The Three Rs

[Daisy]

We got diverted into talking about our parents' education in Gem's thread about the York Chocolate Story and she mentioned that several members of her family had worked at Rowntrees, but her Mum worked in an office although she had left school at 14 (then the school leaving age).

Gem:
My family on mum's side have quite a history with Rowntrees, but I have never set foot in the factory (a lot of which is luxury housing now!)
My grandfather worked on the factory floor. My uncle worked in the design department for them, before he emigrated to Australia. My 3 aunties on mum's side all worked on the production lines.
My mum, always different, was horrified at the idea of factory work and found herself an office job (where later she was to meet my dad ) when she left school at 14.

Then I commented that people seemed to have a good knowledge of the Three Rs:

Daisy:
Slightly off topic, but my parents also left school at 14, able to write neatly, spell accurately, use good grammar and do mental arithmetic, including Imperial weights and measures, and pounds/shilling/pence money. If would be great if all 18 year olds left school with those skills today.

Lizzie joined in, saying that her Mum had to leave school at 11 to earn money which I know happened in a lot of families.

Lizzie
Daisy, my mother had no schooling after her 11th birthday, she had to go and earn money!! I was always amazed at how well she could write, mental arithmetic etc etc. My father was from a good family, he was very well educated, his father had coal mines, my father was the youngest of them all.

It seems to sad to think that that generation didn't have much choice if the family needed the extra wage. I wonder if they felt cheated in any way, or was that just how it was.

[WeeGranny]

My Mum went through school a year early and was in the A stream, but she wasn't allowed to take any exams as she was made to leave school and take a job, unlike her older brother who was encouraged to study and gain qualifications. She started to study accounting, but the war came along and she signed up for service and then got married and had a family. She began studying to become a librarian, but sadly ill health meant she had to give that up. She never complained about her life, but she. and my Dad, encouraged my DB and myself to take every opportunity we were offered to get on in life.

Sadly it wasn't just her generation who had to give up studying. I'd just completed my O levels when my Dad lost his job. Being the elder child I had to go to work to help support the family. I worked in a bank and sat my Highers some years later before going to teacher training. I finally achieved my degree via the Open university when I was in my 50s. I like to think my parents would have been proud of my achievements.

[Daisy]

Wee Granny, I'm certain your parents would have been incredibly proud of your achievements. Sadly even with our generation, girls were often not given the same chances as boys, and it always seemed to fall to the eldest child to make the sacrifices for the sake of the family. Your Mum must have been a very strong and determined lady to have tried so hard to make a career for herself. I think you must have inherited her genes.

I had a similar experience too. I changed my mind about studying pharmacy and left school at 16. My Dad said O Levels didn't qualify you for a job and if I wanted to leave school I had to do further study. I took a secretarial course with no intention of ever working in an office, but when my Dad died when I was 18 I needed to work to help keep a roof over our heads. I was surprised I had enjoyed the secretarial course though and trained to teach typing in our local college two evenings a week, which helped financially. Eventually I did the shorthand teacher's exams and went on to do a Cert Ed and a degree. I think my Dad would have been proud of me - I hope so anyway - as he was the one who encouraged further education.

[Oma]

My parents left school young and had no education past the age of 14 ,
My mother was a maid and my father worked in a coal merchants in the office , then they both worked in the shipyards during the war .
My father was in I’ll health and died when he was 50. I was 15 .
I was the only one at home by then so had no choice but work to bring money into the house ,

We had no encouragement at school Girls either went into a factory or nursing ,
What I really wanted to be was a electrician but god forbid a girl wanting to do a man’s job .

I didn’t have a good education at all , Im useless at spelling grammar etc and have no idea how to use punctuation marks correctly, nouns verbs etc
but I have gotten by , I hated school but I have encouraged my children and grandchildren as much as I can to take up as much education and opportunities they can .

My brother was the clever one he passed all his exams to go to Grammar school but he wouldn’t go and my parents were too poor to provide the uniform or books anyway .

I once asked him if he regretted not going, he said no it had made no difference he had made a good living and he was happy with his lot in life.

[Gemini]

WG I'm sure your parents would be proud of you
And your father of you Daisy.

Oma, you like my mum and so many others haven't had as much education but are a very intelligent woman.
There are plenty of total idiots with a string of qualifications!

I feel I wasted my grammar school education as I didn't work hard, and left with 4 O levels ( but passed another 2 in my 20's) I just wanted to leave school and go into the theatre.
Once I had my children and went into childcare I really wished I had trained to be a teacher.

I have enjoyed all my childcare jobs ( playgroup leader, teaching assistant, crèche worker) plus my later years as a reflexologist, so although I have never been a high earner, I've done OK

[Oma]

Thing is Gem I learned more after I left school and I’ve had a good life so can’t complain ,
I always say in years to come all the language we learn now will be obsolete it will all be text talk .
I did well in maths although I wouldn’t know where to start with todays school maths .
Im very good at crosswords and puzzles and logical puzzles so there must be something in my head 🤣🤣🤣

[Gemini]

Maths is my weak spot Oma - so don't pass me the bill at the weekend

[Nanto2girls]

All i know is my grandparents also left school young.

[Daisy]

My OH's parents both went to university - my MIL did History and Economics and my FIL did Theology, Latin and Greek and then went into the Church. I know nothing about FIL's family except that he was in the middle of a family of 12 and they were farmers. He was the only one who left the farm. My MIL's father was a painter and decorator, but he encouraged MIL, her sister and brother into higher education. Her sister was a primary school teacher and her brother was also a vicar. It must have been very unusual at that time for an 'ordinary' family of children to be given those opportunities.

My mother's brother passed to go to the grammar school but they couldn't afford the uniform so he didn't go!

Gem - Maths isn't my strong point either!!

Oma, I agree with Gem about having a string of qualifications not meaning anything and my OH always says that 5 years with a rock group was a better education than the grammar school!! (I think he enjoyed it more, as well.)

[Plantaholic]

My mother and her sisters all went into service, my father was an only child of publicans and was persuaded to go into nursing. During the 1st WW he was a stretcher bearer in the Somme and continued nursing when the war ended. He worked at the Roehampton Hospital where all the patients had lost limbs. Being a family of six was a struggle for my parents and although my headteacher wanted me to stay on at school and take O levels, I had to leave at 15 and get a job. I got married just before my 21st birthday and didn’t work again until the children were older and when we moved here in the 50’s I got a job in the middle school as a support assistant mainly in the art and craft lessons. I worked there for nearly 30 years. Oma I consider you a very intelligent bright lady. Daisy, was the rock band your OH played with full time? Gem, lovely job for you working in a theatre. WG, boys were encouraged to go into higher education, it was thought girls would get married and have babies. Thank goodness there are more opportunities for girls now. It is a very different world to the one I grew up in.

[Daisy]

Plant, yes, it is a very different world for today's young girls, although I'm not sure if we will ever be able to square the circle of Career versus Children. I always worked and with school holidays childcare was't a huge problem, but it was still a big juggling act.

Your Dad must have had some horrible, frightening memories of his time as a stretcher bearer in WWI. Did he ever talk about it.

Yes, OH did play full-time in the band. They did several tours as well as playing in their own area. Then he went to work in a bank!

[Plantaholic]

I couldn’t work out how your OH had a musical career and a bank career. What instrument did he play. We’re you a groupe?

No my father didn’t talk about the war but he occasionally spoke about the surgeons who had to put back together the wounded in the 2nd world war. Bea cause of his medical training our doctor used to give his name to the bereaved to lay out their relative. All the neighbours would come with their ills and ask for plasters and bandages. I was very proud of my dad, he used to cycle to work some 8 miles, shift work too, he couldn’t afford a car until later. When he retired he used to nurse a disabled gentleman.

[Daisy]

Plant, OH played drums but after a couple of years or so, he realised he needed to get a 'proper' job and an uncle suggested he should apply for a job in a bank.

Your Dad must have been a real inspiration to you and your brothers and sisters.