Disgrace

[SMEE]

In a time when Highland council is to cut 70-80 teaching posts through the region, i was annoyed to read that Highland Council Taxpayers have been footing the bill of sending 27 pupils to the Gaelic School via taxi. This has cost £120 000. The Council has been paying for pupils from as far afield as Black Isle to get to and fro the school. Now...why is it, when the rest of the country suffers cuts, the Gaelic self preservation society contiinues to get money thrown at it left right and centre? If parents want to send their children to schools, they should cover the bill of getting the kids there! The langauage is dying on its arse...thats a fact....talk about flogging a dead horse!

Edited December 23, 2010 by SMEE

[Johnboy]

Totally agree, Smee....

See here.

[SMEE]

Intresting JB....thats not the article i read....but it raises the same points i do basically. We are told Gaelic is thriving etc all the time by the Gaelic Mafia...fine then...let it support itself!

[Heilandee]

Never felt there was ever any justification for the huge financial support for extras involved in the whole Gaelic medium circus at the best of times,in the current climate surely any argument in support is null and void

[Alex MacLeod]

Though I may agree on some of what you say SMEE I would, however, point out that this is a very small percentage of the total school transport costs of the country. There are many many children in this country who are ferried to school and back by bus, minibus and taxi. They are the ones who live outwith walking distance to school. And as more and more rural schools close the costs will rise further. And they're all paid for by the local authorities and ultimately the taxpayer. I dont know the exact cost of school transport but Highland have reported that they estimate it to increase by ?400,000 this year due to fuel increases.

[CaleyD]

Big difference between having to transport a child to a school through necessity and transporting them through choice.

I wanted to do SYS Physics when I was at school, but IHS didn't have the equipment/facilities. I would have been allowed a timetable which accommodated my going to another school to study it, but I would have had to pay my own transport costs. My parents could not afford it, although they would have made sacrifices elsewhere had I really wanted to pursue it, but ultimately I opted to do another subject instead.

There's dozens of other subjects, especially languages (most of which are more widely spoken than Gaelic), which are offered in some schools but not in others. I don't see kids being ferried around the country at the taxpayers expense in order to accommodate them.

[SMEE]

I see that it is expected the number of Gaelic speakers is set to fall even further in this years Census. But its ok...lets throw EVEN more money at it, coz campaingners expect it to recover.....which....completely flies in the face of the FACT that the language has been in steady decline for the last 150 years.

Its time to stop flogging dead horses!

[Heilandee]

Its time to stop flogging dead horses!

Problem is SMEE,yer preaching to the converted,this subject has been flogged to death on here, and abody who has an opinion one way or the other, has aired it several times.

[DALNEIGHCALEY]

Its time to stop flogging dead horses!

Problem is SMEE,yer preaching to the converted,this subject has been flogged to death on here, and abody who has an opinion one way or the other, has aired it several times.

Yeah it's getting boring now .

[SMEE]

Its time to stop flogging dead horses!

Problem is SMEE,yer preaching to the converted,this subject has been flogged to death on here, and abody who has an opinion one way or the other, has aired it several times.

Yeah it's getting boring now .

Yet DC...your still inclined to look in the thread and see whats been sed. Hmmmmmm, INCONSISTINCIES!

[Alex MacLeod]

Its time to stop flogging dead horses!

Problem is SMEE,yer preaching to the converted,this subject has been flogged to death on here, and abody who has an opinion one way or the other, has aired it several times.

Yeah it's getting boring now .

Yet DC...your still inclined to look in the thread and see whats been sed. Hmmmmmm, INCONSISTINCIES!

The kids from the gaelic school would likely have spelt it INCONSISTENCIES!

[SMEE]

Its time to stop flogging dead horses!

Problem is SMEE,yer preaching to the converted,this subject has been flogged to death on here, and abody who has an opinion one way or the other, has aired it several times.

Yeah it's getting boring now .

Yet DC...your still inclined to look in the thread and see whats been sed. Hmmmmmm, INCONSISTINCIES!

The kids from the gaelic school would likely have spelt it INCONSISTENCIES!

Are you insinuating that i am inferior to them Alex. Thats racist that is!

[Heilandee]

Are you insinuating that i am inferior to them Alex. Thats racist that is!

Racist? Nah....Pedantic? Most certainly!

[SMEE]

Are you insinuating that i am inferior to them Alex. Thats racist that is!

Racist? Nah....Pedantic? Most certainly!

Yup.....i was just messing

[Heilandee]

Are you insinuating that i am inferior to them Alex. Thats racist that is!

Racist? Nah....Pedantic? Most certainly!

Yup.....i was just messing

So wiz i

[+Feb82000]

its not the Highland Council who is doing all off this its the torries 80per cent off the uk thought it was great in leting the torries back in power and now you are seeing what they are doing to you they dont care about people in the uk.now time to vote them out in the next election about time people wake up.david cameron-Nick Clegg-ian duncan smith-danny alexander and george osborne are not good for us

[Alex MacLeod]

its not the Highland Council who is doing all off this its the torries 80per cent off the uk thought it was great in leting the torries back in power and now you are seeing what they are doing to you they dont care about people in the uk.now time to vote them out in the next election about time people wake up.david cameron-Nick Clegg-ian duncan smith-danny alexander and george osborne are not good for us

Considering only 65% of the voting population actually cast a vote and Labour won the election with 35% of that then how can you state that 80% of the UK think its great that the tories are in power. Its the local authority that controls the budgets for school transportation not the tories.

[Tug]

im sory but i was under the impression that the snp were running this country....oh hang on thats right we have two governments here and neither of them are much cope... the trouble lies with the fact that there are too many people out there that have got nothing better to do than dream up ever stupider and more pointless ways of pouring money down the drain

[Sorted]

its not the Highland Council who is doing all off this its the torries 80per cent off the uk thought it was great in leting the torries back in power and now you are seeing what they are doing to you they dont care about people in the uk.now time to vote them out in the next election about time people wake up.david cameron-Nick Clegg-ian duncan smith-danny alexander and george osborne are not good for us

Considering only 65% of the voting population actually cast a vote and Labour won the election with 35% of that then how can you state that 80% of the UK think its great that the tories are in power. Its the local authority that controls the budgets for school transportation not the tories.

"Tony Godon David Nick Danny Blair Brown Cameron Clegg Alexander" are in fact the one person with the same agenda. Shag all us taxpayers to pieces and spend our money (yes it is our money!) any way they want. I am proud to say I have never voted for him in any of his guises.

As for the last bit Alex, it may well be true but the reality is that the Westminster government dictates how far these funds will go by dictating fiscal taxation such as fuel duty, the Scottish Government dishes out the Council's settlement once they have received their crumbs from the dictators in London and the Council has a list of statutory obligations it is legally obliged to meel. Reckon that leaves somewhere around 5% of their revenue budget for choice!

[TopSix]

If it can help prevent the language from dying, it's not a waste of money. More of an investment IMO.

[PullMyFinger]

Okay, my tax pounds should go elsewhere.

[TopSix]

Okay, my tax pounds should go elsewhere.

Learning a second language is a highly useful and the skills required can be applied when learning other languages. I personally would love to be able to speak Gaelic. My grandfather from skye was fluent but my father didn't pick it up.

There's a lot of career opportunities within Scotland for young people who can speak the language. I'm not going to get in to a debate with you on how taxes should and shouldn't be spent. I disagree with you. That's all.

[old caley girl]

Okay, my tax pounds should go elsewhere.

Learning a second language is a highly useful and the skills required can be applied when learning other languages. I personally would love to be able to speak Gaelic. My grandfather from skye was fluent but my father didn't pick it up.

There's a lot of career opportunities within Scotland for young people who can speak the language. I'm not going to get in to a debate with you on how taxes should and shouldn't be spent. I disagree with you. That's all.

Wouldnt be much fun if we all agreed top 6 would it? However personally I feel that Gaelic should have to tighten their belts like the rest of us. In normal schools belts are really having to be tightened and there is a question of fairness here.Investment should be made in all our children no matter what language they speak imho.

Edited January 21, 2011 by old caley girl

[SMEE]

Okay, my tax pounds should go elsewhere.

Learning a second language is a highly useful and the skills required can be applied when learning other languages. I personally would love to be able to speak Gaelic. My grandfather from skye was fluent but my father didn't pick it up.

There's a lot of career opportunities within Scotland for young people who can speak the language. I'm not going to get in to a debate with you on how taxes should and shouldn't be spent. I disagree with you. That's all.

Aye....theres a lot of overpayed jobs conjoured out of nowhere for "Jobs For The Boys" Gaelic Self Preservation Society. Really USELESSS positions, like people to take minutes of Highland Council meetings in Gaelic, even tho im pretty sure 100% of councillors speak english, probably as their main language.

There are numerous other languages that are more widely used in Scotland, Polish, Urdu, things like that....but we dont get them shoved down our throats or money thrown at them by the Scottish Govt. Why?? Because there isnt the same Mafia who have weaseled their way into the corridoors of power...making such demands, for their own gain!

As i have sed before....the language is dying on its arse...for ONE reason only.....LACK OF INTREST! And its things like the above AND the prefferential treatment the language and its users gets that really hacks me AND many others off!

Edited January 21, 2011 by SMEE

[TopSix]

I understand your point in regard to officialdom but my point is in regard to the teaching of the language in schools. If pupils want to learn it, they should be given the opportunity to do so. The Curriculum for Excellence puts the pupil at the centre and they should be given every opportunity to have breadth and choice in their education. Therefore, I support Gaelic and the teaching of Gaelic in our schools.