Challenging the school system works
After months of constant meetings and
Attempted negotiations I lost my temper
On Friday when I was asked to collect my
Boy who was confronting a teacher over a
Bag of sweets! I understand that teachers
Have a need to maintain discipline and that
They need to be respected within their own
Environments, but why would a trained
Inclusion officer want to confront a twelve
Year old boy over a bag of sweets that he had
No right to have taken in the first place. The
Sweets had been confiscated the day before
And as such my boy had accepted his punishment
As it was just. What was not just was for
Another teacher to then take these sweets and
Hold on to them under the guise that they
Were not healthy. If you look for a confrontation
With a child surely that is the way to go. Me
Being the helpful person that I am totally
Agreed with the teacher while my son was
Present, but when he was not I let loose and
Went into one and confronted the teacher about
His training and recognising when you need
To give young people the opportunity to back
Down. Twelve is an awkward age where boys
Want to be men and test out there skills and
Abilities where ever they can. So to confront a
Young man is to not be aware of either child
Development of psychological make up which
You would think that an inclusion officer would
Be only too well aware off. The conclusion, yet
Another two days missing out of school, no formal
Exclusion on his record and me even more concerned
Over my young man’s treatment within an education
System that has chosen inclusion over individual
Learning and assistance. I teach kids with behavioural
Difficulties and seeing the way that many students are
Treated within mainstream schooling, I would really
Like to implement a nation wide campaign against
Bullying, not by pupils but by teachers. Teacher seem
To take for granted the power of the written and spoken
Word. How a teacher deals with a student is also reflected
In how that student is viewed and treated by their peers and
All others within the school system. It only needs one
Un-thinking individual to start the process and any child
Can become a self for filling prophesy, “I think you are bad,
I will treat you as if you are bad, I am being treated bad,
I might as well act like I am bad, you are bad and thus we
Treat you bad”. Some so called teachers and others within
The schooling system really need to check themselves to see what
Their own motivation is and consider what it is that they are doing
To the children. I do not for one minute believe that society has got
To the point where it is producing children who are increasingly being excluded from school because they are bad. I think that our children have developed faster than our educational system which is still stuck in it’s Victorian mentality and that the whole system needs a bloody good overhaul to not only meet the changing needs of advancing young people but also to reconsider the requirements of students in an every changing world. Compulsory use of IT would be a bloody good start for the teachers and then maybe we could look at the students.
