I know a number of teachers in the State system. People who are enormously conscientious and work tremendously hard each year to further the progress of their pupils but unfortunately the mixture of girls and boys willing to apply themselves is disproportionately offset by kids who, for a range of reasons are not interested in learning and are a disruptive element in the class as a whole. The teacher who's job is to pacify the unruly whilst encouraging the willing are on a beating to none when compared to the private school environment where the children are there to learn and the teachers encouraged by their enthusiasm. This mindset to use your time at school positively is inculcated at home whilst all around them the children see the positive effects of what a good education can buy.
The secondary teacher has to compete with a society which sees employment as a job, often short term, as a means to a limited end, to buy a car and money for entertainment whilst the career minded person sees his, or her for gaining status and money in the ranks of a profession.
One is supposed to avoid the stereotypical labelling of families from which many, if not all troubled children come but disruptive, violent environments often leading to single parenthood are threads running through most disruptive children and it seems to be getting worse as society makes a point of describing a a country in flux, where short term individualistic desires are paramount and a sense of give and take is seen as a failure. The insatiable appetite for success without understanding how it comes is the basis for many of the broken homes from where most if not all of these damaged children emerge. For them the experience of their own family is enough to know that nothing changes from generation to generation on the the estate.
Educating Rita was a film which I will never forget. Julie Walters was the actress who played the hairdresser who wanted something better. She pursued her dream through 'A levels' and university and the counter-play between her and her tutor, played by Michael Caine, the academic donnish type who saw in her the spark of an intellect which he could kindle. Rita from the insecurity of her past life was initially overawed by his apparent authoritative grasp of life through his own academic success but she gradually overhauled him emotionally with her tremendous joie de vivre. It was a beautiful story and so well acted that one fell in step with the fictional characterisation of a plausible real life event as their lives unfurled, she released into a world of self assuredness, he left with his split infinitives.
It was the 'peasants' drive to seek knowledge and his assumption that the intricacies of knowledge was the measure. A mental construct which is the downfall of most educational systems since it sets out to provide the pupil with a view of the heights without enjoying a saunter through the easier ground of the upland scree before the more serious stuff begins.
The teachers have to ignite a fire, the thirst for learning, the enjoyment of fitting together the jigsaw. Too often teachers are handed the equipment to fight fire rather than encourage an academic spark to warm the pupils heart irrespective of the chaos they see around.
