Education

Recently, I have been surveying the Education System from within its very walls, yes, my school. My school isn't perfect, no one in the town would say so but its not exactly terribly bad either. Yes, there a days when if given a shot gun you could shoot yourself silly with the amount of pupils you'd like to eradicate permanently, and then there are also days when you feel like a working part of a huge community, almost like a family. A very estranged, distended and noisy family, but a family nonetheless. (Ok, so I may be exaggerating just a little with the shot gun theory but I'm sure others would agree.)

I had two days just like these not so long ago, it was a Monday and a Tuesday of the same week if I remember correctly. Nothing major happened on the Monday; no big bomb threats or a deliberate setting-on-fire of the library, there was just period after period of disruptive pupils, extreme heating conditions and clueless cover teachers. Added together on a grey, drizzly, typical Scottish Monday did not result in a nice Jemma. The day almost drove me to loose faith in the school completely.

If there is one thing I cant stand is being in a class where I know I have a great deal of work I could be getting on with but due to an illness my teacher hasnt made it in and we get a cover teacher who'd just as happily make us watch endless episodes of The Simpsons. Or, in the case of RME, Wallace and Gromit. I'm most deffinately not blaming it on the teachers or the cover teachers for that matter, its the lack of discipline there is in todays schools and also in many family homes.

Kids are misbehaving, then are not getting punished by the Higher Management according to what they've done. Its either to be put on a timetable (which has mutated into a badge of hounour and a plus 100 points on your Street Cred) or to get a phonecall home. I'm sorry to admit but, say, 10 years ago if your parents got a phonecall from the school, they would immediately ask you what you've done, why you'd done it and get the full story before taking it further and dealing with it. In 2007 however, the immediate parental reaction is to ask the teachers why they have the nerve to call them about their child when their child has done nothing wrong, yet they havent even got the story straight from either side. It is not only setting a bad example and making the kids have no respect for the school, but its also going to affect them in later life, the school is going to become the workplace and teachers are going to become employers and there will be no end in the problems.

Witnessing fellow pupils misbehave in classes, seeing teachers getting stressed out over them and watching as the state of education slides decidedly downwards, I cant help but feel a great deal of pity for the teachers in schools. They not only have the responsibilty of teaching and nuturing you minds, but they aslo have the added pressures of discipline and parents who refused to believe their child is no longer their little angel. I say they deserve more credit than they currently get, dont you?

*I find my opinions on this subject rather ironic as I myself want to be an Art Teacher. :)