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Re: Are we alone?

Posted: Sat May 01, 2010 8:33 am
by Pixie
icomefromalanddownunder wrote:
dinahcat wrote:That's a shame . I imagine that even if they didn't appreciate themselves they could see the good it did for so many other people .

Well, yes, in an ideal world; but I believe that we had/have to deal with any negative experiences and memories, and come out the other side healthy and content, before we can begin to consider other people.
Especially for those of us who were at Hertford.

Re: Are we alone?

Posted: Sat May 01, 2010 11:13 am
by dinahcat
I was at Hertford. It was horrible in my view and I hated every second of every day but the school isn't like that now . I just see that time as 'another country'. CH is a completely different place now as are most boarding schools which have moved on from the 70s.I guess I can see ,though,how personal rage would colour anyone's view about donating and supporting the school . I got bored with moaning about it eventually as the school I went to, just doesn't exist any more so I am OK about it. Maybe if you are younger than I am (and that wouldn't be hard!) enough time hasn't passed . I think if you were in the transition stage before the merger was complete and were left at Hertford with a hand full of staff and students and no facilities you probably have a lot to moan about. It must have been vile. Fair enough.

Re: Are we alone?

Posted: Sat May 01, 2010 12:13 pm
by Pixie
I'm probably older than you dinahcat.

I understand that the school is different now and has been for sometime but I would never have considered sending my son there. I have many good memories, mostly of friendships, but the school was a complete disappointment and nowhere near a good school academically. I lived with a sense of abandonment, especially in the early years, as I didn't come from a difficult background. It took me a long time to come to terms with that and I vowed I would never send my child to a boarding school.

I wish people would stop talking about CH etc as if they are the only choice for a good education. They are not. As I have said on another thread, there are good state schools and league tables don't always tell the full story. My son went to the local comprehensive and onto to Imperial College from there, one of the very best universities in this country. His school gave him far more than CH gave me and we had him at home with us.

As for donating money I can think of many, many worthier causes.

Re: Are we alone?

Posted: Sat May 01, 2010 11:38 pm
by dinahcat
I have to say I agree with you about CH not being the academic be all and end all in the 70s.As a teacher now I have come under fire for my critsicism of Miss Morrison, for example, who in my opinion did not teach anything in the way that it would be accepted now.As a teacher of that time she just read books to us and told us to write essays and you either could or you couldn't.
If you have a good comprehensive near you and it teaches Latin and Greek you are indeed blessed . If you are not homeless you might not have to accept the 'deed of pitie' .

Re: Are we alone?

Posted: Sun May 02, 2010 1:54 am
by icomefromalanddownunder
dinahcat wrote: If you have a good comprehensive near you and it teaches Latin and Greek you are indeed blessed .
..... because speaking and writing those languages is so useful?

I enjoyed learning Latin because I was taught by Queenie, wasn't intimidated by her sarcasm, and remember being held spellbound as she read The Aeneid to us. Hmmmm, seem unable to spell it now, and didn't understand a word then, but was captivated by her love of what she was reading and how she presented it.

I also thought that it had made me 'a good speller'. Wrong, unless it's medical or some scientific terms that you would like spelt.

Learning German would have been far more useful: when travelling in Germany and Austria, where the inhabitants, unlike the Spanish and Italian, fail to comprehend my facial expressions and waving arms, and now that I am working with equipment supplied by a german company who label bits in german only. Sometimes I just KNOW that babelfish has got the translation wrong, but I can't even begin to guess what the german word on the label means. Now, if it were in italian or spanish I could at least take a guess. Er, possibly because of my knowledge of Latin?

Anyway, I have never double differentiated anything outside of the school block at Hertford, not even contemplated executing a bound buttonhole since escaping from SWSNBN, or put on a pair of cricket pads. What I have done is struggle with ordering a cup of coffee in Frankfurt, balance my cheque book and understand the rules of Australian Football.

Re: Are we alone?

Posted: Sun May 02, 2010 8:26 am
by Pixie
I don't think the teaching of latin and/or greek happens much these days. Also I don't believe that is a measure of a good school. Modern european languages or even arabic are far more useful.

It used to be said that Latin was needed for medicine, pharmacy and other allied professions. It wasn't really, it would have been easy enough to pick up the medical terms used .
Some prescribers still use latin abbreviations when they handwrite prescriptions but these abbreviations are easily learned without the need for 5 years of latin teaching. Most computer printed prescriptions do not use these abbreviations as they are now considered bad practice. Most pharmacists younger than me didn't learn latin at school but are probably finding their german, spanish etc more useful in today's world.

Re: Are we alone?

Posted: Sun May 02, 2010 9:00 am
by sejintenej
Pixie wrote:I don't think the teaching of latin and/or greek happens much these days. Also I don't believe that is a measure of a good school. Modern european languages or even arabic are far more useful.

It used to be said that Latin was needed for medicine, pharmacy and other allied professions. It wasn't really, it would have been easy enough to pick up the medical terms used .
Some prescribers still use latin abbreviations when they handwrite prescriptions but these abbreviations are easily learned without the need for 5 years of latin teaching. Most computer printed prescriptions do not use these abbreviations as they are now considered bad practice. Most pharmacists younger than me didn't learn latin at school but are probably finding their german, spanish etc more useful in today's world.
In my day (aaaah, yokel) latin was needed to go into medicine and I think Oxbridge listed it as a required O level. However, otherwise I agree with you except:

German used to be very useful for trade with Eastern Europe (Russian CCP excluded) but is no longer; I suspect that the country where it remains useful is Germany )I found everyone there seemed to speak excellent English) with perhaps Poland as an aside. Spanish remains extremely useful though I suspect French has lost it's necessity outside France and ex-colonies.

Re: Are we alone?

Posted: Sun May 02, 2010 10:18 am
by fra828
dinahcat wrote:I was at Hertford. It was horrible in my view and I hated every second of every day but the school isn't like that now . I just see that time as 'another country'. CH is a completely different place now as are most boarding schools which have moved on from the 70s.I guess I can see ,though,how personal rage would colour anyone's view about donating and supporting the school . I got bored with moaning about it eventually as the school I went to, just doesn't exist any more so I am OK about it. Maybe if you are younger than I am (and that wouldn't be hard!) enough time hasn't passed . I think if you were in the transition stage before the merger was complete and were left at Hertford with a hand full of staff and students and no facilities you probably have a lot to moan about. It must have been vile. Fair enough.
Dinahcat, how come you sent your children to CH if you had such a negative opinion of Hertford? If you don't mind me asking ,was your having been there an advantage when it came to getting your children in? Just curious as I have very negative memories of Hertford too and would have considered it hypocritical to even think of entering my daughter, not that she was eligible anyway as she has special needs. I know the school has moved on from our days in the 60's and 70's, but even though CH Hertford has gone , it's still the same school after all!

Re: Are we alone?

Posted: Sun May 02, 2010 11:46 am
by Katharine
sejintenej wrote:In my day (aaaah, yokel) latin was needed to go into medicine and I think Oxbridge listed it as a required O level.
Almost right, David, it was an ancient language so Greek would have done instead. I was one of the first Oxford entrants who did not NEED an ancient language as I had Maths or a Science A level, but I still needed two foreign languages, fortunately Latin did count as a foreign language.

Re: Are we alone?

Posted: Sun May 02, 2010 8:26 pm
by midget
In the early 1950s Latin was required for Matric, without which most universities were out of the question.