Couple of good posts at Shuggy on teaching.
The one on teacher vacancies is very good indeed, explaining the problem with Chris Woodhead (oh there are many I know), the effect of Thatcherism / Blairism on education, and why teacher pupil relationships are just wrong.
Good work, Shuggy.
15 comments:
Good work, Shuggy.
You're really too kind. And there was me thinking that people are likely to be put off by this sort of unadulterated bile. I'll need to stop bitchin' and get a job I like ;-)
I have a job that I like: doesn't stop me bitchin'
Hee.
Education does that to me.
I have a job that I like: doesn't stop me bitchin'
It doesn't? Ach well - I'll scrub the job-search then. Don't know how do anything else anyway, except ask people if they "want fries with that"...
Alas, I could only grind my way through approximately half of 'Shuggy's' long, nasal whine. If it is an example of how he attempts to impart knowledge to his pupils, God help them!
Oh, but I've just remembered, imparting knowledge is no longer part of the job. Silly me!
David, please do not attack anything and everything you don't understand.
If you can't comprehend a blogger's post, then you are not the intended audience - if you were, the intellectual content would be adjusted to your level.
If you expect that everyone should be able to understand every word written in a blog, then you need to seriously adjust your own. As I am not at all educated in matters of politics in Singapore, I cannot push myself through your posts on the matter, and yet I do not automatically feel inclined to insult you, your writing skills, or your profession, for the simple reason that you didn't write those articles for my benefit.
As for your opinions on the effectiveness of modern teaching methods, I doubt you have experience in the area, so you seem to be deliberately proving yourself irrelevant. Please stop wasting your time like this.
Alas, I could only grind my way through approximately half of 'Shuggy's' long, nasal whine.
See - that's the problem with young people today, no attention span. Try some concentration exercises, sonny. Oh, and - I may whine from time to time but it's never, ever nasal.
If it is an example of how he attempts to impart knowledge to his pupils, God help them!
No, in real life I swear alot more than that, Tory boy.
Btw,
Do any of you Thatcherite boot-boys ever talk to real teachers - or do you prefer to have them described to you by the Daily Mail? I suspect the latter; I've never read anything written by a Tory about education that didn't involve wrestling with straw men. That's one of the reasons you keep getting humped in elections, Tory boy...
Draic, Shuggy - you are making a big mistake. Don't even attempt to debate with this tosser, he's a lost cause. Either ignore him, or simply tell him to fuck off and then he might, just might, go away.
Don't even attempt to debate with this tosser, he's a lost cause.
*chuckle* I sense you're speaking from experience? He strikes me as the sort of dude who does lots of press-ups to stave off his sexual frustration...
It was only my liberal use of the "c" word which got him off my back - not literally, of course!
As to your final sentence, I don't want that picture to ever appear in my mind
No, 'reidski', it wasn't your "liberal use of the "c" word" that 'got me off your back', it was the fact that you did not have anything interesting to say, not once.
Oddly enough, I have some (not much, but some) sympathy with teachers. It wanes somewhat when they flail around, as 'Shuggy' has just done, blaming everyone but themselves, their wretched unions and, worst of the lot, so-called 'educationists' and their mad theories.
'Shuggy' suggest that I know nothing of current teaching. I know nothing of the Fiat Motor Company, but I do know their products, and I wouldn't buy one for a fiver! I *do* know some of the products of the current 'education' system. I even read some of what they have to say on the net. Try 'reidski', for an example! Of course, there are whole swathes of the 'product range' from the 'education' system that I can't read, for the simple reason that they can't write. Now, who do we blame for that. Oh, of course, 'that woman', who else?
Finally, some-one up above called me a 'Tory-boy'. Just for the record, 'I am not now, nor have I ever been a Tory'.
It wanes somewhat when they flail around, as 'Shuggy' has just done, blaming everyone but themselves, their wretched unions and, worst of the lot, so-called 'educationists' and their mad theories.
Wow - there's me a humble classroom practitioner, completely unaware of the vast powers I have at my disposal. Let's see, I should blame myself for how children are brought up, their 7 years of education before they reach secondary, the actions of my trade union representatives and for the theories expounded by FE teacher-trainers - even though both they and the theories were in business before I was out of short trousers?
Far-out. Any other institutions of state that are under my control that I may have been unaware of? Defence perhaps? If so, watch your ass - there's a cluster-bomb coming your way.
NB: You're not a Tory? I hope the Tory Party will forgive any offence that might have been involved with the association. They're right-wing - but not that right-wing...
As a driver of a Fiat Punto I now have another reason to disagree with Mr Duff. The reasons keep accumulating.
How odd! After slagging off just about everyone from 'that woman' downwards (or upwards, if you prefer) for the poor state of the non-education non-service department, he now pleads the equivalent of 'poverty and ignorance'. 'It was all some-else's fault. What am I supposed to do? I just obey orders.'
Well, you could start by refusing to teach a non-subject like 'modern studies' and stick to history, which is. You might even try telling our hostess, another 'pedagogue', that teaching is not about changing society. You might try agitating to change a system that allows your pupils to come to school in "their tracksuits, gel, zero-carat jewelry, plukes..". You might even consider advocating that parents pay their schools directly, but perhpas that might cause you even greater angst.
On a personal basis, you could try raising the standards of your invective from this rather poor standard: "He strikes me as the sort of dude who does lots of press-ups to stave off his sexual frustration...", to which I can only give a mark of E+, even in the knowledge that that is probably a pass mark in your establishment.
David
I try not to get involved with too much of the comments box battles that you seem to so love instigating, but please lay off calling a subject like 'Modern Studies' a non-subject. Shuggy - I hope - is taking his declared respite from teaching and blogging for a couple of weeks so he might not be here to defend himself. Since he and so many of my other blogger associates have done such a good job doing so for me, I feel it is the least I can do to add a small remark.
David, there is more to education than just the history of the military and monarchs (interesting though those can be); there is also more to history and understanding society than those topics. At the risk of dragging this comments box on too long, why does studying politics, economics, sociology, and social policy make you so cranky?
Oh I forgot. I think Reidski could phrase it much better than me. If you don't like our/my twitterings, just stop reading us: really, we're not going to miss you that much.
But I love your 'witterings and twitterings', really I do. They open my eyes to a whole new world, I wouldn't be without them. And of course, you'd miss me, I know you would!
In my school days we had Eng. Lang. and Lit, maths, biology, chemistry, physics, history, geography, French, woodwork and games. All of that, more than *filled* a school week. So I am curious to know what has been dropped to make way for "politics, economics, sociology, and social policy" and whatever else it is that passes for "modern studies"? I'm just curious, that's all!
Post a Comment