To think - how awful schools really are

[Ippimi]

I remember hating school when I went to school. But that was a long time ago now. I'd kind of forgotten about it.

I work for a training company that usually delivers training programmes to businesses. I usually teach adults. I'm not working in the UK at the moment. I'm working in a different country in Europe.

However we recently got asked to design a training programme for a local school. So for the last couple of weeks I've been going in and talking to the children in a school about a topic.

Going into the school- and looking at it as an adult - I just think it's so so awful. Why do we do this to children

The children are not allowed to move , they're not allowed to talk. The teacher yells at them to be quiet all the time.

I understand this is the school system everywhere. I remember that I hated school as a child and I felt trapped. But when I look at it from an adults eyes, it looks even worse.

when I look at it as an adult, it really seems like emotional abuse of children.

It also seems like such a waste of their young years.

They should be playing and having some fun.

They're not allowed to move or talk. And they get shouted at A lot. It just seems like they're getting indoctrinated to not think for themselves and to follow orders. The school system is just awful and needs to change in my opinion

Hate to be that person but… no, not all schools are like that. Not all schools have the over the top, draconian disciplinary structure.

This is absolutely not my experience of schools in the UK. Some may be stricter than others, but none of what you've said would be considered particularly good practice.

Um no, kids need to be learning in school or properly in home schooling.

But in the UK, children are not allowed to talk in class either.

If you look at any documentaries about teaching in the UK, it always shows teachers telling children not to talk,
And it shows them removing children from classrooms because they were talking.

You're going into a school to give talks and you're upset that the teachers are telling the kids to be quiet and listen?

I came up against hideous bullying from the headmaster and the middle school teacher of my primary school so I have to agree with you OP.

Op they’re told not to move and talk but then when they get used to that or abide by it they can learn, find stuff they’re interested in, be rewarded-plus if it wasn’t for school a good deal of kids wouldn’t have the opportunities to learn and have fun, in fact nowadays chances are they’d plonk themselves in front of a screen. Watch lunchtime in school, look at the projects, the experiments, art, the discussions, the plays, the music

I loved school for a long time. That's bound to affect my view.

I liked I when the teachers were in charge (preferably not shouting) because all I wanted to do was learn. I liked all the different things we did at school and a lot of the subjects, music and biology in particular. Learning is playing to me.

I didnt love it every day, but a lot of the time. I know I was lucky.

Nope
That doesn't describe the school I work in

No the teacher is not telling them to be quiet and listen to me.

She is usually finishing the last ten minutes of her lesson when I go in. She doesn't finish by the appointed time. But she still gets me to go into the classroom while she is finishing her lesson.

She is telling them to be quiet and to listen to her.

She constantly shouts at them "close your mouth!!"

Children are not allowed to talk in class (at times) because it's important that they learn how to listen and, frankly, good manners. A class of 30 can be incredibly rowdy which impacts on other classes around them, the ability of the teacher to teach and the ability of many of the children to concentrate. There are plenty of opportunities to talk when it's appropriate.

They're not even allowed to go to the toilet or remove their blazers. Schools are worse than some prisons.

Why are you fixated on children being allowed to talk in class?
What sort of learning experience would it be amid 20 different conversations taking place?
It’s nonsense.

So you're judging all schools as awful on the basis of a teacher who tells her class to be quiet and listen to her?

Batshit.

If children don't sit quietly and listen whilst a teacher is talking how on earth are they going to hear anything and learn anything? What exactly is the alternative when one individual is trying to teach 30 people?
Children do need to learn to sit and listen, its a basic behaviour expected in many scenarios in life. They get plenty of opportunities throughout the day to talk, play and socialise.

They are not talking all class.

I see the children want to say a few words to the child sitting next to them, and the minute that they say one word, they are shouted at.

It seems cruel to me.

Where else are people not allowed to talk?

Crazy.

The theatre? Cinema? Other places where people need to actually listen to what is going on?

Wow what a nasty individual.

If you had bothered to ask me a question. I qould have told you I don't just deal with one teacher in this school.

It's a large school. And I go in twice a week , and I go into six different classrooms.

I see Six different teachers.

They are all the same with the children.

Have you actually ever been in prison. If not, don’t say such utterly ridiculous stuff.
Large groups of people, children or adults, have to be quiet and be still when one person is trying to talk to them. This is common good manners and a life skill.
All society is held together by a common understanding that we all follow a basic set of rules. School is preparation for that.
Some schools are better than others but none come close to prison!
And if anyone has a magic alternative for getting 30, 14 year olds to pay attention please pass it on. Along with your amazing solutions to fix our education system.

You can talk quietly to the person next to you in the cinema.

No one is shouting at you to stop are they?

What's crazy? Write a post to elaborate.

Can I ask what you would do differently? How would you handle a large groups of teens?

And you still haven't explained why a teacher expecting a class to be quiet and listen to them is awful.

I do think that schools are draconian and authoritive and need to change.

So many people say that they had a horrible time in school