I use this forum or so I thought (until two incidents tonight) for a bit of light hearted fun, but having seen how these housemutants perform in every day normal simple tasks, well it frightens me for all our futures.

I have only recently returned from mainland europe after living there for ten years and have to tell you from what I experienced education wise, in France germany and Holland, we are worlds apart from them. What I am about to type is so bad it's almost funny, many of the people I knew and worked with spoke English better than what I've heard and seen here, it's a second language to them.

The first time I watched Jeremy Kyle on UK TV I thought it was actors, no one could be that stupid I said, sadly I was wrong.

To be fair, certain types of dyslexia deter some people from learning their times tables etc,

But on the whole it was shocking.

Also, I think Big Brother took the " Spellers and Math people and put them in the pysical challenges hoping for a response.

It showed up that modern teaching off maths is pretty poor.

I was taught the times table using the rote system where there is no working out, you just know the answer.

Just watching on catch up. I'd be embarrassed if I was the mother of any of these people. There was nothing that your average child shouldn't be able to work out or spell (except maybe hymn) by the time they are 10.

Sad indictment of our education system in Britain.

Yeah, it's a great method if you're seven years old... At 51 I'd be concerned if I was unsure or didn't remember that 5 x 3 was 15, paint balls notwithstanding.

She knew the answer, of course she did. Her generation (and I speak from experience) had the times tables drilled into them relentlessly until it stuck and she only did the finger thing to make herself appear on a level with the other housemates watching.

I actually agree with this.

At ah_hm 51 I know 6X3 = 18 as much as I know Christmas day falls on 25 December. Just the way I was taught.

But my kids ( & I ) were berrated for their not picking up on the new found ways of math. Lets all do our 9 times tables with our fingers....easy, not so easy with your 7 or 8 times tables

The maths stuff was rather embarrassing but I thought they were a bit harsh on that twin who spelled 'ICICLE' with a sideways 'H' - if anything that showed initiative

[quote=Paace;78089010]
I'm trying to put this as delicately as I can; but as a non-British poster I've bitten my tongue many times when it comes to the geography, spelling, maths skills displayed on this show. My three kids can all sing their times tables. They have spelling tests and tables tests every Friday of their primary school going lives. I am flabbergasted to read earlier in the thread that children in Britain are not marked down for spelling mistakes in exams! Is that true?!?

I honestly think that if this show was Irish, the teachers who taught these people would have journalists on their doorsteps the morning after that show aired. I think there's a complacency about how jaw-droopingly astonishing it is for adults to struggle with such basic concepts.

Apologies. This isn't a xenophobic attack; but it really is astonishing.

I'm 22 and had weekly spelling tests in primary school. I normally got 100% in them. Maths has never been my strong point but the fact that these people can't do simple sums is shocking. They are not asking them to work out algebra.

One of the videos posted showed one of the girls flying through the maths questions. Obviously we were only shown where they were making mistakes. Danny was the only one who actually couldn't spell. Aaron did realise his maths mistake but too late. Had he not been squealing and jumping around like a complete idiot he probably would have got it first go.

I have two children with learning issues. It frustrates me enormously as I have never struggled with spelling or basic maths but I do have sympathy for those who do have difficulty.

If the problem is down to schools and parents showing little interest in encouraging their children to achieve at least basic numeracy and language skills, it can only get worse as school discipline deteriorates further and more youngsters who don't speak english are taken into our schools.
Must be an absolute nightmare for teachers.

But think of this another way.

The producers introduced a simple task early in the series to puncture a few egos.

Blowing up balloons - easy peasy - but not for his bunch

Simple sums - they failed miserably

Easy spelling - the couldn't even do that.

The self obsessed egotists who swanned in a week ago have been cut down to size, have been humiliated and ridiculed.

Their fake tans, bleached teeth and over-inflated egos just wont cut it.

Danny was the one that I thiight might potentially be dyslexic as he seemed to be struggling with which letter was which as well as the spelling. (Although those letters weren't obviously shaped and I thought they were very harsh with the twin). However re Danny doesn't he blow stuff up for a living? I'm presuming that you have to pass some sort of test to do that - although it maybe a maths thing and he might be fine with that.

The maths ones were embarrassing.

It's an interesting perspective. However isn't it lost on them? People who celebrate having been expelled from school as one of life's achievements aren't going to learn any lessons are they? Or is it just that the joke is on them?

Its a vicious circle, so many celebrities are completely uneducated, possibly because they ignored their education to concentrate or their "talent" but the result is they are constantly seen in the media, where their ignorance is considered funny or cute & this is what kids grow up seeing. If you can become rich & famous without an education, why bother?
Between that & no longer learning to write properly, since that has been replaced with textspeak & now we also have completely made up words too, so I guess they won`t be able to speak correctly soon either.

When did it start to be cool to be dumb? Reality TV shows have a lot to answer for, its not just BB, they are all as bad, though TOWIE has set an all time low record. I just hope that what we are seeing is a reflection of the education standard or people that apply to go on reality TV shows & not of the country in general.

I think Danny could be dyslexic, it seemed like he was trying to spell it phonetically.

I think it's worth pointing out that it wasn't only Danny who had trouble with "canoe". Some of the other HMs didn't seem sure how to spell it either. It is a bit tricky as a word, though.

If you're 6

I live in hope that they were either told by the producers to get them wrong on purpose to make 'better telly' (which is very unlikely I know), or that they were putting it on themselves to try and be funny and get some airtime.

Surely not all of them (bar one or two) can be THAT thick?!?! It was distressing to watch.

i took it that they were just speechless at his attempt but ,like someone else said, maybe he's dyslexic.

I suspect they're following the Brian Belo school of reality tv.
Pretend you're as smart as a potato because it may come across as endearing.

May that be a lesson to us all.

If you want to go on Big Brother, join a forum just like this first.

If you couldn't spell before you joined after 1 week you will be able to
I have a spelling checker
It came with my PC
It highlights for my review
Mistakes I cannot sea.

I ran this poem thru it
I'm sure your pleased to no
Its letter perfect in it's weigh
My checker told me sew.

They weren't all speechless, though. For instance, one of them thought there was a "u" in it. Jack said no, but (I think) later seemed unsure.

I have to admit eventhough I did quite well at school, i'm a rubbish speller and it's usually the easy words I struggle with. Thank the lord for spell check and google I say.