that was directed toward the staff. Abut one in three of us had been assaulted, me included. But that's not my point, it's just the background.

We had a little black book in the head teacher's safe, and it contained all the highly confidential and personal information that we needed to do our jobs properly. Such as which kids were known to be in trouble with the police, and which ones had been caught carrying knives, and which ones were believed to be on drugs, and which ones had violent fathers in prison (there were one or two in every class). And which mothers the social services had identified as being at risk. Sometimes that meant that they were being beaten up at home, and sometimes it meant that they were on the game. (You don't get much homework from a kid who's being locked out of the flat every night till 1 am.)

Health issues were the very least of our concerns! But yes, we had epileptics, ultra-allergics, and others who might drop dead at any moment. You never forget the first kid who collapses with a grand mal in the middle of your lesson. (In my case, his classmates knew better than I did what needed to be done, and he was soon breathing again. A few minutes later, so was I. )

Anyway, the rules at the time were that the little black book had to be available to parents for inspection, upon request. Which was why the school kept two little black books, one of which didn't officially exist. And we couldn't honestly have done our best for those kids without knowing that background stuff.

And that was in the innocent 1970s! (Education Minister at the time was M. Thatcher.) I really don't know how they do things these days - possibly nothing has changed? - but it can really be quite hard to square the need for privacy with other overriding factors, such as the kids' need to stay alive. My sympathies to the school in Stevensfo's story.

BJ

[stevensfo]

[She was worried not just about the girl's health, but they'd recently started swimming lessons and the girl obviously had some problems. So there were safety aspects as well.

The letter was written in confidence but the mother treated it as an insult, made a complaint, went to the press and escalated the whole sorry story, dragging the name of the school into it as well as her own name - and thus identifying the young girl concerned.

Good grief, I'm glad I'm not in teaching any more! (I gave it up 45 years ago. Couldn't stand the stress any longer. )

All right, it was a tough inner-city school that served a number of very deprived estates. Violence among the pupils was an everyday event, and a fair chunk of that was directed toward the staff. Abut one in three of us had been assaulted, me included. But that's not my point, it's just the background.

We had a little black book in the head teacher's safe, and it contained all the highly confidential and personal information that we needed to do our jobs properly. Such as which kids were known to be in trouble with the police, and which ones had been caught carrying knives, and which ones were believed to be on drugs, and which ones had violent fathers in prison (there were one or two in every class). And which mothers the social services had identified as being at risk. Sometimes that meant that they were being beaten up at home, and sometimes it meant that they were on the game. (You don't get much homework from a kid who's being locked out of the flat every night till 1 am.)

Health issues were the very least of our concerns! But yes, we had epileptics, ultra-allergics, and others who might drop dead at any moment. You never forget the first kid who collapses with a grand mal in the middle of your lesson. (In my case, his classmates knew better than I did what needed to be done, and he was soon breathing again. A few minutes later, so was I. )

Anyway, the rules at the time were that the little black book had to be available to parents for inspection, upon request. Which was why the school kept two little black books, one of which didn't officially exist. And we couldn't honestly have done our best for those kids without knowing that background stuff.

And that was in the innocent 1970s! (Education Minister at the time was M. Thatcher.) I really don't know how they do things these days - possibly nothing has changed? - but it can really be quite hard to square the need for privacy with other overriding factors, such as the kids' need to stay alive. My sympathies to the school in Stevensfo's story.

BJ

Good God! I was a pupil in a huge Comprehensive in the 70s and never saw anything like that, though to be fair, we were in East Anglia, surrounded by villages and small towns. Coming from a small, friendly village Primary school with a loving Headmaster and staff, I still remember the shock of the change, but fortunately, the teachers were fantastic and we had a new forward-thinking Headmaster.

I did some volunteer English teaching when I worked in France, and later in the Stevenage area (Adult Literacy classes) and loved it. My wife always said I'm a born teacher.

At that time, the OU had part-time PGCEs and I spent a few years thinking about going into teaching. In the end, apart from learning about the considerable drop in salary, I was contacting people for ideas, and slowly realised that for every person who said "Go for it", there were at least five who thought I was mad, and gave their reasons.

My uncle and aunt retired early from teaching ages ago and admitted they'd never go back at any price. Even if you have nice kids to teach, it's the other administrative and bureaucratic silly things they have to cope with.

Steve.

PS When I stop paid work in a year or so, I plan to offer my services as a volunteer English teacher, here in Italy. Brexit works both ways, and I heard that they are desperate for mother-tongue English teachers. Though adults only! An Irish colleague's daughter teaches English to kids and from what I hear I wouldn't survive more than ten minutes.

[UncleEbenezer]

PS When I stop paid work in a year or so, I plan to offer my services as a volunteer English teacher, here in Italy. Brexit works both ways, and I heard that they are desperate for mother-tongue English teachers.

In my time in Italy in the 1990s I knew several teachers of English as a foreign language. They were in demand.

One of them was a Bulgarian lady. Her English was like my Italian: fine for general conversation, but you'd never mistake her for a native. Her qualification was down to having spent time in Edinburgh, married to a Scot. She was still in demand to teach English.

[didds]

[people have forgotten how to cook and it seems are no longer taught in school.

ive no diea what is or isnt taught in schools now wrt cooking, as my kids are all well into their 20s now. But when they were at secondary school very little of what they did in "cooking" seemed really relevant.

I recall them doing pizza (where one son was deducted points cos he didnt have pineapple on his pizza, even though as he explkained he doesnt like pineapple on pizza and none of his family do either so putting it would be a waste of pineapple/money. Go figure), cheesecake that cost TEN QUID for ingredients and similar stuff all of which was mainly "frills". No soups. No stew. no shepherds pie, or meat/veg pie, no protein and three veg etc. eg basic mid week supper type grub - the stuff that sustains and relatively cheaply.

So maybe if its no longer taught its as well as what it seems WAS taught 10-15 years ago wasn't really "home ECONOMICS"

didds

[didds]

When I see fat children I blame the parents.

well. maybe that should be the grand parents, if that's how the parents were raised. If parents cant cook, they cant teach kids. Parents of younger kids today may well themselves have been born after 1990.

didds

[stevensfo]

[people have forgotten how to cook and it seems are no longer taught in school.

ive no diea what is or isnt taught in schools now wrt cooking, as my kids are all well into their 20s now. But when they were at secondary school very little of what they did in "cooking" seemed really relevant.

I recall them doing pizza (where one son was deducted points cos he didnt have pineapple on his pizza, even though as he explkained he doesnt like pineapple on pizza and none of his family do either so putting it would be a waste of pineapple/money. Go figure), cheesecake that cost TEN QUID for ingredients and similar stuff all of which was mainly "frills". No soups. No stew. no shepherds pie, or meat/veg pie, no protein and three veg etc. eg basic mid week supper type grub - the stuff that sustains and relatively cheaply.

So maybe if its no longer taught its a swell as what it seems WAS taught 10-15 years ago wasn't really "home ECONOMICS"

didds

I have no idea if you are joking, or the Home Economics teacher had a cruel sense of humour, but in Italy, putting pineapple on a pizza is considered a War Crime!

Personally, I couldn't care less, and I like pineapple.

Steve

PS Both boys and girls had to do Cookery, Needlework, Metalwork and Woodwork for at least the first year in our Comprehensive. My exercise book from 1971 with the recipe for Farmhouse Fruitcake became famous and my Grandad loved it. My mum (85) asked for the recipe a few years ago and I had to find the bloody thing, blow the dust off and send a scan to her.

[didds]

... and possibly in a modern society where basically both parents need to work, and to a large extent both are socially expected to work as well, both working aprebnts then feel they dont have the time to "cook properly" in order to feed the family. Thats not an excuse per se, more an attempt to explain?

didds

[didds]

I have no idea if you are joking, or the Home Economics teacher had a cruel sense of humour, but in Italy, putting pineapple on a pizza is considered a War Crime!

That's not a joke. Its what actually happened.

He actually still (aged 28) doesnt like any topping except black olives on a pizza. The requirement was to have two toppings even though he didnt like two toppings, but pineapple was one of them and was the example pushed by the teacher. I agree with you wrt pineapple on a pizza, and pineapple generally. The real underlying issue is that said teacher couldn't see that the requirement was ridiculous - because he COULD have put a 2nd ingredient even pineapple on it but as soon as it was marked it would be discarded. daft.

As for the £10 cheesecake (this in 2011 or so) - dont even start me.

didds

[stevensfo]

I have no idea if you are joking, or the Home Economics teacher had a cruel sense of humour, but in Italy, putting pineapple on a pizza is considered a War Crime!

That's not a joke. Its what actually happened.

He actually still (aged 28) doesnt like any topping except black olives on a pizza. The requirement was to have two toppings even though he didnt like two toppings, but pineapple was one of them and was the example pushed by the teacher. I agree with you wrt pineapple on a pizza, and pineapple generally. The real underlying issue is that said teacher couldn't see that the requirement was ridiculous - because he COULD have put a 2nd ingredient even pineapple on it but as soon as it was marked it would be discarded. daft.

As for the £10 cheesecake (this in 2011 or so) - dont even start me.

didds

Yeah, I went through all that as a pupil.

Not sure how long it lasted, since the cookery lessons were good, but the other teachers were not very happy. Kids had to take their bloody cakes, pies, pasta etc from class to class and of course, they often fell on the floor!

My mum was always at home at the time, so she put up with the demands of the school. But I can't imagine a working mum being very happy!

Actually I would never worry about pineapple on a pizza, but then, I tend to eat what's put in front of me.

Steve

PS The 'elf and safety crowd would have a field day if they saw what we had to do in the 70s. White hot fire in metalwork, axes in woodwork, checking the oven was on in Cookery etc. But apart from the very occasional slap on the backside for burning our fingers, I can't remember anyone getting injured.

[UncleEbenezer]

PS The 'elf and safety crowd would have a field day if they saw what we had to do in the 70s. White hot fire in metalwork, axes in woodwork, checking the oven was on in Cookery etc. But apart from the very occasional slap on the backside for burning our fingers, I can't remember anyone getting injured.

Working liberally with asbestos. And benzene - though technically that had been banned, our chemistry teacher took a different view.

I honestly can't remember what we did in home economics classes. I know it was supposed to be cooking, but my recollection of actually learning to cook comes from a couple of years later when my brother and I were doing a summer job. We were living in our aunt's house, and she said that with three of us there and all working, we could jolly well share the cooking (with use of several cookery books she had) rather than expect her to do it all. So it was a week on, two weeks off. Give that challenge to two teenage lads, and of course it got competitive!

[Nimrod103]

PS The 'elf and safety crowd would have a field day if they saw what we had to do in the 70s. White hot fire in metalwork, axes in woodwork, checking the oven was on in Cookery etc. But apart from the very occasional slap on the backside for burning our fingers, I can't remember anyone getting injured.

Working liberally with asbestos. And benzene - though technically that had been banned, our chemistry teacher took a different view.

I honestly can't remember what we did in home economics classes. I know it was supposed to be cooking, but my recollection of actually learning to cook comes from a couple of years later when my brother and I were doing a summer job. We were living in our aunt's house, and she said that with three of us there and all working, we could jolly well share the cooking (with use of several cookery books she had) rather than expect her to do it all. So it was a week on, two weeks off. Give that challenge to two teenage lads, and of course it got competitive!

Never did home economics. What I know of cooking was gained from months under canvas doing field work, and knowing how to make tinned meat and tinned tomatoes palatable, and last a week. And using a most vicious tin opener.
As to school health and safety, as 6th formers I remember enjoying a considerable amount of freedom. I used to take nitric and hydrochloric acids home for my own experiments. There was a standing joke that all the chemistry masters we knew either had a limp or had lost the use of an arm (mostly war wounds actually). Then there was the time one of the teachers added water to the sodium (instead of the other way round), and the time somehow we managed to make phosphine and the extractor fans broke, and we cleared half the school building.

[stevensfo]

Working liberally with asbestos. And benzene - though technically that had been banned, our chemistry teacher took a different view.

I honestly can't remember what we did in home economics classes. I know it was supposed to be cooking, but my recollection of actually learning to cook comes from a couple of years later when my brother and I were doing a summer job. We were living in our aunt's house, and she said that with three of us there and all working, we could jolly well share the cooking (with use of several cookery books she had) rather than expect her to do it all. So it was a week on, two weeks off. Give that challenge to two teenage lads, and of course it got competitive!

Never did home economics. What I know of cooking was gained from months under canvas doing field work, and knowing how to make tinned meat and tinned tomatoes palatable, and last a week. And using a most vicious tin opener.
As to school health and safety, as 6th formers I remember enjoying a considerable amount of freedom. I used to take nitric and hydrochloric acids home for my own experiments. There was a standing joke that all the chemistry masters we knew either had a limp or had lost the use of an arm (mostly war wounds actually). Then there was the time one of the teachers added water to the sodium (instead of the other way round), and the time somehow we managed to make phosphine and the extractor fans broke, and we cleared half the school building.

In our school (c.78), they went to great lengths to treat the sixth-formers as adults and it worked well...up to a point.

With our freedom, we did some very silly things. Dissected rat, worm and fish parts slipped into various places, in one class chairs turned around so they all faced the wall. Sounds petty, but the teacher was a terrible snob who treated a dyslexic friend of mine very rudely and who thought the sun shone out of his.....! Then the quiet visits to the labs where we innocently added some sulphides into a bit of acid, making the rotten egg chemical H2S (stink bombs). By the time other teachers came to complain, we were long gone.

Steve

PS I'm sure that nitric acid would never be allowed in schools today. An integral part of Nitroglycerine, is it not?