School Books rip offs

steddyeddy

bajer101 wrote: »

I ordered this book for my daughter today, I am looking forward to discovering what amazing new discovery in Maths that Folens have discovered that will justify them charging €16.40 for this book. Surely they can't be just rehashing existing knowledge and basically just copying and pasting that stuff and charging people this extortionate sum? This is crazy.
Educate Together schools are definitely a step in the right direction. But we have hopefully moved on. The next battle has to be about this nonsense of €16 maths books.

My college books cost up to 100 euro . In America the same books will cost double to triple that for some reason. Free education indeed.

katydid

purplecow1977 wrote: »

I prefer to have uniforms rather than ordinary clothes.

YOU don't have to wear the uniform..

Anyway, that's another discussion. My point is that your saying that some kinds having more expensive uniforms with crests and some having cheaper ones from Dunnes or Tescos makes no difference to the kids is exactly why the argument about uniforms making everyone the same is rubbish.

katydid

zeffabelli wrote: »

On BBC 4 radio there are a number of terrific podcasts from leading educators. In one of them, sorry I can't remember which one, he cites that they already know that homework is pointless, and we still do it.

Education is about 60 years behind the research.

Especially now when kids have two working parents.....there simply may not be the time at home for this....and just adds to the stress of homelife. If they want to continue homework then they need to start implementing after school homework clubs, which as arguably also a dumb idea.

So one "leading educator", whose name you don't know, says homework is a bad idea.... I'm sure there are many "leading" and not so "leading" educators who would say the opposite.

As I said, homework teaches self study skills and reinforces what's learned at school. The problem arises when there is too much of it, and it is just given for the sake of it. A primary school child should spend no longer than half an hour on homework.

heldel00

zeffabelli wrote: »

On BBC 4 radio there are a number of terrific podcasts from leading educators. In one of them, sorry I can't remember which one, he cites that they already know that homework is pointless, and we still do it.

Education is about 60 years behind the research.

Especially now when kids have two working parents.....there simply may not be the time at home for this....and just adds to the stress of homelife. If they want to continue homework then they need to start implementing after school homework clubs, which as arguably also a dumb idea.

Parents are not supposed to sit over their children while they are doing their homework. HW is reinforcement of something which has been covered at school so they should be doing it by themselves. Parents should only need to check that it is all done but must hear reading and spellings. I often tell parents to do the reader at bedtime as their story.

purplecow1977

I disagree Katy.
They all wear the same navy uniform and a small crest isn't noticed.
On non uniform days the divided between richer and poorer is far more noticeable.
Not so currently.
I can't say I've noticed those who have or don't have the crest either.

katydid

purplecow1977 wrote: »

I disagree Katy.
They all wear the same navy uniform and a small crest isn't noticed.
On non uniform days the divided between richer and poorer is far more noticeable.
Not so currently.
I can't say I've noticed those who have or don't have the crest either.

The crests are more expensive, so the difference between well of and not well off are clear. The same as they would be with other clothes. It's the principle of the matter - if you claim that the purpose of uniform is not to differentiate, then you shouldn't have such a policy in the school. They should all be clones, or none.

The non-uniform days are only a parlaver because they are a novelty; they wear their best clothes because it's a chance to show off. If every day was a non uniform day, they would just wear normal clothes.

zeffabelli

heldel00 wrote: »

Parents are not supposed to sit over their children while they are doing their homework. HW is reinforcement of something which has been covered at school so they should be doing it by themselves. Parents should only need to check that it is all done but must hear reading and spellings. I often tell parents to do the reader at bedtime as their story.

I hate to be the one to tell you this but reality is often not how one imagines it "should" be.

In the US for example, many schools no longer grade homework because its not fair on the kids who have two parents working or the kids in single parent households.

The readers by the way, are dreadful. With the rich tradition the English language has in childrens literature, why do they pick these banal unimaginative texts. They are the anti dote to the joy of reading.

heldel00

zeffabelli wrote: »

I hate to be the one to tell you this but reality is often not how one imagines it "should" be.

In the US for example, many schools no longer grade homework because its not fair on the kids who have two parents working or the kids in single parent households.

The readers by the way, are dreadful. With the rich tradition the English language has in childrens literature, why do they pick these banal unimaginative texts. They are the anti dote to the joy of reading.

Which readers are these you speak of?
When I refer to readers I am talking about graded readers that I have spent hundreds of euros on over the years. Different story in every single one. Variety of fiction/non fiction. Children in my classroom get a new reader twice a week. Nothing banal or unimaginative in them I can tell you.
And if I can find the time in a jam packed day to hear each child's reader (multigrade class with 31 children btw) and give them a new one then the least I expect is that it is listened to at home.
It goes both ways. If parents put the effort in to check and sign homework then the least I can do is have manners and correct it. HW never goes unchecked in my room.

zeffabelli

heldel00 wrote: »

Which readers are these you speak of?
When I refer to readers I am talking about graded readers that I have spent hundreds of euros on over the years. Different story in every single one. Variety of fiction/non fiction. Children in my classroom get a new reader twice a week. Nothing banal or unimaginative in them I can tell you.
And if I can find the time in a jam packed day to hear each child's reader (multigrade class with 31 children btw) and give them a new one then the least I expect is that it is listened to at home.
It goes both ways. If parents put the effort in to check and sign homework then the least I can do is have manners and correct it. HW never goes unchecked in my room.

The ones that have color codes and it's about Bill and Ben go on a picnic.

Complete boring rubbish. You can't ask parents to listen to that absolute rubbish. I tell him not to bother and give him Harry Potter and Madeleine L'Engle. Now that is good reading!

heldel00

zeffabelli wrote: »

The ones that have color codes and it's about Bill and Ben go on a picnic.

Complete boring rubbish. You can't ask parents to listen to that absolute rubbish. I tell him not to bother and give him Harry Potter and Madeleine L'Engle. Now that is good reading!

That's old school you are talking about there. That day is long gone in most schools and if not you need to get fundraising to buy a selection of readers for your child's classroom!
Seriously though funds can be an issue. I've been very lucky by having a very supportive principal who never said no when you asked to buy more books.
Children love them and when I call up the groups to hear reading I usually hear a quiet "yeessss!" out of someone!