Transition Year

muckisluck

I was a bit shocked at the Friends of the Elderly coming out in protest at young people getting the opportunity to do transition year. Surely if they want to take on someone they should have a go at those of their generation who have bankrupted the country. Or do they see a year of voluntary service as a way of having little workers for themselves. I'd say mind your own affairs elderly. Certainly work to look after yourselves but lay off the youth. They have enough going against them.

Toby Take a Bow

Definitely badly put. They could have constructively suggested replacing transition year with community service (something which many might support) rather than implicitly suggesting transition year student's are selfish twats.

Blaming all old people for our current ills, however, is probably something similar to what the OAP organisation were doing in the first place.

44leto

Its a soft way of cutting educational expenses. I think it would be better to cut this year out of the educational budget rather then increase class sizes even more.

what did they say

Eathrin

You don't understand the young people!

Where To

bluewolf wrote: »

what did they say

'Teenagers don't care about anyone but themselves.'

I was shocked and surprised to hear this.

44leto

Where To wrote: »

'Teenagers don't care about anyone but themselves.'

I was shocked and surprised to hear this.

Speaking as an X Teenager that is very true.

Eathrin

44leto wrote: »

Speaking as an X Teenager that is very true.

That's not true, how can you say that every teenager only cares about themself. Probably more so in teenagers but you'll find selfishness in all generations. And it's just cheeky to suggest that, especially from a generation that has destroyed the future of the youth.

biko

http://www.friendsoftheelderly.ie/our-work/transition-year.html
http://www.herald.ie/news/scrap-transition-year-to-help-the-elderly-charity-3054352.html

JohnMearsheimer

I don't think it would be such a bad thing. I did community service for a few months in transition year and I enjoyed it. It was the only productive thing any of us did in transition year. The whole year was largely a waste, students and teachers didn't care. We spent most of it hanging around KCs in Douglas village.

44leto

Eathrin wrote: »

That's not true, how can you say that every teenager only cares about themself. Probably more so in teenagers but you'll find selfishness in all generations. And it's just cheeky to suggest that, especially from a generation that has destroyed the future of the youth.

LOL
Its a difficult time especially for boys, I think Harry Enfield got it right.

aaronjumper

If they turn transition year into a stand alone look after the elderly program less and less will be likely to do it.

KKkitty

When I was a teenager I cared about others and was kind and polite to the elderly of my community but that was many years ago and I know some not all teenagers of today are not like that but a lot of negativity is placed on them. There's more peer pressure, pressure in life, uncertainty with their future and young people are kinda left out in their communities. I feel sorry for teenagers today.

IrishEyes19

jesus, blaming kids now for doing a year in school that from what I have seen has done a lot of good for some students. firstly its often the teachers and parents that suggest their child do it, some are very young entering the leaving cert, it gives the kids a chance to decide what to pursue in leaving cert and afterwards.

to be honest any elderly/middle aged people that I have encountered that have called young teenagers selfish, having everything, ungrateful, have been miserable people in the first place. such a sweeping statement to make and makes the person look very bitter. Times change, governments change, that is life. there are a lot of young [eople out there doing a hell of a lot of good and struggling to find their way in the first place. such a sweeping statement like that doesnt help anything

Gee Bag

Teenagers are a luxury we can no longer afford, they should be made spend a year working in the salt mines to provide revenue for the state

InTheTrees

Gee Bag wrote: »

Teenagers are a luxury we can no longer afford, they should be made spend a year working in the salt mines to provide revenue for the state

Exactly. Whiny, smelly little sh*ts most of them, and only able to think about themselves.

:mad:

KKkitty

Gee Bag wrote: »

Teenagers are a luxury we can no longer afford, they should be made spend a year working in the salt mines to provide revenue for the state

What an insightful post NOT!! Teenagers are not a luxury but a necessity. They whether you like to believe it or not are the next generation who are probably more despondent about what lies ahead for them than they care to let on. I'm sick of teenagers being slated for whatever they do. If people would give them a chance it'd be great.

muckisluck

Toby Take A Bow :"Blaming all old people for our current ills, however, is probably something similar to what the OAP organisation were doing in the first place".

If you read my original post I don't think you'll find me blaming all old people for our ills. But certainly some of the blame lies within that cohort.

Naomi00

''Friends Of The Elderly want the fourth year of school scrapped, in favour of a compulsory year of community service providing a "generation of young citizens to work in our communities''



That's what it is already. I did transition year a couple of years ago, it's basically a year of doing free work (that no one else wants to do) for charities and the school. We collected money for loads of charities, in the bad snow/ice etc while people walk past saying we were getting paid (we weren't). They never contacted us afterwards with the total number, or even said thanks.

Most of the charities and organisations have an awful attitude and treated the students pretty badly. I don't think work (which we did every week) was ever explained to anyone. There's a lot worse things but I don't want to write a huge rant.

Transition year is not a 'luxury', and you pay hundreds to even enroll in the year so their arguement is pointless. Charities biting the hand that feeds them as usual :mad:

oppenheimer1

KKkitty wrote: »

What an insightful post NOT!! Teenagers are not a luxury but a necessity. They whether you like to believe it or not are the next generation who are probably more despondent about what lies ahead for them than they care to let on. I'm sick of teenagers being slated for whatever they do. If people would give them a chance it'd be great.

Are you responding to a sarcastic post with another sarcastic post?

Gee Bag

KKkitty wrote: »

What an insightful post NOT!! Teenagers are not a luxury but a necessity. They whether you like to believe it or not are the next generation who are probably more despondent about what lies ahead for them than they care to let on. I'm sick of teenagers being slated for whatever they do. If people would give them a chance it'd be great.

No they're not, we should just harvest their organs to help us older folk live longer

dirtyden

Why did this ridiculous suggestion even get air time on the news.

A total non-story.

Community service is compulsory in many other European countries, generally after finishing school and it does not make for a more rounded socially responsible person. Generally it is 6-9 months or so in the army where you learn how to drink and fight.

Transition year students are 15-16, should they work for free at that age, some kind of state sposored slavery or should they be paid money we dont have?

Transition year itself is a good idea anyhow, gives young kids a chance to figure out slightly better what direction they want to take for their leaving. We get kids in at work for a week they can see what goes on different work places (my job is science based, they can get an idea quite quickly whether this suits them or not), they can also learn softer skills IT etc or maybe a driving class. The main problem with transition year is it is just not well oragnised in many schools.

ICANN

I was a better citizen as a teenager than I am now in my twenties.

cocoshovel

Honestly op I have no idea what you're on about, but Im just going to say that transition year in my school was the biggest waste of time ever and served only to make the class stupider. It involved coming into school every day and sitting in the same room doing absolutely nothing but chatting in a depressed slump from 9am-4pm.

vamos!

44leto wrote: »

Its a soft way of cutting educational expenses. I think it would be better to cut this year out of the educational budget rather then increase class sizes even more.

It might seem like a soft cut, but Transition Year is a huge advantage for a lot of those who do it. Not everyone is mature and focused enough to go on to Leaving Cert. I am a teacher and have seen shy, immature and/or disinterested teenager opt to or be pushed into Transition Year. Most turn over a completely new leaf. Some decide to stay in school where they would have dropped out and probably ended up on the dole due to current lack of laboring jobs. Others gained confidence and self belief and no longer require state-funded counselling. I think it looks like an easy cut but it seriously a worthy year where it is organised properly. Don't ask where we could make cuts though, as I genuinely don'r know. I can't believe the elderly group has come out with such rubbish though- yes teenagers are selfish, but they are also happy to do care in the community and the likes. They cost us all money now, but will pay their way and other people's pensions in years to come.

elefant

Gee Bag wrote: »

Teenagers are a luxury we can no longer afford, they should be made spend a year working in the salt mines to provide revenue for the state

KKkitty wrote: »

What an insightful post NOT!! Teenagers are not a luxury but a necessity. They whether you like to believe it or not are the next generation who are probably more despondent about what lies ahead for them than they care to let on. I'm sick of teenagers being slated for whatever they do. If people would give them a chance it'd be great.

whooooooosh

starbelgrade

Old people - sure, all they do is complain.

And piss themselves.

The way they go on, I'm surprised the elderly have any friends at all.

Naomi00

dirtyden wrote: »

Why did this ridiculous suggestion even get air time on the news.

A total non-story.

Community service is compulsory in many other European countries, generally after finishing school and it does not make for a more rounded socially responsible person. Generally it is 6-9 months or so in the army where you learn how to drink and fight.

Transition year students are 15-16, should they work for free at that age, some kind of state sposored slavery or should they be paid money we dont have?

Transition year itself is a good idea anyhow, gives young kids a chance to figure out slightly better what direction they want to take for their leaving. We get kids in at work for a week they can see what goes on different work places (my job is science based, they can get an idea quite quickly whether this suits them or not), they can also learn softer skills IT etc or maybe a driving class. The main problem with transition year is it is just not well oragnised in many schools.

What about getting people on the dole longterm (most- not all- of whom generally do nothing productive) to do several hours of charity work a week? Or even tidy towns work? Because they are already being paid, and should work for it.
Why would you make 16 year olds, who already do free work, do it instead? In Ireland school is extremely unbalanced, there's no room for anything other than classes in the timetable (other countries have fun things in the year) so they pay to do TY as a break, why should they be punished for that?

KKkitty

oppenheimer1 wrote: »

KKkitty wrote: »

What an insightful post NOT!! Teenagers are not a luxury but a necessity. They whether you like to believe it or not are the next generation who are probably more despondent about what lies ahead for them than they care to let on. I'm sick of teenagers being slated for whatever they do. If people would give them a chance it'd be great.

Are you responding to a sarcastic post with another sarcastic post?

No I'm not. Don't like that form of sarcasm when someone is just giving their opinion and someone feels the need to subscribe to the lowest form of wit to try make some people feel bad.

Blue_Seas

Hardly fair. Transition year at my school was great, loads of involvement outside school. Didn't learn much inside school but it definitely gave people a chance to mature, you could see the difference in September between the ones who did TY and the ones who didn't, many of the ones who went straight in to fifth year don't realize that the Leaving Cert is a 2 year course, not something you only have to take seriously in 6th year.

Depends on the school, basically. Scrapping it because the Friends of the Elderly have only seen schools that evidently didn't sell it very well is silly. At mine we did a computer course for the elderly...

I'd be much more angry about this if it wasn't just a statement on the news that probably won't go anywhere at all. I doubt anyone who has the authority to change something like this will listen

Some teens appear to be a bit high strung and not get jokes

Gee Bag

KKkitty wrote: »

No I'm not. Don't like that form of sarcasm when someone is just giving their opinion and someone feels the need to subscribe to the lowest form of wit to try make some people feel bad.

I wasn't being sarcastic, I was giving my honest opinion.

Thats the trouble with youngsters nowadays, no respect for the elderly.

dirtyden

Naomi00 wrote: »

What about getting people on the dole longterm (most- not all- of whom generally do nothing productive) to do several hours of charity work a week? Or even tidy towns work? Because they are already being paid, and should work for it.
Why would you make 16 year olds, who already do free work, do it instead? In Ireland school is extremely unbalanced, there's no room for anything other than classes in the timetable (other countries have fun things in the year) so they pay to do TY as a break, why should they be punished for that?

Yeah my post was against making kids do community service/work in transition year and leave as is, for an opportunity to learn and experience less academic material.

Sorry if it was not clear.

Although I draw the line at funding ski trips

KKkitty

Gee Bag wrote: »

KKkitty wrote: »

What an insightful post NOT!! Teenagers are not a luxury but a necessity. They whether you like to believe it or not are the next generation who are probably more despondent about what lies ahead for them than they care to let on. I'm sick of teenagers being slated for whatever they do. If people would give them a chance it'd be great.

No they're not, we should just harvest their organs to help us older folk live longer

Go back under the bridge like a good little troll.

KKkitty

Gee Bag wrote: »

KKkitty wrote: »

No I'm not. Don't like that form of sarcasm when someone is just giving their opinion and someone feels the need to subscribe to the lowest form of wit to try make some people feel bad.

I wasn't being sarcastic, I was giving my honest opinion.

Thats the trouble with youngsters nowadays, no respect for the elderly.

I'm no youngster either.

Gee Bag

KKkitty wrote: »

I'm no youngster either.

By the looks of your posts in this thread I doubt you were ever young*








* Please note. This post is an attempt at humour in accordance with the overall tone and tenor of After Hours and should not be taken too seriously.

No teenagers or OAPs were harmed in the making of this post.

candy-gal1

heard this on the radio yeasterday, have to say i was actually shocked by how it was put about, teens are lazy, selfish etc etc and should learn to take care of other people instead of just themselves :rolleyes:

I did transition year, many moons ago , and it was the best school year ever imho, voluntary work such as this should be just that, voluntary!
and preferbly not as a year choice in the school system, i would think that if this goes through as a pass for 4th year there will be very little/no students taking that year

KKkitty

Gee Bag wrote: »

KKkitty wrote: »

I'm no youngster either.

By the looks of your posts in this thread I doubt you were ever young*








* Please note. This post is an attempt at humour in accordance with the overall tone and tenor of After Hours and should not be taken too seriously.

No teenagers or OAPs were harmed in the making of this post.

Nearly choked on my false teeth there

Namlub

That's a lot of responsibilty to place on 15 and 16 year olds tbh. Most good TY programs include community work anyway...

Teyla Emmagan

Ridiculous idea. Can you imagine being alone in your home in your old age with a horrible truculent little teenager coming in a few times a week to terrorise you? The place would be stripped bare of your valuables in weeks.

Transition year should completely be scrapped though, it is a total waste of money. And I absolutely love this quote from the President of the TUI: "We send our children to school far too early in Ireland and they finish far too early."

So the solution is to send them to school LATER then - put them into creche/montessori for a year or so, not bang them straight into the state run babysitting service as soon as possible. They we won't end up with a bunch of kids who are too immature to progress into 5th year and who need another year malingering around the education system at great cost to the rest of us.

ejmaztec

Do they get to take an old fogey home with them, a bit like those artificial babies, but less lively?

vamos!

Teyla Emmagan wrote: »

Ridiculous idea. Can you imagine being alone in your home in your old age with a horrible truculent little teenager coming in a few times a week to terrorise you? The place would be stripped bare of your valuables in weeks.

Transition year should completely be scrapped though, it is a total waste of money. And I absolutely love this quote from the President of the TUI: "We send our children to school far too early in Ireland and they finish far too early."

So the solution is to send them to school LATER then - put them into creche/montessori for a year or so, not bang them straight into the state run babysitting service as soon as possible. They we won't end up with a bunch of kids who are too immature to progress into 5th year and who need another year malingering around the education system at great cost to the rest of us.

Send them later so. Around the age of 7 is the norm for some Scandinavian countries. Let the parents keep them or pay fro their care until then and then see if the parents and elderly (who could end up being used as babysitters for their grandchildren if their parents can't afford not to have free daycare/education from 4 or 5) think TY is such a waste of time and money!

Superbus

I would back TY to the hilt. Without doubt the best year of my life. I think the key thing for me is that it's compulsory in my school, so it's less neglected possibly than in other schools.

Also worth noting that I spent a mandatory 3-week period doing community service in the Royal Hospital Donnybrook. Also raised more that €100,000 in the GOAL badge collection, did various SVP fundraisers, got a First Aid qualification and did work experience.

I put it down to TY that I'm no longer the preposterously shy and awkward person I was in 3rd Year (I'm still somewhat shy, but definitely out of that shell to some extent).

So yeah, imo there are much more important and wasteful things that could be targeted.

Teyla Emmagan

vamos! wrote: »

Send them later so. Around the age of 7 is the norm for some Scandinavian countries. Let the parents keep them or pay fro their care until then and then see if the parents and elderly (who could end up being used as babysitters for their grandchildren if their parents can't afford not to have free daycare/education from 4 or 5) think TY is such a waste of time and money!

I agree with you completely.*






* I have no children.

i didn't do TY and i went to school early

so there.

Hercule Poirot

TY was basically a gap year without all the travelling in my experience, they (the teachers and such) make it sound like it willl be a productive learning period from which you will gain valuable skills when the reality was that nobody gave a sh*t, not the students nor the teachers. There was no homework, no exams (bar the ECDL) and absolutely no reason to push yourself the be the best that you be - in short, it was a complete doss. Do away it, its waste of time for all concerned.

secretambition

I would definitely be against any kind of compulsory transition year. I don't know if that is being suggested.

I would be in favour of a system that allows kids to set their own pace through school. I think the biggest obstacle to motivation is kids knowing that their junior cert is three years away, so no need to study for two and a half or leaving cert is two years away, so can have a few months holiday. Break it up into modules that can be taken as quickly as you like. Give them an incentive to work hard, cut a year off school and have a headstart on college, or the time of their lives bacpacking round Europe in that spare year, or anything other than the drudgery of sticking to the same one-for-all timetable.

IrishEyes19

candy-gal1 wrote: »

heard this on the radio yeasterday, have to say i was actually shocked by how it was put about, teens are lazy, selfish etc etc and should learn to take care of other people instead of just themselves :rolleyes:

I did transition year, many moons ago , and it was the best school year ever imho, voluntary work such as this should be just that, voluntary!
and preferbly not as a year choice in the school system, i would think that if this goes through as a pass for 4th year there will be very little/no students taking that year

completely agree. Id say the problem is, there is a huge cut by the government on resources for the elderly ect. So just as companies are now offering internships without pay ahem.... (slave labour)...........there is a now a call to offer up our 15/16 year olds to the service too.

cloud493

I didn't get to do transition year in England :mad: straight from GSCE's to A levels.

Sierra 117

I didn't bother with transition year. There was no way I was going to spend anymore time in that school than I had to.

However, plenty of students find it useful for different reasons so it should not be scrapped.

That charity wants to force students to spend a year focusing on helping the elderly rather than focusing on their own development. What utter bollox.

Hotblack Desiato

Age Action and Friends of the Elderly really should STFU.

The current generation of pensioners, in spite of the economic crisis, are still wealthier than any generation of pensioners before them.

The way things are going, they're wealthier than any generation of pensioners after them will be, either :mad:

What's going to be left in the pension pot in 25 (or 28, or 30, or maybe more if the government keep moving the goalposts) when I get to retire? F**K all I suspect.