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Absolutely true JJ, the Asian folk I used to work with had an expectation that their children should not waste the education they were so lucky to have and took a great interest in how they were doing at school. That is why so many are now dentists, doctors, opticians and going into law.
My parents didn't have much money when I was little, there were very few books at home and I was an only child until I was about 9 so no older siblings to learn from. I had little encouragement but was taught to count to 20, the colours and alphabet, to write my name and to tie a shoelace before I started school. Dad did test me on spelling and my times tables when I asked him to, but his encouragement was to ridicule you if you didn't get things right! He didn't believe in educating girls, thought it was a waste of money, so disapproved of and made me do my homework where the telly was on so electric wouldn't be wasted. Despite his disapproval and insistence I was 'thick' I was determined to prove him wrong. I took and failed my 11 plus at the age of 7, but passed it at the usual time, aged 11. I went to the grammar school then, but my mother wasn't allowed to attend parents evenings in case I became big headed. I used to walk up the lane and sit on a stile to revise for my GCE 'O' levels as he disapproved of that as well, thought it shouldn't be necessary if you were 'up to it'. I still passed 9 GCE O Levels all at the first sitting and got between 1 and 3 in five subjects, but all he did was grunt without looking up from his paper when he heard. Then, of course, I was told I should be working and paying board and that I could forget University, so I had to leave school. He told me the only reason I had gone to grammar school was nothing to do with being intelligent, it was only because he had 'ALLOWED' it!!
I think every child and their circumstance is different, you don't know what goes on in a child's home, however things may appear and shouldn't just concentrate on whether a child is from a poor home. Some of those still have loving, encouraging, supportive parents. Some from better off homes do not and suffer unseen mental impoverishment.
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That's a wonderful story, Annx. It is easy to be cross with your dad, but his attitude was not atypical in those days. Daughters only had jobs to keep them out of the house and give them pocket money.
In my first job, I was paid £7 a week as a bank clerk on my first day. All of the women (5 of them) were quite experienced yet on a totally different pay scale to men and their only career move was to be a Welfare Officer in London Head Office.
In Wolverhampton, only the top 100 or so girls every year escaped this. They went to the Girls High School and it was expected they would go to University and the Professions (teaching, nursing , lawyer). Not the Dark Ages - this was 1960'ish.
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Ann, I'm the youngest of 4 and the only one to pass the 11+, which I did in Cornwall. During the summer holidays, (between primary and secondary schools) we moved to Hampshire.
Mum thought the level of education in Cornwall was lower than Hampshire, and the 11+ must have been easier, so she decided I should go to the local Secondary Modern.
They wouldn't have me, so I went to the Grammar :-D
John, when does an anomaly become the norm?
When I was at Uni, the education lecturers had no idea of the alleged and false correlation between free school meals and statemented children.
I'd also like to point out that, schools regard 'Services' children (those whose parents defend the country) as a problem, because they change schools so often, and caravan dwellers as 'travellers', and (nowadays) an 'ethnic minority' - and a problem.
So, being 'Services' children my siblings and I would leave the caravan where we lived to go to a new school, only to find we were doubly 'labelled' as problem children before we arrived :-|
This meant we were immediately 'put in our place' In Scotland, my 9 year old sister was told to 'stop putting on that stupid voice'. What stupid voice? Her English received pronunciation voice that we'd picked up in Malta! I started school (aged 5) a few weeks after her, and, by then had picked up quite a good NE Scottish accent. Far from being problem children, we picked up things quickly - it was called survival!
We never had any books (apart from an Enid Blyton book - and I've never liked her books), but I could read before I started school. I used to read my brothers Beano and Dandy. By the time I was 6, I could read, understand, and enjoy 'The Broons' and Oor Wullie',
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