Is Norma Foley a visionary?

CookingGuy

In some areas this will be adopted without much trouble, in other "underprivileged" areas god help the teachers

Wanderer78

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122531957#Comment_122531957

impossible to say what ll happen in the future, but never underestimate the nature of addiction and addictive activities, the war on drugs is flying, isnt it, and has certainly reduced drug use, hasnt it!

it ll probably to and fro, but i suspect its gonna get much much worse before it starts to improve, and ai has only truly begun!

i realise im a part of a very small part of society, ive largely rejected social media, again, i havent gone beyond boards, never used the alternatives, it does cause issues, but jesus this approach has also done me a huge favors to, log out folks, seriously, its really not good for you, spend more time with your loved ones, spend time with kids having fun, spend time doing what truly drives you…

Lillyfae

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122532060#Comment_122532060

It does often seem counterintuitive when you see which children have the own brand tupperware and which have the Stanley cups and AirUps. It's a whole new world once they start school, it's definitely been a steep learning curve for me. Brand names and bling are prevalent in places where you would imagine that extra curricular activities would be more valuable. Definitely more useful than smartphones!!

Lillyfae

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122532144#Comment_122532144

I'm the same but like I said when you have children the only way that you can parent these days is by being one step ahead of them in terms of technology. I've got no Twitter, Insta, Tiktok, nothing really. I've recently got Minecraft for myself because the eldest has been asking for it and to my shame I can't work it out at all. OH is even more useless. I'm happy to do all I can but there are so many things now I don't even know where I should start.

SuperBowserWorld

As a middle aged man, who has worked in software development for 30+ years, I can see this **** a mile away, and even still I can say I've wasted the past 10+ years of my life because of smartphones, especially since covid.

Even though I know the negative effect it has on me, I got sucked in. I even smashed my phone over 10 years ago, to break a habit ... but it's so shiny, addictive and easy and I fell right back in.

Cheap mobile broadband + smartphone + addictively presented content = digital crack.

I try to restrict my usage and stick only to boards and news and information sites, but then I find I'm doom scrolling on YouTube on a smart TV to avoid the real world.

Absolute waste of time and fuel huge anxiety, worry and negativity in me. In that time I could have a much better career, invested smartly, avoided some reckless situations ... yada yada yada ..

Can you imagine what would have happened if I had a smart phone at 12 ?

I remember a very intelligent guy in 1996 saying to me that he only uses the Internet when he needed to solve a particular problem or find specific information otherwise he found he wasted too much time on it. This folks is the difference between wise people and sheep.

Wanderer78

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122532181#Comment_122532181

designers of this tech are extremely intelligent, its clearly designed to be highly addictive, so we clearly need to treat it as such, so an all out ban simply wont work, id say kids will just hide their phones, and carry on…

im not a parent myself, but id say theres a good chance id install phone blocking in the house if i was, id be driven demented with it, severely disrupting the house

forumdedum

no

csirl

Love the free school books in primary school. Got a letter from one of my kids schools saying that they need to collect €40 extra (in addition to the usual "voluntary contrbution") from each kid as the Department doesnt pay the full cost of the books.

Wanderer78

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122532216#Comment_122532216

…remember now, our educational system is 'free'!

Kathnora

The WhatsApp class parents' groups are my bug bear. They start off all friendly and chatty but how long does it take to turn them into a forum for complaining about the teacher and the school? And lots of misinformation can follow too. Some parents get all their information from the group and believe it all to be true! If Amy misses Golden Time on a Friday it's the teacher who is considered too harsh. How many know why Amy was disciplined or do they just take the parents side of the story as the gospel truth? This type of interaction among parents can lead to a belief that the teacher or school is always wrong. It encourages disrespect for those in authority and it doesn't take long for that to rub off on the children. Similarly with complaints about uniform or rules for school tours and the like. Are all teachers and schools perfect? Of course not! My own 4 met poor teachers, lazy teachers and incompetent principals in their educational journey. But the place to deal with all that is in a face to face meeting with the teacher or principal not on the WhatsApp group chat.

Lillyfae

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122532230#Comment_122532230

I mostly find ours quite useful, the school are using multiple platforms to communicate with parents none of which are equipped with notifications. At least the parents in the WhatsApp group drop something in when there’s an update.

Wanderer78

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122532253#Comment_122532253

there are major benefits to social media, it really isnt all bad, but its very prone to turning to sh1te, and very quickly to

CookingGuy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122532166#Comment_122532166

Well when you live in those areas and see a lot of wives and mammies driving around in 50k SUV's and Range rovers and they work part time in a nail bar you kind of do the sums in your head.

Lillyfae

Shur they’ve the nail bar/ hair salon/ microblading setup at home and the live out boyfriend’s plc for the cash and carry pass, why would they need to work for anyone?

Hotblack Desiato

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122530817#Comment_122530817

Really? If for whatever reason a parent needs to contact their child urgently, they can call the secretary and pass on a message.

Wanderer78

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122532505#Comment_122532505

…the phones arent going away, so….

Hotblack Desiato

We're nearly a quarter of the way through the twenty-first century and we still have:

• 95% of the primary schools we pay for, controlled by a church.
• Priests / their appointees on boards of management.
• BOMs can hire and fire teachers on religious grounds, perfectly legally.
• More time in primary school spent teaching religion than science.
• No real respect for, or facilitation of, the constitutional right of parents to opt their child out of religious instruction.
• Single-sex education still rampant.

Then at second level we have

• About half of the primary schools we pay for, controlled by a church.
• Same as above in relation to religious discrimination against teachers.
• No option in most cases to do another subject instead of religious education/instruction.
• Religion introduced in recent years as an exam subject, when it never was before!
• The Koran used as a set text for a state exam (Arabic) !!
• Uniforms (bad enough in general) but in many schools girls are forced to wear skirts.
• In some places like Limerick, the girls look like something out of The Handmaid's Tale.

What's Foley doing about any of the above?

Nothing.

Her role as an FFer is to prevent necessary social change for as long as possible.

Wanderer78

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122532565#Comment_122532565

…and the fact there probably wont an alternative government, a government without ffg, for a very long time, oh joy to the world!

Eoinbmw

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058365459/is-norma-foley-a-visionary

A real Pearl of Wisdom that one..

CatLick

Fair enough to ban phones in school. Teens won't care too much if EVERYONE is off the internet. They can still have the devices at 3.45.

Sheep breeder

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122530809#Comment_122530809

Just wondering have you any children in secondary school, there is two types of student in secondary schools nowadays, first the one that wants to be in school to learn and get ahead with third level expectations, second the one that doesn’t want to be there and future ambitions are limited and only wants to disrupt all the time, this is the big issue in schools and also the teachers are a bigger impact the same as one and two above, the one that doesn’t want to teach is a way bigger issue than mobile phones.

buried

The only thing this wan can literally envision(and care about) is a Fianna Fail leadership contest coming up real soon, so she needs a nice loud PR headline about how she is going to do something about mobile phones, while teacher recruitment and retention is what she should be dealing with.

mariaalice

Mine are long since grown up, I agree with the phone ban provided it is something like Yonder with obvious and simple rules.

I would never dream of getting involved in school WhatsApp app groups except strictly for information about the operation of the school, discussing individual teachers could lead to accusations of slander which is very serious and might have some GDPR issues as well.

Anyone wanting children to do well in their education dont get involved in petty snobbery about DESIS schools or comment or have an opinion on parents who Drive 50k SUVs its nothing to do with your family or your children.

Confident and secure children who are a product of confidant and secure parents are not as influenced by having the latest thing or doing the latest thing because coming from a secure family, the family values they see around them are a kind of protective cloke.

There are all kinds of teachers and some are not great but the vast majority are competent at their job.

Academic ability matters and there is no way around that.

Luckily in today's society, there are a loads of opportunities to do well after formal schooling.

mariaalice

The other advantage of phones hanging to be put in yonder is it teaches/models self regulation which can be difficult for children with ADHD or academic issues.

The temptation is taking away from them

It's very difficult for some children to self regulate so why not give them support with the issue.

Hotblack Desiato

https://www.irishtimes.com/ireland/education/2024/08/23/leaving-cert-results-2024-ireland-full-coverage-breaking-news-students/

Exam results artificially increased by average of 7.5% this year, leading to increase of more than two-thirds of all grades

Most grades (68 per cent) have been increased to match the record high levels of recent years, following a direction from the Minister for Education to keep grades at this level

This grade inflation is a joke and Foley is forcing the Dept to retain it, because party politics.