to be horrified at Starkey

[amiheartless]

the comment he made to that lad in Jamies Dream School,
was appalling,
(for people who didnt see)
there was no provocation the class was joking around about evolution, about animals are faster and this lad pointed to his muscle ..and Starkey said,

'you're so fat im surprised you can move!'
I felt for the lad, my blood was boiling
when will teachers learn humiliation does not work as a teaching technique!!!

sorry rant over,

Not sure why I've come over all PC since posting on Mumsnet cos I certainly wasn't before I joined.

It's something in the water here I reckon.

< goes to look for more crassness on other threads to clutch my pearls at >

clutch my pearls.

That's a bit rude

If you think that's rude then you should have seen me yesterday munching Hecate's kebab.

I thought I could smell garlic mayo...

I must have missed a bit when I was flossing ...

The garlic mayo is gone but there's something else stuck in those pearlys...

Whoops!

How about now?

I wasn't horrified but I did enjoy watching Starkey score an "own-goal". It was satisfying and enjoyable somehow. Before I am torched may I swiftly add I felt he was completely out of order and should not be allowed the privilege of returning to teach that group again.

What a winning smile you have, private

Did you all miss the part where he called them all failures at the beginning of his lesson!
whilst technically correct, morally a disgrace.

Whats wrong, is that he told them this the first time he met them and at the beginning of the lesson!A lesson in how not to engage and communicate with disillusioned teenagers.

"He's not telling them their whole lives are blighted and they are doomed to fail forever". Well I'm not sure telling them they are failures, now, last week or yesterday, is actually going to motivate them not to be failures tomorrow.

Giddy - their behaviours are deeply ingrained and to a large part they are defense mechanisms in a world that despises them.

We can blame them for their behaviours, or we can try and find ways to engage with them and help them learn to learn and manage to change.

As I said earlier, blame is easier.

I teach in a challenging school and we are actually pretty robust in our comments to our underperforming students. I regularly point out the consequences of failing exams. I had some pretty strong words to say on the subject to some of my year 9s today in fact.

I'm at the suggestion that David Starkey is the first person to say anything less than fluffy to them.

Starkey inspired my DH to get a 1st. He was DH's tutor at LSE and DH has always talked of his brilliance and inspiration in hushed tones. I think most of the class Starkey was teaching needed a kick up the bum and had they had it years ago they might have done considerably better. Standards have declined much too far in the last thirty years mostly because of precious liberaldom. For all those who are saying Starkey is a tv presenter and celeb, he was and remains an exceptional teacher of history who inspired thousands and thousands of students at a Rusell Group university and whetted their appetites for a life time of learning.

I think Starkey was too blunt but I do think they did need to hear some cold hard truths. You will find it difficult to get on if you don't have 5 GCSEs so he wasn't wrong but I think he could have phrased in a different way and still have had the same effect.

On another note I think Starkeys on Questiontime tonight.

Will watch Starkey on Questiontime tonight. Hope he gets what he deserves. (Apologies to onceamai)

lovin' how being being fat-ophobic (yes I did just make that word up) is truly the one acceptable prejudice left. Honestly can't see how Starkey thought it was ok to verbally abuse a youngster for his weight when it has absolutely nothing to do with his ability to pass exams. I really hope that I live to see the day when this is as unacceptable as other prejudices but things seem to be going the other way. I have been massive since I was a toddler and I promise you it was a lot easier to be fat in the 70s and 80s than it is now.

Vicky2011 so - what does it help our children to pretend to them that this is not the case? To shield them from the truth?

Talleyrand - well I would look at this other way and start trying to change attitudes, in the same way that we have rightly succeeded in changing prejudices against other "differences". Telling a person their size will damage their health is one thing, but telling them that everyone is going to hate them for being fat, which seems to be what you are saying, is justifying and even encouraging bullying. The fault for the abuse is with the abusers, not with the fat person. This is not the same as saying fat people aren't to blame for their weight, I have never said that, but we sure as hell aren't to blame for other people's "issue" with fat.

I dont think the telling them off for not apying attention was a bad things, he is afterall meant to be teaching

however the fat comment was pure bullying, no provocation for that whatsoever