Education, they never had it so good

[peterego]

I am an 81 year old codger. I would like to discuss the school learning environment. The so called experts talk about the school environment and its impact on education and learning.
There are several factors including teachers, the school environment and the teaching methods that will affect a childs education.
During the 1930's I was educated in ClarkenWell, London (Saffron Hill EC1) also known as little Italy. The school was Roman Catholic and was built like a factory. Stone steps lead to the classrooms and roof.
The roof was our playgorund, in the summer we had to queue up for water from a single tap. In the winter the boys (about 90 in all) would play a push and shove game in a huddle to keep warm.
This area of London in the 30's was a deprived an area as it could get and was one of the areas earmarked for slum clearance.
Although the school was mixed we were taught in seperate classes, the girls being on the ground floor. This bring me to one of my points about mixed education. There seems to be a consensus that mixed classes make for a better learning enviroment. However if the so called experts were to look into the benefits of teaching in single sex classes they would find educational results would be better. Boys and girls would not be flirting and showing off and therefore being distracted from lessons.
In most schools during this time we were taught using phonetics. This meant we could read and therefore by reading discover the difference between meaning.
As an example we could learn the difference between similar words such as the sea and see. Also by reading these word in context we get to learn the different meanings such as 'by the sea' and 'as far as we could see'.
We shouldn't judge children because they have failed their exams it doesn't mean that they will fail in life. Someone who gets no exam qualifications at school could still go on to start a successful business. For example Richard Branson failed academically as he struggled with dyslexia but then went on to be a famous and successful businessman.