AIBU to tell team members to forfeit their breaks

If this about being a school teacher perhaps you could be lax on all the ridiculous rules whilst the children are in your classroom. They will pick up on it and appreciate it.

Then you and a few reasonable teachers campaign for better fairer rules for everyone.

Thank god my school only had basic school uniform rules and didn't make us freeze or boil to death with dumb blazer rules. I couldn't cope with this nonsense for me or any potential children of mine. Absolutely unnecessary to have these rules and doesn't teach kids anything about the real world.

How about

Team members 1-1874 are currently streaming out along the corridors, down staircases and through the entrances. 360, 375, 395 and 417 decide that because 1834-1874 are under five foot tall and weigh around 6 stone apiece that the appropriate way to vacate the premises is to plough down one flight of stairs using their combined mass and velocity comparable to that of a rabid hippopotamus in pursuit of somebody threatening its infant to send the smaller team members scattering like skittles.

Team members 754 and 791 do not like one another. Apparently it's because 760 says that 791 looked at 734 who 754's friend 763 likes that 723's sister's aunt's dog's cousin 773's friend 877 went to a party and says that 734 posted a TikTok that might have been meant to be about 752's friend saying that snakes are poisonous and 936 posted a heart which means that 791 is trying to make 744 like them. So 722 is now tearing clumps of hair out of 791 whilst 845, 634-670 and half of the 820-876s and four of 23-86 inclusive are caught in the middle of this.

325 has disclosed that they have been the subject of severe abuse to somebody from facilities, so HR have been contacted but are currently involved with issues arising from the representative of 137 declaring that it's all a conspiracy and they are going to contact the local paper about the targeted bullying of 137, 289 and an ex team member from 1996 who was unfairly dismissed following an incident where a chair flew up by magic and wrapped itself around a previous supervisor's head before rotating midair to escape through a second floor window. And whilst facilities is engaged with 325, a toilet has spontaneously blocked itself with somebody's PE kit and all of the paper towels and fallen off the wall.

338's representative is also demanding to see the CEO right now because the industry wide regulatory body's decision regarding contracted hours do not apply to them and in any case, it's not their fault that holidays during the contractual leave periods are more expensive and they should therefore be able to take additional leave without it affecting their remuneration package, key performance indicators or final review.

All the current supervisory team want to do is hold the training, meetings and some teambuilding activities so that everybody makes it to the end of their contract term with the best summative appraisal results they could possibly have. Oh, and maybe occasionally have a day of their unpaid, uncontracted employment time that doesn't involve working or thinking about what further nonsense is awaiting them either in person or via electronic means.

This has made me laugh 😂

We teach students how to ask to remove blazers in French or Spanish, handy knowing how to use the modal verb from week one. Couldn’t care less if their blazers are on/off in class, I’ll check before they leave class or they will be reprimanded (but not apprehended!) by management. If they don’t have a pen, they are told that it’s poor organisation but I’ll just give them one, it’s pointless wasting more time on such a trivial matter, particularly if they had one run out, one break, one lost, for example.

This

Bring back corporal punishment for those serious misdemeanors.

Must be a joke thread no one is this stupid.

TBH I’m surprised autocorrect didn’t help with ‘distroy’ (it just did here!) since AFAIK it’s not in any standard dictionary.

I know school rules can seem ridiculous but seriously bringing a pen to class is a basic need! Organising yourself to have homework/ paperwork ready at a deadline is a basic need.

I'm a little confused about the op's intent but is an interesting discussion point around taking people's breaks away.At work the breaks are mandatory so perhaps it should be the same for school.

The other thing that people who complain about this sort of thing don't get is the low level disruption that is unchecked often also spins off into bullying of those who want to learn.
And those who are happy to learn, but struggle with concentration, so these constant interruptions make it impossible - so then they give up.

Maybe we should split the schools again.

Parents can do it by their choice, simple tick box:

1. I will support the school and their rules
2. I won't support rules that I don't agree with

I'll put bets that very shortly schools #2 will have parents complaining that their child, who is the most honest, never lies, and is free spirited but would never be rude, is not learning anything and wanting to change their child to #1.

call the police for having to borrow a pen and as for taking of a jacket - death by firing squad

lie someone said if this related to children and you are the teacher you need to leave the profession or take a very long holiday with a lot of therapy to discuss why you behave and think like this

I agree with point OP makes . I am a teacher and it’s crazy how punitive schools are . I think she’s made a good satirical point. Unfortunately we are as bullied as the kids and SLT come after you if you’re not logging/ punishing kids in the way OP describes. Good on you OP . Well made comment!

Lol who the hell do you think you are? You are not their parent. You sound like an awful boss if this is the way you think.

Agree

My kids are disciplined, well behaved, and not subjected to this level of ridiculous control at school or home.

Before I worked out that this was an analogy, I was thinking of sensible ways to handle this at work - coaching the colleagues as to strategies for being organised, finding what works for them amongst the multiple planning tools that are available; and in terms of non-adherence to dress code, taking this up in a one-to-one rather than in front of others.

Those strategies could work with schoolchildren, but I suppose the difference is that if someone at work has to borrow a pen, it wouldn't normally trigger a ripple of low-level disruption amongst their peers and delay the meeting getting going, which is the danger of that kind of thing in a classroom.

I am strongly against dress codes in school or work that mandate the wearing or not wearing of jackets, jumpers etc. People of all ages should be free to choose what they need to wear to maintain a comfortable temperature - we are all different in that respect. By all means have prescribed uniform garments but make it that the minimum is socks, shoes, trousers/skirt and blouse/shirt (and tie, if they must, pointless things that they are) and anything else is optional.

I have to assume this is sarcasm, otherwise you're a Nazi.

I teach in a very pernickity but non selective private school. Last week our 15/16 year olds were on a theatre trip. The staff were sought out by 4 separate members of the public to compliment them on our kids' behaviour, appearance, manners, etiquette in the theatre. That's what being strict and sometimes petty gets you.

I think that poster has already said she is not a teacher and is severely dyslexic. No need for mean comments.

Daft analogy.
School children are not adults at work.
Workplaces also have disciplinary measures so if an employee was constantly disappearing off to the toilet (without a medical reason) or turning up to meetings without the necessary documents or turning up late to work or not at all etc. there are procedures that would be followed too and could eventually end up with the employee being sacked if they didn't improve.
Also employees don't usually leave their desks to go to the toilet and then mess about in said toilet, vaping, damaging property, bullying other employees who also happen to be in the toilet at the same time too.

Nationally, there has been an increase in the behaviours being discussed here. I have been teaching for 30 years and am currently involved in a ‘Lost Learning’ piece of research. The rise in screen and vape addiction has lead to a disproportionate rise in internal truancy. The improved standards in teaching and learning methods, meta cognition and rigorous curriculum have improved learning and progress.

This means that many classrooms have strict and clear behaviour policies that students struggle with. The lessons are intense and pacy and some students can’t keep up or get bored or just want to have a laugh. Having a drink or water or taking off your blazer is the perfect opportunity to play up, be over the top and distract learning. Not turning up with a pen or equipment is further delaying tactics and a chance to create conflict and drama.

I teach an English group that are a dream class, they’re almost too quiet and studious. I have one typically ‘challenging’ lad and he is desperate to find someone to have fun with, searching round the room for someone to join in with ‘6,7’ and ‘good boy’. None of them do! He looks bored and lost whilst the others engage in examining the writers methodology.

In a class with a few more tricky, disengaged kids and it would be a different and disruptive story! He’s unhappy and bored in there, but he’s learning 🤷‍♀️ obviously mum wants him moved to a group with more of his mates on mental health grounds.

Not a problem! I hate posters who comment on other people’s grammar or spelling. It’s a truly shitty thing to do.

Well, private schools can be selective - and therefore a better analogy for the workplace (OP is ignoring that she would have hired these team members and can fire them). State schools are overcrowded, under-resourced and overwhelmed. The blazer thing I agree is dumb; the toilet thing so much more complicated and impossible to resolve. The problems run so deep and are so numerous. The OP's fantasy about how she would handle things through mature, reasonable discussion is lovely. If she spent two weeks in a normal secondary school right now, she could tell us how that works out for her.

You know there are dyslexic teachers yes?