Engineers who did not enjoy school - are they rare?

Roy Bowdler:

• Unless someone acquires fundamental numeracy and literacy early, then much of teenage education is wasted and is just “childminding”.

• Testing at an early age might focus attention, but dysfunctionally also creates fear, failure and an exam factory mentality at the expense of curiosity and a love of learning.

• Some young people may (perhaps due to a condition like dyslexia) struggle to gain functional literacy and numeracy, but every remedial effort should be made.  

• Each young person has a different talents, aptitude or potential to succeed in different ways. They will also have different motivations derived from their personality and key influences. These traits are not fixed but emergent. The system generally and individual teachers need flexibility to nurture what emerges. Parents (or equivalent) also have a role.

• Engineering and Technology careers in particular illustrate well how opportunities for learning can be life-long. Regulators under the influence of academics and for bureaucratic convenience favour “deep theory first”, but experienced practitioners often illustrate a more flexible mix of applications supported by necessary and more modest theory.

• A significant range of latent talents such as sport, entertainment, practical skills and entrepreneurialism for example, tend to be poorly served by school academic syllabuses.  

• “Social Skills” and the acquisition of social capital (aka connections) are the main reasons why people invest significant sums in private education. Academic selection and focus (e.g. Grammar Schools) can achieve similar if not higher attainment in “academic” subjects.  Based on a relatively small sample of acquaintances over the years, both Eton and Millfield spring to mind as different but equally admirable?                                  

 

I agree with this. What you have omitted, and it goes back to the OP, is anything about children who 'fail' at school socially:

• Children who struggle badly with the social side of school or just don't fit in.

• Children who are generally unpopular at school for reasons that they cannot understand or do anything about.

• Children who fail to make any friends at school.

• Children who are not respected by or looked down on by their peer group or teachers.

• Children who are excluded from social activities - like never given the prominent roles in school plays or invited to birthday parties etc.

• Children who are bullied and victimised.

• Children who say that they hate school or don't want to go to school because of social issues rather than academic issues.

Completely regardless of their academic ability.


Schools are generally not very good at providing help for children who are failing at school socially in a similar way to providing help for children who are failing at school academically. As I have previously stated, governments and university academics over the decades have focused their attention onto the academic side of school whilst largely overlooking the social sides of school. It has sadly been commonplace to blame parents if their children fail at school socially for not bringing them up properly but in reality many children who fail at school socially come from stable and caring families.


I have wondered for many years why some children are significantly more popular at school than others, and what makes them popular.

Roy Bowdler:

• Unless someone acquires fundamental numeracy and literacy early, then much of teenage education is wasted and is just “childminding”.

• Testing at an early age might focus attention, but dysfunctionally also creates fear, failure and an exam factory mentality at the expense of curiosity and a love of learning.

• Some young people may (perhaps due to a condition like dyslexia) struggle to gain functional literacy and numeracy, but every remedial effort should be made.  

• Each young person has a different talents, aptitude or potential to succeed in different ways. They will also have different motivations derived from their personality and key influences. These traits are not fixed but emergent. The system generally and individual teachers need flexibility to nurture what emerges. Parents (or equivalent) also have a role.

• Engineering and Technology careers in particular illustrate well how opportunities for learning can be life-long. Regulators under the influence of academics and for bureaucratic convenience favour “deep theory first”, but experienced practitioners often illustrate a more flexible mix of applications supported by necessary and more modest theory.

• A significant range of latent talents such as sport, entertainment, practical skills and entrepreneurialism for example, tend to be poorly served by school academic syllabuses.  

• “Social Skills” and the acquisition of social capital (aka connections) are the main reasons why people invest significant sums in private education. Academic selection and focus (e.g. Grammar Schools) can achieve similar if not higher attainment in “academic” subjects.  Based on a relatively small sample of acquaintances over the years, both Eton and Millfield spring to mind as different but equally admirable?                                  

 

I agree with this. What you have omitted, and it goes back to the OP, is anything about children who 'fail' at school socially:

• Children who struggle badly with the social side of school or just don't fit in.

• Children who are generally unpopular at school for reasons that they cannot understand or do anything about.

• Children who fail to make any friends at school.

• Children who are not respected by or looked down on by their peer group or teachers.

• Children who are excluded from social activities - like never given the prominent roles in school plays or invited to birthday parties etc.

• Children who are bullied and victimised.

• Children who say that they hate school or don't want to go to school because of social issues rather than academic issues.

Completely regardless of their academic ability.


Schools are generally not very good at providing help for children who are failing at school socially in a similar way to providing help for children who are failing at school academically. As I have previously stated, governments and university academics over the decades have focused their attention onto the academic side of school whilst largely overlooking the social sides of school. It has sadly been commonplace to blame parents if their children fail at school socially for not bringing them up properly but in reality many children who fail at school socially come from stable and caring families.


I have wondered for many years why some children are significantly more popular at school than others, and what makes them popular.