Every day there's another pathetic 'spat' between parents and kids at school. In some cases, schools are shown to be institutions that have lost the plot, and have inflated levels of self-importance. Teachers can be as idiotic as anyone. In other cases, whinging fucking parents are so ready to be offended (sometimes calling the police) that it sets the worst example to their kids. The end result, whatever the angle, is that the kids involved usually suffer, or then carry a grudge, and the teachers involved commonly get reprimanded or lose their jobs.
Today I see a story about a 14-year old shouting to his teacher outside of school, using the teacher's name - Barry. This triggered a phone call to the mother that evening to confirm a 5-day ban. WTF? This is sheer lunacy, and disproportionate as fuck! The school is warbling on about how this was not the reason for the ban, and that other mutterings to undermine teachers were the cause of a 'build up' in previous days or weeks. This is simply pathetic, and shows wankerishness [yes, I know that's not a word, but I like the sound of it - and you get the meaning all right] on the part of the school, its policy, the teacher and the head teacher.
I expect everyone has seen the story about the teacher who taped kids' mouths in class. This was allegedly because they were all making too much noise. Outraged parents complained (one called the fucking police!) and suddenly everyone had bleeding lips and wandered around like zombies after an apocalypse. I have no doubt that a couple of kids mentions the goings on in class that day, and parents flipped their lids before phoning each other to gossip and hint at possible compensation. In my mind, I have no problem at all in kids getting their mouths taped if they are being little cunts and won't shut the fuck up in class.
It turns out that there is another side to the story - isn't there always? The boyfriend of the teacher says she is distraught because her use of tape was at the children's request, as a light-hearted joke. They suggested this course of action (supposedly) and the teacher, perhaps without thinking it through, complied. The teacher (who is Spanish) went home that day without anything being mentioned by anyone, and with the impression that it had been a good day. Parental involvement was set to put paid to that! Kids have no real sense of perspective (matching the parental outlook, Id' say) and so will relay news of their schooldays in a rather different context than the one relevant at the time. The parents will have no context at all, other than a running disposition to be affronted by any cunt who dares to upset little Jack or Jill, and picking a fight while being 'in the right' is the usual stance.
I saw a week or two ago a mother moaning about a school for sending home her son, and how he'd necessarily had the sides of his head shaved further. The further loss of hair demanded by the school was to get rid of the initials/logo that had been incorporated in the design. If a parent is silly enough to think that a kid can go to school with a wrestling moniker etched into his head, and that the school will be pleased, then that parent is a twat.
On the other hand, there are dinner ladies, lunchtime supervisors and teachers all acting like the Gestapo on a daily basis, to inspect what food kids have brought in their lunchboxes. The healthy eating approach has been taken to silly levels in some cases. We all recall the boy banned for having Mini Cheddars. The Daily Mail free booklet on Saturday allowed me to assess the latest national crisis (sugar addiction) by perusing various foods to see what sugar content they had. It seems we're supposed to have no more than 10 teaspoons per day of 'sugar'. Just so you know, one fucking banana has apparently got within it 7 teaspoons of sugar. With an apple's three and a half, parents are thus fucking their kids' health by giving them an apple and a banana a day! Bollocks!
On to school dinners, and it seems Nick Clegg is just as useless as we all thought, and his lunacy regarding school dinners has been criticised by head teachers. I think this bloke needs to fine a remote allotment, dig a hole, and plant himself. Maybe he'll grow up.
Over in Wrexham, a mother sent her daughter to school with inappropriate footwear. The school got the hump, and sent the daughter to the 'isolation room' to work, rather than allow her to work with the rest of the class. It seems the 'isolation room' was full [that says a lot about compliance!] and as a result, she was forced to work in a small room (with a desk and chair) measuring 1.5 metres by 1 metre - referred to as a 'cupboard'. Although the door was kept open, the pupil apparently claimed: "I didn't like it very much; it was very cramped and very lonely." Boo-hoo, luv. This was all a storm in a teacup - or perhaps a fart in a cupboard.
Generally, there's less that happens in the playground than happens in the 'battleground' between parents and teachers. There are so many good teachers, with common sense and a proper attitude, that it is a shame to highlight so many instances of stupidity. However, there is no escaping the fact that many schools have an inability to decide upon a sensible course of action and stick to it. Parents dump their kids at school and expect teachers to do the lot. This includes fucking nappy training for the youngest. The teachers' responsibilities should not be to make good on the howling gaps in the abilities of the parents to fucking parent! There must be so many teachers who despise the little cunts, if indeed they are dealing daily with little cunts whose missions seem to revolve around skiving, doing no work, making life a misery for staff, and claiming all sorts of things. Teachers are simply a target for accusations - 24/7.
However, you can trust the Catholics to fuck things up, and as if proof were needed, there's a story today about how a rather too strict teacher has been accused of pushing and pinching pupils (some as young as five) and in one case, of hitting a girl on the head. This all happened over a five-year period, we have learned. A panel has been hearing evidence, although the teacher has long since been dismissed. Why there's a hearing when the police have taken no action and the teacher has not only gone but retired, I am not too sure. She'll be found guilty anyway, and I am sure the Catholic Primary School is not running as smoothly as one might expect, and forcing the RC doctrine on the defenceless. I would have less of an issue with forced teaching if the ones in charge were a bit more liberal, perhaps nuns with a reasonable attitude.
Sadly I think this sort of education might be frowned upon in most quarters. I suspect that teenagers might well do what they are told if the above image represented Catholic teaching - the schools would be over-subscribed, for sure.
To some parents, school is a glorified child minding service. To others, it is a place of learning and development. Sadly, it's usually the case that schools contain a mix of offspring so that both factions are represented. This can only serve to reduce the overall effectiveness and benefits, or at the very least, present challenges to teachers and schools that simply should not eat up time and resources. Most schools are just waiting for angry parents to claim compensation, sue, accuse left right and centre, and go to the media with a story. If a parent can get £1000 compensation because little Johnny twanged his ruler on the desk and it snapped, cutting his finger, then that's what will happen. In any school, the 98% success counts for little, because the 2% constituting any form of friction will be what everyone focuses on. This peripheral shit gets attention while other kids are herded through the years and out the other end, either to fight with others who have 11 GCSE A* passes for a minimum wage job, or to benefits street.
...
No comments:
Post a Comment