So my son who is in year 3, is going on an excursion
they are walking to the local supermarket to learn how fruits and veggies are grown
He is 9 years old
Personally I think it is more suitable for kinder/ year 1 students
is this a bit dumb for year 3 students?
Asking this is the context of the Australian education system lagging behind other countries internationally
Yep, mine did in prep and loved it. They got to mince beef as well!
Lucky them. In 5 years mincing meat would be considered to dangerous for kids and will have to watch behind bullet proof glass.
Although the trip might not even happen since it might offend vegans and vegetarians.
On the upside, there is light for the generation after next. AI customised curriculum for the individual and AI one on one education. Just means another 1 or 2 generations of sheep
Also the words "fruit" and "vegetables" will be seen as too offensive.
@vj187: I see my comment got negged, the word "guys" is currently under fire as being offensive.
https://www.abc.net.au/life/is-it-time-to-stop-saying-you-gu…
mines in a special school doing a prep curriculum and loved it - i tink it's a but juvnile for a year 3 kid tho
Lol. Last I checked, fruits and veges are not grown at the supermarket.
Beat me to it.
But I wonder how many kids don't know that?
Or if some kids will see some fruit / vegetables that they aren't familiar with?
At the very least the kids are getting to go on a walk away from school. Perhaps they will pose some questions to the supermarket reps re plastic wrapping, food miles, food waste, etc.
Yes, I hope they learn a bit more than how fruits and veges are grown. When my son was in Year 3, he always asked me what each fruit tree looks like. I had to google the image of the trees to show him. I didn't know myself. eg. some fruits grow in trees, others grow on the ground, etc.
Pineapples are especially ridiculous.
@HighAndDry: Haha I thought this was a joke photo and had to Google it myself. Cant believe I've never seen a pineapple plant before!
@chriise: Go a step further and grow one. They live in pots so very mobile. Just depends on your climate if it will fruit. If you're a bit too south you might just have to hang out for global warming to move things along a bit.
@zorrt: I have seen quite a lot of the decorative pineapples fruiting the last month. They look better with rich reds but the fruit is rubbish apparently.
You could really spice things up with them if you are keen.
@zorrt: Did the same. Didn't know how pineapples grew before. Learnt how then tried it myself. Manage to grow one. Wasn't around to see it bear fruit though.
All of the vegetables you can buy at a supermarket are found at a supermarket though. Where else could you go to see them all at once?
Non-super market.
Averagemarket.
It's a conspiracy. The supermarkets sponsor the excursion so they can get in kid's heads about who is the best at an early age.
It's not really a conspiracy, it's a very blatant attempt to ingrain brand loyalty at an impressionable age.
I hope the same people who object to this as an exercise in brand propaganda also object to religious schools which also shove their brand of religious propaganda down kid's throats? I guess at least the propaganda the supermarkets are feeding these kids is based in reality and isn't embued with immorality, evil doctrine and mythical creatures.
If you dont like religion send your kids elsewhere.
@Gumster: It's not my kids I'm worried about… (Shockingly some of us care about those who aren't in their immediate family too!)
Who said anything about objecting to this exercise in brand propaganda?
Every excursion location is propagating some message.
How did religion enter this topic?
Oh, you wanted to change the topic so you created an objection so you could make an unrelated point…
Foie gras.
Dollarmites. I was sucked in and now I have a home loan with which bank?
NAB
Doesn't matter, the big 4 are all the same.
Commonwealth.
CBA also pays schools $5 for every account opened via the program, and 5 per cent of every deposit made at school, up to a maximum of $10 per deposit.
Don't even get me started about those Coles brainwashing collectables that flood my Facebook buy/swap/sell pages. I wonder how much those brands had to pay to be featured products in millions of homes.
You should be teaching your kids about this at an earlier age? One probably spends more time doing groceries than in the loo throughout an average life.
Only if you aren't efficient…
Woolworths has seen how the CBA has been doing it with kids for the last 30+ years and getting in on the act.
yes, this one execursion is the only proof required that Australia's education system is lagging behind other countries internationally
My cat's name is Mittens
Too much correct punctuation and capitalisation. Go put on your dunce's hat.
Your cat can haz cheezbrgr
Does his breath smell of catfood?
Welcome to the Australian education system where 9 year olds are taught what Asian 6-7 year olds already know.
Yeah but aussie kids know all about gender dysphoria by the time they are 5!
Asian kids are hauling water and steering buffalo by 6yo
crazy rich asians?
Dont dis the asians.
Prep friend of my lil cousin is a mix blood asian italian. The 5yo speaks cantonese, mandarin, english. All interchangeable.
He know his times tables in all 3 languages.
Username checks out.
But why doesn't he know Italian? Also a real Chinese person wouldn't teach their kid Canto?
@serpserpserp: Why not? I'm ethnically Chinese and I'm teaching my boy Cantonese because that's what I grew up speaking at home with my parents.
Does that make me not a "real Chinese person"?
Does that make me not a "real Chinese person"?
As far as the ruling party are concerned, yes.
@serpserpserp: no one uses canto anymore mang, its being phased out
in GZ they dont even teach it at school anymore
its all mando now
@humdingaling: Yet it's still used widely in GZ because people still speak it openly. Also, their Mando is crap.
I'm going to teach my kids Canto too just for shits and giggles.
@Munki: you cannot tell a generation to stop using their dialect just because…social cleansing takes more than a generation to come to fruition
found it rather bizarre i used more canto in Singapore than in GZ and some in HK didn't even know what i saying…i had to resort to use english and finger pointing on em
my little one is only learning canto as well because that is whats being used in our household
@humdingaling: They might, but there is a lot of resistance from Guangdong people I feel. We're a proud bunch and to be honest, Cantonese is a much more evolved language than Mandarin. It'll be a damn shame for it to go.
Singapore is kind of a bastardised place with a good mix of canto, hokkien (min nan hua to be exact) and mando. The problem is they use it so interchangeably if you don't understand all three (plus English) it's very hard to follow. If cannot then just speak English lor (lol not even Singaporean but just what I've gathered from my observation).
I've only ever used canto in GZ, HK and even Macao, so unfortunately don't have the same experiences as you.
Unfortunately for me my wife speaks Hokkien as her native tongue, so we've resorted to Mandarin as the default "other" home language (English being primary). It's fun to see them pick up phrases here and there in Hokkien and Canto too though. But for sure, Mandarin is probably the best way going forward.
and inherently knows kung fu
Asian countries emphasise rote learning but lag behind in critical thinking. I think our school system is fine.
hahaha.
Yes your right I mean look at how developed Japan is (leaves Australia for dust), or South Korea, and now the big boy - China. All have poor education….
The only thing that saves us is our minerals and the fact people want to come here (but that will change sooner or latter).
Nothing to do with 'poor' education. Different styles of education. I bet you good dollars that Aussie kids enjoy their schooling more than their Asian counterpart. Whether kids should enjoy 10 hrs of their time everyday is up to debate. I think they should. Australian school just needs to do stop teaching kids dumbshit like gender education when they are five.
@Punknerd: "Australian school just needs to do stop teaching kids dumbshit like gender education when they are five" - I agree that Aussie kids enjoy their education more, but the anti-Safe Schools hit job has no basis and detracts from your other points.
@hangdog: I'm not anti-safeschool. I strongly believe that we should stop sheltering kids. However, school time is finite. We should dedicate that to academic and physical education. Other aspects of growth and emotional intelligence should take place at home and in the community.
My daughter who is 7 and in year 2 went on this a few weeks ago. The highlights for her was that they got to try some cookies and eat chips for lunch - which I found strange considering they were supposed to be learning about fruit and vegetables.
Chips are technically vegan, bruh
Question: How did you get her into year 1 early? I want to do that for my kids too
Maybe she's turning 8 in the next six months.
It's just a bit of corporate sponsored fun.
Most adults don't even know how vegetables are grown and the process of seed to retailer. Fertilizer schedules, managing chemical runoffs, irrigation, soil erosion, royalties for certain crops,…
I wouldn't be poking holes in the education system unless I'm sure I'm on top of it.
Well, over here in Australia, we always cater to the lowest common denominator.
So it doesn't matter if this excursion doesn't benefit 29 out of the 30 students. If it benefits the dumb kid, then it's a "useful excursion".
we always cater to the lowest common denominator.
That's the education system in a nutshell. Rote memorization is the holy grail, as unfathomable as that may be for anyone with a few IQ points to rub together.
There's a bunch of people in NSW trying to shut down the selective schools because it makes kids in other schools feel stupid. Talk about trying to dumb people down.
It aint just the schools, that mentality seems to carry over into real life as well.
Because it makes them feel stupid or because they're concerned their education will be inferior to the kids deemed smart?
While I'm a product of selective schooling and support it, there are very compelling arguments against it too.
there are very compelling arguments against it too.
What are those compelling arguments? There is no one-size-fits-all that'll suit every kid. If they apply the so-called "less-inferior" education on every kid, a lot won't be able to handle it. There are kids that can handle it, so why not give them the opportunity to excel and do the best they can? There's no reason to hold back the brighter kids just because there are other kids on the other end of the spectrum. The places in selective schools are limited, but everyone's given the chance to compete and get in.
@bobbified: Not everyone is capable of getting in at that age - especially if they don't have caring parents or good teachers. Do you think it's a coincidence that they kids in selective schools tend to have wealthier parents?
Having gone through selective education, it was no different to "normal" education - we learn the exact same stuff and sit the exact same exams, so I don't think the "one size fits all" argument really applies.
What you call "holding back" the brighter kids could just as easily be used by the opposition. Why should the less capable kids be held back and the smartest favoured? Selective schools tend to get the better teachers for example.
As I said, I'm in favour of it. You'd have to be incredibly ignorant to claim there are no valid arguments against it though.
Why should the less capable kids be held back and the smartest favoured?
Because greater potential translates to an aggregate improvement to society. If you have limited resources, of course you invest in the children with the best capability to utilize them.
@callum9999: No it's not a coincidence. But wealth is also not the primary factor.
Ability is the deciding factor, and wealthier parents may be more strict, more educated themselves, or place a greater emphasis on praising academic than other achievements.
I got into all the selective schools, but went to a private school on a scholarship instead. My family were poor, but certain family members emphasised education above all else, despite others being borderline illiterate.
Just remember that correlation isn't causation, and if you want to address the cause of underperforming kids, it's not just poverty, it's discipline, interest, encouragement, and a supportive academic peer group. In my opinion this last factor is why selective schools should exist, get all the motivated kids together and give them a school without as many kids who think it's cool to be dumb (was a thing in my public primary school).
Tldr - selective schools allow academically motivated students to have a peer group that supports them.
If this was at a farm/by a farmer I think this would be an excellent excursion for any age (with appropriate content grading). However, when organised by a 'supermarket' it is nothing more than advertising. I object to this.
Lol, little did I know, I am already providing my kids Year 3 curriculum on a regular basis.
Next, I aspire to teach them not to eat rocks.
thats actually quite difficult, if you find out let me know
Seems like a pretty crap excursion. Why not take them out to a farm?
Excursion to the supermarket (Woolies) is free, the kids most likely just walk there from their school. No farm will do this for free, and the school has to pay for a bus to get the kids there and back.
Some farmers would and do actually do this for free. Kids from the country have experienced an excursion to the farm plenty of times during school.
Shame that all kids from the country want to do is go on an excursion to the toy section in Myer :P
Yes many moons ago we went to a cotton farm from a small 2teacher school. Grade 4 or early Grdae 5. It was fascinating.
Butter factory, in higher grade. - also Interesting
Ice -cream factory in Brisbane from Sunshine Coast in Grdae 7. I cannot recall where else we went.
No tastes at any either.
Of course in the Suncoast back then you coul$ do the train at the Big Pineapple and see all sorts of exotic fruit and pineapples up close. Later baby farm animals too after the Big Cow closed.
Most city these days do not know milk comes from a cow.
I think going to supermarket to learn about frui5 and veggies and be given chips for lunch is disgusting! They are however trying to do excursions that dn’t cost for poorer families so kids don’t miss out.
next excursion will be to the bank to sign up for dollarmites v2, and meet the guy who charges your dead uncle for no service
If the excursion is to Woolworths supermarket - don't forget to take your free piece of "Jamie Oliver" endorsed fruit as you enter.
Taking kids to a supermarket to see where food comes from is like taking to parliament house so they can see where the country is run from.
(srsly, the only text I ever got from my son was when his school took him to Canberra and he texted me from the house of reps in frustration at 'how much like kindergarten' it was. :) )
They took us to the snow when I was at school, and snuck in a trip to Parliment House and The War Memorial in, back when they snuck education into kids like broccoli under the mash.
I got that too, even got to go ice skating! woo
The government via the local MPS subsidised those trips to Canberra - Grade 7 here. In my day in the 70’s it was Qld parliament.
Might not learn about fruit and veg but can learn a lot about marketing. Product placement. Logistics.
Teacher, were are mars bars grown?
Edit: Ah crap looks like I need to go back to school. I can't even spell "where" properly! :D
The education system is designed to turn children into fruit and vegetables… As a result, we already have fruitcake students vegetating on recycled ideas.
Did you put this question to the teacher/principal for their response? This is the most ridiculous excursion ever, to the supermarket to learn economics to a farm to learn where fruit and vegetables come from.
Did you put this question to the teacher/principal for their response?
actually no I saw the form this morning and immediately saw red
later at work when I calmed down I began wondering if I was over reacting
My colleagues kids are either preschoolers or close to having kids of their own
yes my daughter who is her first year / reception did this and really enjoyed it. year 3 kids will be bored in 2 minutes