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Original poster

Ex forces members as schoolteachers, (Panorama tonight?)

552 replies

GabbyLoggon · 28/02/2011 11:53

Are they being unreasoable?

Its a government idea copied from America
(suprise, suprise)

Training ex forces members to be schoolteachers (It has always been open for them to do that.)

Is it a gimmick? The trouble is Cameron learned from Blair the art of regular publicity stunts.

So it is difficult to know what to take seriously.

What do the teaching profession think of it? "Gabby"

OP posts:
Guacamole · 28/02/2011 21:47

"What's worse that army men is army wives IMHO. I wouldn't mix with one of those creatures socially. Dim is not the word."

And that's not offensive in the slightest. You sound like a lovely piece of work, thank God you're not a teacher.

I'm not going to bother to argue with you any more, you're not worth the breath!

Goblinchild · 28/02/2011 21:48

Yup, she's just being disruptive now. Grin
My mother has a degree, from a time when most women didn't even get to University. She married a squaddie, who now has a Masters. Done in between his job.
keep your temper military types, she's no worse than Y9 on a Friday afternoon. Or possibly a Wednesday morning.

penguin73 · 28/02/2011 21:50

Maybe you could desist too Glasnost? Before you say something really offensive? Oh sorry, too late. You already have.

meditrina · 28/02/2011 21:51

Well, I hope the "Forces' Sweethearts" aren't reading this.

glasnost · 28/02/2011 21:52

penguin if the 2 people you love most are risking their lives on a daily basis take the government to task that sent them there! Not those of us who abhor the military precisely because it takes our (mostly) men and turns them into cannon fodder.

And I haven't been offensive by saying the military is dysfunctional.

penguin73 · 28/02/2011 21:52

I know Goblin, and I can't believe I still let myself get wound up by the eejits! I'm off to play elsewhere too (and think of a way to amuse Y9 tomorrow..!)

jcscot · 28/02/2011 21:54

"What's worse that army men is army wives IMHO. I wouldn't mix with one of those creatures socially. Dim is not the word."

Speaking as a Forces wife, I can only say that the wives I know span a broad range of intellectual capacities (from the very bright to the not-so-intelligent) and an equally broad range of life experience. Some enjoy Forces life, some hate it and some fluctuate between the two depending on circumstances. The one thing I will say that has (in my experience) been universal has been a sense of community that I've found to be lacking in the area in which I live (we live off-patch right now). That may just be a reflection of my little street - I wouldn't want to extrapolate that experience to make some sweeping generalisation about every woman not connected to the Forces, now, would I? Hmm

My point? Forces wives are just like any other group of women you can think of.

Normantebbit · 28/02/2011 22:01

There are two people on a wind up here.

victoriascrumptious · 28/02/2011 22:05

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by Mumsnet.

CaveMum · 28/02/2011 22:06

Haven't laughed so much for a long time!

As a RAF wife I guess I must be slightly more intelligent!

LtEveDallas · 28/02/2011 22:06

Oh well, what was a fine debate has turned into a joke. VS is doing her usual, so at least we don't have to take her seriously. God, can you imagine what it would be like if she were for real?!! Thank God no-one is that stupid.

LDNMummy, if you do come back to this I do hope you have thought about what you said, and realised how wrong and how offensive what you said was.

Some ex forces personnel will make fine teachers, but for our schools I expect it will be too little too late. Schooling needs a serious overhall, we need more TAs, more SEN specialists, more bloody money and that ain't coming anytime soon.

Dave is rapidly turning into the kneejerk reaction king. I wonder if we will ever see anything substantial from him?

vintageteacups · 28/02/2011 22:14

Yep - some of us 'dim' army wives from 'Forces Sweethearts' are reading this and me thinks that VS perhaps isn't all she/he seems!!!

For what it's worth, just because a wife is married to someone in the forces, doesn't mean she doesn't know anything other than that life. I'm really hacked off now and can't be bothered to try to justify anything anymore. VS et al are just trying to wind us all up with remarks that mean zilch.

emmyloopsyloo · 28/02/2011 22:16

This is funny, really.

Maybe the shit stirrer can give us a run down of the dimness scale.

Army, RAF, Navy and Marine wives, whos the dimmest of them all,

As RAF we tend to be thought of as snobby, so I don't mind some dimness thrown it, to even it out and make me fit in.

I've got Army and Naval family members too, can't have them out do me in the bigoted, dimness stakes :)

vintageteacups · 28/02/2011 22:18

well, I for one, would call myself a bit dippy sometimes but never dim Grin (army wife)

victoriascrumptious · 28/02/2011 22:18

Bollocks we need more TA's, bollocks 'schooling needs a radical overhall'. What we need is for every parent to take more responsibility for their little shites. What we need is for everyone to take more responsibility for themselves in general.

Oh and we need one brave journalist willing to sacrifice his/her career and say 'actually all this solider worship is nauseating and creepy. Of course that would be the end of them but it might encourage a few more to come forward and then more....and then maybe the worm will turn and sensible thinking can return. But hell will freeze over first.

vintageteacups · 28/02/2011 22:19

So is VS known generally for making completely bonk remarks that offend everyone?

victoriascrumptious · 28/02/2011 22:20

I'm very sorry for you vintageteacups. Terrible atmosphere to live in. I brouse readguard from time to time but I can't do it longer for 10mins before I start swearing at the screen. Anti-feminist heaven there aint it?

CaveMum · 28/02/2011 22:22

Has anyone looked at VS' profile and her list of hobbies..... [whistles nonchalantly]

victoriascrumptious · 28/02/2011 22:22

VS is generally known for her genius, pragmatism and stoicism under heavy fire. I am never insincere.

MilaMae · 28/02/2011 22:23

Back to the programme in question I have a few concerns.

Firstly I would like to say I liked the primary head(pleasantly surprised) and the way it may get more men into primary schools.

However I'm concerned the military are getting preferential treatment.Not all military personal will be ideal(however much some posters on here want them to),why should they get preferential treatment exactly?

I was also appalled at that military school Shock,no way on earth would my boys and dd be going there,they'd detest it.I don't want my dc part of a cadet force on parade slightly worrying that the gov wants more cadets-why?I don't want my kids marching around a parade ground,in fatigues and aspiring to the army-ever.

Oh and I find soooo much of this extremely patronising and insulting to teachers already in a hard job,many of whom are doing fine work. The American teacher just took the biscuit re speaking quietly "the military taught me that" well duhhhh hate to break it to you mate most teachers worth their salt know the benefits of speaking quietly and firmly, most already do it and don't need a military background to be able to do it.

you know what many of us can teach and able to do a good job. We're not all completely wet,useless and in need of the military to show us how it's done.Hmm

vintageteacups · 28/02/2011 22:24

Okay - so let's imagine you are hill walking in Wales VS and you suddenly (heaven forbid) slip down the side of the hill, breaking your leg as you fall. Your DH calls for the rescue helicopter and out comes the RAF Sea King to assist and fly you to hospital. You're not going to lie there and refuse to let them help you are you?

Exactly.

The armed forces cannot strike, unlike all other workers. If the country needed fire fighters and assistance in any way whatsoever, who do reckon would be out there helping?

For someone who said they spent years in a military environment, I dread to think how many friends/relatives you would offend if they read your comments.

victoriascrumptious · 28/02/2011 22:26

Yes why preferential treatment?

I've worked in a state organisation where (unofficially) there was a drive to give them preferential treatment. Didn't work out. They couldn't adapt. Inability to think flexibly. Pain in the arse to work alongside

jcscot · 28/02/2011 22:26

"soldier worship"? Seriously?

I defy anyone to look at my husband and think he's worthy of worship of any sort!

I think that the Forces do a great job and that job should be valued by the society they serve. I also think that society should value the people who also serve as teachers, nurses, policemen, firemen and paramedics - all very necessary jobs that help the country function well.

I do place a high importance on the values that my husband upholds as part of his service - integrity, honour, moral and physical courage, leadership, sacrifice, and duty. Do I think that the Forces are the only profession trying to live up to those values? No. Do I thank that soldiers/sailors/airmen/marines are the only individuals who exhibit such traits? No.

I think anyone who extolls those values and standards is worthy of my respect, regardless of their occupation.

So, no, I don't think there is a cult of "soldier worship" in society. Certainly not in my house, anyway - my husband needs to know his place! Wink

scaryteacher · 28/02/2011 22:27

Of course the military don't take responsibility for themselves or their families do they VS? I am a military child and wife and my family is not dysfunctional. I'm sorry yours was, but you will find more dysfunctional families in civilian life than you will in the military community - I know, I taught and teach the products of many of them.

This thread is not soldier worship (RN through and through in my family), but a response to those who have called our families and some of the serving MNers thugs, uneducated (two masters degrees in my family) and lacking in transferable skills. If we threw that at any other profession on MN we would get hammered. Why should the military and those associated with it have to put up with it?

victoriascrumptious · 28/02/2011 22:28

Vintage whattheutterufuck are you on about? I don't like my local trafic warden either (personal reasons involving a dispute over the neighbours dog) but yes i'd let her pull me out from under a bus. That's what people do. Normal people, normal people who give a shit about others around them

Get it in perspective