Poor academic performance in the 90s

[oceania]

I was at CH in the 90s. Looking back, I wonder why the school tolerated me so much. I wasn’t a rebel or a bully - I was just apathetic when it came to education. I daydreamed my way through so many lessons. History and French, for example, come to mind as subjects I didn’t engage in at all… ever. It must’ve been so frustrating for my teachers and no doubt held others back. If I’d gone to CH a few decades earlier, I’m sure I would’ve been a perfect example of what the cane was for – and my mother would’ve probably approved!

In the world of business, you have to sign a dreaded PIP (performance improvement plan) if you’re underperforming. If you don’t meet the required goals, you’ve essentially agreed to your own dismissal. Public school was a privilege and I’m sure there were plenty more deserving than me! I’m surprised I was never threatened with something similar!

Prep in my senior house was supervised by the Grecians, but their remit seemed to just involve making sure that everyone was at their desks and quiet. I was a weak kid and as a UF, the Deps and Grecians were scary looking. If they were so inclined – or perhaps nudged by my housemaster – they probably could’ve done a good job of making me study!

[rockfreak]

I started a thread a few years ago called Underperforming At CH. My experiences were in the 1950s. I too didn't exactly distinguish myself although I wasn't entirely stupid. I think I was just a bit lazy and easily distracted - always in the middle of any cricket or football game on the asphalt. A girl posted to say that in her case it was more Non-performing.

A teacher posted to say that he thought everyone has a light bulb in their head and it goes on at some point in their life and unfortunately not always while you're at school studying for those vital exams. Teenage years, exploding hormones and studying don't always go together. It was probably easier in my day because when I left in 1960 there were jobs aplenty and you could try something and if it wasn't you perhaps make a sideways move and try something else. This happy situation came to an end with Mrs Thatcher and the job market today seems to be more limited and more unforgiving. Of course at Christ's Hospital you've always got that feeling that you have got a privilege and are beholden to your sponsor.

[oceania]

Nowadays, we’d probably be diagnosed with ADHD!

Interesting what you say about jobs in the 60s. I was slightly naïve: believing a job application involved an informal chat, offer to train you from scratch and good annual pay increases for your loyalty!

[sejintenej]

couple of interesting notes there.
re employment I didn't really have a choice - I had lived my outside CH life away from everyone and everywhere so I had absolutely no idea about jobs and the job market. I was an orphan by that time with no registered adults in control but a family I had known for 12 years simply dumped me in the company their ancestors founded 300+ years before. Banking was to be my life (but not behind the counter for almost all my time.
Kit Aitken had claimed that I was good at organising and my jobs from when I was 40 required that; it got me into working in customers' offices abroad under difficult conditions , different laws, different customs which worked for me and also customers. CH version of French put me off languages in general for many yeasr but of necessities I ended up with five simply because I had to live and work with them.
I still beleive (actually know) that CH and my local schools' method of teaching languages was useless; I taught my grand daughter French in a few weeks (she ended up working outside Paris) and when one looks at the Caanadian school method ......

[Foureyes]

As a matter of interest my experience with languages, also in the Fifties, was quite different. I was put in the German class for no particular reason that I can remember, but it proved a fortuitous selection. I was taught by Pongo Littlefield and I remember the text books to this day: Deutsches Leben and Emile und die Detektive. He was an excellent teacher and particularly hot on grammar. In fact, curiously, I learnt more about English grammar in Pongo's German class that I did in (supposedly) English classes. A year after leaving C.H. I spent a month on an exchange visit in Austria where my host family refused to utter one word of English, and that, coupled with Pongo's excellent grounding in German vocabulary, meant that by Week 2 I was fairly proficient and by Week 4 I passed as an Austrian! So, I have no complaints whatsoever. Some 30 years later I met Pongo at a Housey 'do' and was very happy to be able to express my thanks, which, I believe, he greatly appreciated.

On a lighter note, unbeknown to me before my arrival in Austria, the father of the family was a famous mountaineer and as a special (sic) treat he took me up the Grossglockner - the 'highest mountain in the Fatherland' - all 12,382 feet of it. It was the real thing - roped together, icepicks, night on the mountain, etc, etc. I have never been so frightened in my life - I made it to the top, but promised myself that I would never ever climb another mountain, which, I am happy to say, I have kept.
David

[sejintenej]

Interesting what David writes about Pon go Littlefield and German. After wouking in many countries the firm arranged 2 years classes (2 hours a week) German taught by a German woman. She, as a person was probably OK but as a teacher - yeuch. I learned absolutely nothing except that I always pronounced words "wrong". By contrast my carioca teacher was t o u g h and I learned a lot very quickly because of her manner.

I have written it before; GCSE French is a joke, useless, waste of time and money. One of the Canadian states handled it better by making everything in the school in French with English a punishable crime.

[scrub]

I was also at CH around that time, and from memory, as long as you weren't getting 0 on all your tests or not turning in a single page of prep or being disruptive, most teachers would just leave you alone. Actually, even if you were bottom of the class, as long as you weren't disruptive, they'd leave you be.
You'd get the standard "has potential but needs to apply themselves" on a report and maybe the careers advisor would suggest you find a trade rather than apply to uni, but in general, as long as you weren't a problem that required any form of action from them, you could cruise through until leaving without any real dramas.

You can do this in most jobs too, IME.

[sejintenej]

I learnt more about English grammar in Pongo's German class that I did in (supposedly) English classes. A year after leaving C.H. I spent a month on an exchange visit in Austria where my host family refused to utter one word of English, and that, coupled with Pongo's excellent grounding in German vocabulary, meant that by Week 2 I was fairly proficient and by Week 4 I passed as an Austrian!

Exactly my experience. Got O level French which turned out to be crap. Being posted abroad I mixed almost always with the local people and learned 4 "street" languages and even got publicly taken for a local in one. Not what would pass an exam but I ended up confident in each (and was working in lawyers' offices for one). Second country was the best; went into a bar and was enjoying a beer when I was challenged to darts. I lost but that was the start of learning Carioca from friends. That is how I learned English (but CH does not supply beer!)
In a bank you come across all sorts of customers and I was called upon to deal with the problem ones; two of them insisted I learn bits of their languages - Egyption arabic (all forgotten) Japanese (have a Japanese professor close to where I am now) and Akan (my UK local chemist was shocked to be addressed !). After retiring we moved to France so learned that and......
my granddaughter came to stay days after GCSE French (she got a B). She and a friend used to go to town in the evenings and mix with the locals; after 5 days she said she had learned more French than in several school years. Her first job for several years? - princess at the Paris Disneyworld!
So, IMHO, going to a country where you do not speak the language can be at least frightening. Being dumped amongst people who don't know English is THE way.
There is a scale of how hard it is for an English speaker to learn foreign languages. German is in tier 1, French in tier 2 and Chinese and japanese in tier 5. Why is CH teaching Chinese and what would those pupils hope rto acheive given that GCSE is such a low standard. Made a practical suggestion to the headmaster but seems no interest.