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Ryan Bridge: Old school is the best school · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

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  Speaker 1: In education, old school is the best kind of school.
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  Speaker 1: Secondary students will be forced to learn science as well
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  Speaker 1: as maths and English in the fifth form or year
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  Speaker 1: eleven they call it now. They'll be graded not on
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  Speaker 1: merit or achieved or whatever, but a plus two E.
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  Speaker 1: So far, so uncontroversial, I would have thought. On top
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  Speaker 1: of that, exams will be compulsory in every subject, everyone
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  Speaker 1: gets an exam. Gone are the days of handing in
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  Speaker 1: pre prepared essays drafted with the assistance with the help
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  Speaker 1: of Google. Now, despite the fact that ten thousand people
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  Speaker 1: provided feedback on these changes, there will no doubt be
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  Speaker 1: union reps upset with change, because they normally are. But
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  Speaker 1: old school practices are back in vogue, even in their
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  Speaker 1: beloved Scandinavia of Sweden, for example, going back to basics
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  Speaker 1: in order to get their reading levels back up. They're
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  Speaker 1: bringing back physical books like pages with paper, getting rid
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  Speaker 1: of iPads and laptops for some classes. They're bringing back
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  Speaker 1: handwriting too, not typing handwriting. They'll have less time in
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  Speaker 1: front of screens. Why are they doing this? Well? Is
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  Speaker 1: better for the kids learning. You're more likely to retain
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  Speaker 1: information if you've taken the time to write it. Up
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  Speaker 1: by hand. It imprints it into your brain in a
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  Speaker 1: way that's not possible with a laptop or a computer.
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  Speaker 1: The BBC reports Sweden's reading levels were top of the
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  Speaker 1: class in Europe in two thousand, then they took a nosedive.
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  Speaker 1: What happened around the same time books were replaced by
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  Speaker 1: digital in classrooms. So when people complain about these changes
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  Speaker 1: being made here, it might be priven to ask whether
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  Speaker 1: there was anything wrong with the way that we were
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  Speaker 1: doing things back in the day, and, more to the point,
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  Speaker 1: what's happened to achievements since we made changes. Barnyard style classrooms,
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  Speaker 1: more internal assessment, choose your own adventure qualifications, fewer exams,
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  Speaker 1: laptops on every desk. These things make students' lives easier,
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  Speaker 1: I'm sure, but easier doesn't mean better, certainly not in
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  Speaker 1: the long run. For more from Early Edition with Ryan Bridge,
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  Speaker 1: listen live to news talks at be from five am weekdays,
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  Speaker 1: or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.