[westendlass]

It doesn't help that the standard of teaching can be dubious. When my son was thirteen years old at secondary school, one of his teachers was discussing the first world war. She informed the class that the war ran from 1914 - 1916. My son, having a special interest in this subject put up his hand and begged to differ. She just dismissed his comment, and, being a quiet lad he gave up. I told him at the time he should have directed her to the war memorial for a quick refresher. He laughs about it now and says after that he just read his books and educated himself. Despite some crappy teaching, he gained As and B's in his GCSE's and went on to get his A levels too.