What Language Do You Speak?

~ the britchy one

Have you ever had someone say something that you want to burst out laughing at – but you don’t want to hurt their feelings?

I was at the doctors and the little nurse practitioner came in to check my BP etc and she asked where I was from… The conversation went like this:

Me: I’m from London, England.

Nurse: Oh wow is it really different there?

Me: Yes it is quite different but I like it here too.

Nurse: Do they speak English there too or did you have to learn it when you moved here?

Me: (pause to not laugh) No, they speak English in England.

Nurse: Wow, I didn’t know any other countries spoke English. What else is different?

Me: Well, schools are very different for one.

I was aching trying not to laugh but that dried up awful quick when I realised these are the people giving me my injections!

Why are we allowing schools to give such a substandard education? This isn’t a new thing – it’s at LEAST twenty years old because this nurse has a birthday the day after mine and she’ll be 41 this year.

Education needs to have strata. There needs to be provision for every student because I’m sick of seeing bright kids held back and I’m just as sick at seeing those who need more help not getting it.

How many people are in prison because they can’t read or write? I would love to see how increasing education in prisons would impact re offending. We shouldn’t NEED to educate in prison though. Teachers aren’t able to teach any more, they just have to get test results by any means and that means we’re failing our kids. People laugh when cashiers can’t make change in a store but it’s tragic, not funny.

Published by the britchy one

A PROUD American Citizen who was born and bred in England and now resides in the US. I’m married to an American who really didn’t have a clue what he was letting himself in for - poor sod! I’m a cranky bitch who loves cats and books and hates chocolate, politics and Dave’s. Oh and mosquitos. I hate those blood sucking parasites but since I’ve already mentioned politics I’m repeating myself! I’m a short, skinny redhead, 3 kids, 2 dogs, not enough cats and a mouth with a death wish. Blood group - certifiable.

67 thoughts on “What Language Do You Speak?”

  1. Very worrying that someone bright enough to be a Nurse has had such a poor education that they are both unaware that English comes from England and also lack the ingenuity to work that out….

    I agree about education. It is so important that every child receives the education they need to become the best they can. The Education system is no better in the UK. So many people taught only enough to pass tests.

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  2. I am very passionate about the education of children. Especially children from low income families. I am currently finishing up my Elementary education degree. The prison comment you made is very accurate it’s called the school to prison pipeline phenomenon. Basically, it means if students cannot read by third grade then they have a high risk of ending up in prison. Where they will remain the rest of their life as repeat offenders. Our schools fuel this system because they care more about testing than students actually understanding what they are learning rather than knowing for the test. Schools are very different everywhere. It just depends on where you rank in education. I currently live in Nevada. We are number 50 in education out of all the states. I used to live in Kansas and we were in the top 20 of education. Thanks for sharing!

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  4. We’ve had this conversation before. It’s sad. I also find that the US is rather self centered in that they never portray other countries accurately- neither in school nor on the news. Many Americans have a very limited and skewed view of the rest of the world.

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  5. When I was living and working in South Korea, I was working in an office with 3 Americans, and one of them legitimately thought that the woman on the Canadian $20 bill was my grandmother. I was like “ummm no…that’s the Queen of England?” He was a 25-year-old who honestly thought that my grandmother was on the money. I really just don’t understand it at all.

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      1. Yes definitely. I’m not sure if its the same in other countries around the world but in Canada I feel like the kids are taught a lot more of a range of things. Obviously they can’t be taught everything but knowing the in England people speak English? That’s just so basic.

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  6. If I get on my Education Soap Box, we’ll be here all day!
    I agree with you. We need to teach children how to use their brains, how to learn, instead of how to swallow information and regurgitate onto a test.
    Teachers don’t get enough support. Schools in poorer neighborhoods don’t get funding…
    And DeVos…ugh!!
    I’m going to stop. You’re right. It’s sad.

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  7. I agree entirely about education. As a younger reader of yours, I have to say I was probably somewhere in the generation(s) where children were left in the cracks versus teaching for the sake of the tests throughout the year. It sucks!!! Same time, we can spend the first two months back to school relearning everything we forgot during the summer; I’m not saying we need to forgo summer break for education, but I’ve heard the all-year schooling has its pros too. I don’t have the right answer on that. But I do agree with you that education is being compromised for children of all ages and socioeconomical backgrounds!

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      1. I am a terrible test taker— never did well on any of my AP tests or even college placements; but they don’t reflect the knowledge I do have. It’s depressing because I know I am just one of MANY many students in or were in the same boat. 😔

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  8. Allowing the government to control public education is a huge mistake. In order to get funding the schools have to meet government performance standards. It doesn’t matter if the student learns to communicate, has job skills, can think for themselves, or function as and adult in society as long as they can fill in the correct circles on the answer sheet.
    When my youngest daughter was signing up for classes for her senior year she already had the 4 math credits that were required for graduation so she thought she would not have to take another math class. She was told that everyone is required to take a math class in their senior year so she would have to take the next highest level math class. Since her chosen career field does not involve engineering or science she thought it would be a waste of time. I suggested she take consumers math and when she approached the school counselor she was told that class was for students who couldn’t make it in the advanced classes. I was outraged! I personally feel that EVERY student should take a consumers math class. It also seemed to me that they had students who were just stuck in this class because they didn’t know how to teach them the higher level math.
    I ended up calling the school and having to sign a form stating that I wanted her to take this class.
    I am certain she uses the things she learned in that class way more than any other math class that she took in high school.
    While I am certain that it continues to get worse, you are correct that it has been going on for a long time. I graduated high school 35 years ago because I could pass tests not because I learned anything.

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  10. Excellent reminds me once a chap l used to work for and he kept spelling the word Duzzzzent and l was confounded and kept asking what is this? he kept on saying duzzzzent, “Doesn’t what?” l asked him one day totallt perplexed.

    You don’t you spell too good duz you? – he spat me you know like 12, duzzzzent ………

    i wanted to laugh, but needed the pay!

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  13. I don’t know why education is not prioritised more. Everyone do with some knowledge. Education system is going down in some countries

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  15. I wouldn’t rule out the nurse attempting to make small talk to help you relax and not pay attention to the prick of the needle. Maybe your onto something and maybe she wasn’t following the conversation that closely since she was caring for you.

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  16. That had me nowhere close to laughing.
    I’m the worst skeptic when it comes to humanity, but I couldn’t believe what I was reading.
    Where did she think your British accent came from (Or do you not have one?)?

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    1. Sadly I still sound extremely English! I say ‘sadly’ because it’s put a hell of a dent in my phone pranks. My anonymity is long gone, the minute I open my mouth everyone knows it’s me. It’s a trial

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  17. I was laughing and sad at the same time. Seriously, how is this possible– it boggles my mind. Do they speak English? I thought we were the only country that spoke English!!! The school system spends so much time and man-hours trying to reinvent the wheel. This is a cultural crisis.

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  18. As a special needs child because of my dislexya I was just pushed throw the education system, it was my own thirst for nolage that thot me a lot of what I know now. Are education system is brocken like so many other things in this country but nobody wants to do anything about it it’s the same old crap of kick the can down the street and let someone else worry about it later but later never comes. ❤️✌️

    BY FOR NOW

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    1. It’s so short sighted. The education of kids today is the tomorrow for us all and unless the governments are seeking a dumbed down populace it means in another generation or so we’ll have no progress at all.

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      1. I remember reading a article called selective education, it basically said a small percentage of the population is thot higher education to keep things running and the rest are just dummyd up to do pysical laber work to create two different classes of the population the rich and the poor that needs the government to survive ( clones ) is what their after. ❤️✌️

        BY FOR NOW

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      1. Guts……. May be🤷🏻‍♀️I don’t really know I supposed when you get in a conversation with someone u get the feeling immediately about their knowledges scholastic and not.i suppose is not about how much we study and ready and keep ourself informed but is more about how much we absorbed from all this.

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      2. Yes, so a chat may be better. That is how it used to be done before examinations, but the man power required to examine only a small number of students was huge, so examinations were found to be more efficient. Due to the number of pupils who take national examinations, I cannot see them reverting to that method, even though it is a fairer method of judging a pupil’s knowledge. It is a sad reality 😦

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      3. I think that exams based on a mix of coursework and testing would be better. Not completely one or the other as coursework can have “help” and not everyone excels at exams. Testing is needed tho to check kids have retained something!

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  21. This is so sadly true; teachers are forced to teach the syllabus rather than the breadth of the subject. It really is a sad situation. It doesn’t matter these days if students don’t fully understand something as long as they can ravel of memorised definitions and know all the buzzwords and strategies to pick up the marks. The examination culture has arguably changed society and its quality of education for the worse 😦

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  22. We don’t prioritize education enough here. If we put the energy into education that we put into athletics, our teachers would get paid more and our kids would be better prepared for the world.

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  23. I’m sorry to tell you this but everyone should know that english is the second or third spoken language in the world. If that lady didn’t know that, than she should informe herself. Everyone knows english is a world wide language..

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  24. Do they speak English in England… OMG! That is pretty bad, hs she ever heard the royal speak? LOL!
    I just visited my psychiatrist this past Tuesday, and her nurse asked me if I was pregnant, I made her repeat the question because of her heavy accent. “Are you pregnant” my response was “Ah, Nope… I’m 52 years old, and not sexually active” – When she left, I was thinking to myself, who would want to screw me? I’m close to 300 lbs, was a sweaty mess because of the weather, and no makeup on. I resembled death in other words. 🙂

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      2. The last time a nurse was asking me ‘health questions’ she asked ‘Have you ever had any sexually transmitted diseases?’
        I answered ‘only children’ and killed that conversation deader than a duck!

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  25. As a Canadian who lives close to the border I have long suspected that US schools in the past must not have included other countries in their school curriculum, whereas we were made to learn about other countries as part of geography and history class. It is not unheard of for Americans to cross the border here in the middle of summer and ask where the snow is or think we all live in igloos? I was once at the Pearl Harbor Memorial years ago and one of the middle-aged American tourists on the bus did not know that Hawaii was part of the United States? (One would hope she knows it now as Obama was from there). I hope this is not the case now with their curriculum, as we are becoming a more multi-cultural world, so it is important to know at least something about other cultures, especially if you travel. I guess we are all a product of our education!

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    1. It’s not just the US. I think education has been dumbed down world wide because I can say that education in England is far below where it was when I was at school and even more so since my parents were at school. Education has been on a sloppy slope pretty much since the sixties

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  26. So many systems in America are sadly so broken, I don’t know if there is anything that can fix them. They are dysfunctional from the roots up. Education, health care, public assistance and social security for starters.

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