I wandered lonely as a cloud . . .
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I learnt how urgently I needed to leave school and start working to take some money home. I left aged 14.
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I left around fourteen, unofficially, I’d seen all I needed to see 
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It’ll soon be time for UB40 to come home to Brum and say goodbye!!
No one cared around here, even the “Wag Man” spent most days Wagging it 
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What did I learn by rote?
How to write lines … usually a hundred times.
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I loved science and learned that the amoeba is the most basic form of life…I’ve met quite a few on my travels…
I also learned how to collect methane in an upside down gas jar full of water immersed in a pond while agitating the bottom of the pond with a stick.
Oh…and how to make large bangs…
Our science teacher was the bees knees…
So was the blonde leggy music teacher…
Who wouldn’t want ten lashes on a bare bum from Miss Parker…
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I was interred at Catholic School, I learned that I was going to go to hell.
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Interred?
Blimey, have you got a couple of hours to spare
It was more of a prison of the mind 
…I was taught that all Us Catholics would go to Heaven when We died, 
…but all Those Protestants would go to hell…Not much has changed in Glasgow. 
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By repetitively forcing traditional subjects onto the school kids I learnt that school was pretty poor and preparing children for their adult lives. Apart from woodwork (for boys) and home economics (for girls) where were the practical classes? Why was there no education on the countries political system and the importance of voting? Why was there nothing on money management, investing for your future, how pensions work, what mortgages are? Why was there zero on practical approaches to decision making or coping techniques for dealing with stress or critical thinking to help young adults debunk misinformation and challenge assumptions? Why was there nothing on making presentations, or public speaking or leadership approaches? And for me, worse, why was it that the idiot metal work teachers was the only career advisor in the school? What did he know about 90% of the work life in the real world?
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Not sure what “rote” Is. But with Parental wisdom.
Jethro’s 12yo son. Having just been Auditioned for the next School Play. Hes quite perplexed,
As the part is a.Stand Alone, No script.
Man ‘Married’ 25yrs.
Never mind son. Don’t worry said his Father.
Perhaps by next year, your get a Speaking part.
Can I have 40 winks on the Sofa, to think it over Dad.
Sorry son. No.
That’s where I’ve been thinking.
How to get a word in Edgewise.
For the Past 25yrs.
As he exits stage Left.
With A copy of >> “Calma Suit Ya” under his arm.
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As a girl, I loved school and all it offered. In the US, we were given lessons to learn by rote, and those are etched in my memory forever. The times tables, presidents by year, countries of the world and their capitals, many English grammar rules, etc.
Sounds as if brits were in agony at your schools.
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You’re getting confused between the concepts of schooling and educating.
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This Limey. Is in agony right now.
Having discovered what “rote” means. ie Repetitive.
Chanting math tables in sequence 1> ? Was a doodle.
Asked. Say 6x8 = 48
But the Grey Matter. didn’t. Seem to Matter.
If 8x6 or How many 8 in 48. was asked.
Small wonder i didn’t pass the 11Plus. And go to a Grammar School.
Father furious. Predicting that… Without knowing Multiplication Tables
The only job you will get is >> Digging Ditches.
A Slide Rule. Logarithms’ and Calculus. Saved the Bacon later.
Click click. Yippee. Now have a >> Calculator.
All da way, to where The World is an Oyster
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Mathematician or not, sometimes you just have to work it out with a pencil.
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I was a graduate of the Diane Abbott School of Numbers and hard stuff, I was crap at maths.
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I have just been discussing numbers, there is no answer, on the face of it.
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