Archives for 2017

Boys Failure is not an option!

08/01/2017 By ACOMSDave Leave a Comment

Failure is not an option

The infographic (link in the further reading section) gives some interesting information as to why boys seem to be lagging behind girls in terms of achievement in education, and their future development academically

Some interesting facts:

girls out perform boys in ALL countries when it comes to reading.
At age 15, 60% of the lowest achievers in mathematics and science are boys
20% of boys play collaborative online games as against 2% of girls

There is considerably more information on this infographic which was produced from OECD figures and reports.

The following excerpts from the report ‘The ABC of Gender Equality in Education: Aptitude, Behaviour, confidence is telling and worrying –

…Young men are significantly more likely than young women to have low levels of skills and poor academic achievement, and are more likely to leave school early…(Osborne et al., 2003: Charles and Grusky, 2004)

…Many boys find school out of sync with their interests and preferences and, as a result, often feel disaffected and not motivated to work in school…the underachievement of young men has severe consequences not only for their own futures (Erikson et al., 2005; Rose and Betts, 2004), but for societies as a whole (OECD, 2010)…

The continuous tinkering with the United Kingdom’s educational system, the under investment, and undermining of teachers, the closure of libraries with also the lack of ‘relevant’ areas of interest for boys within both education and libraries means that we are on a road leading to failure for both our society and our country.

Failure is not an option, if we want to succeed as a country!

Into The Wild – A Movie Review

05/01/2017 By ACOMSDave Leave a Comment

Name of movie: Into The wild

Date: 2007

Length (hrs): 2h 28mins

Film genre: Adventure, Biography, Drama

Characters: Christopher McCandless

Awards: Nominated for 2 Oscars; Won Golden Glove ‘Best Original Song’, Nominated Golden Glove Best Original Score, Screen Actors Guild Awars Nominated Actor in 4 areas, AFI Awards Won Movie of the Year

Setting: Mostly Alaska

Plot information: Christopher McCandless has just graduated from Emory University as a top student and athlete. However, he is disillusioned with the ‘rat race’ and gives his $24,000 university savings account to charity and then through a series of adventures and encounters with wonderful characters, who are like pen drawings in their details and shortness on the screen, he makes his way to Alaska – his journey ‘Into The Wild’.

This is based on a true story, and the movie comes across as real, as do the characters. You get engrossed with the development of the story, and also you want to know what happens with all the characters.

When does the movie take place?

Who are the main characters:

See IMDB Cast

What makes the Into The Wild interesting? For myself what makes this interesting, is that earlier in my life, I considered going walk about. I looked at Canada, I looked at the Grand Canyon, I looked at many areas to get away from it all. I think many of us during our lives encounter a time when we have had enough of ‘life’ and want to escape. For most of us, we shake it off, probably regret it at some time in the future, but we settled down for the mundane. This movie shows what can happen if you follow that dream.

The best part for me is when he discovers Alaska and finds his dream. He encounters many adversities during his time in Alaska, and at times evens has pangs for the’real’ world. However he stills ends up staying in Alaska.

The people who will love this movie are those who can dream, and can understand why others have dreams which are outside the norm for society.

On a scale of 1 (don’t like) – 5 (like), how do you rate this movie? I give this move a 5

Brexit questions to be answered

01/01/2017 By ACOMSDave Leave a Comment

Brexit - walls shored up with sand Over the next months, Brexit questions are going to start being raised which will need to be answered, for example:-

What is going to happen to the civil servants currently working for the United Kingdom MEPs in Europe, when Brexit starts impacting properly?
How is the government going to help with documentation and communication re standards to comply with EU markets when Brexit has been implemented?
How will regions and counties in the UK be supported from the government with the additional costs that Brexit will generate? Can we look at how Germany handles it regional areas for inspiration?

Obviously the questions will continue to grow, as will the dissatisfaction with the lack of response from Teresa May, the Prime Minister of the UK. Yes I do understand that the PM and the government must be allowed time to formulate policy and the negotiation platform, but unless the extraneous areas as I have mentioned above are put into the pot as well, then this exit will be a completed fiasco.