To think that students shouldn't be making teachers cry FFS!.

[Theydontknowweknowtheyknow]

...and that the school system is essentially fucked because teachers have too many pressures and are treated like crap?

DS is not good at Maths. He's not badly behaved but is not good at Maths hence he is stuck in a set where the kids tend to be badly behaved.

The teacher is obviously not a native English speaker but DS says he is perfectly understandable. His classmates however are constantly teasing this poor man about his English. It became so bad today that the teacher actually cried and then lost it and yelled at the kids that he spoke 5 languages and they only spoke one.

I feel so sorry for this guy. He must be at the end of his tether but how can he possibly teach and be effective with 30 students, all the marking, planning and politics. I feel like it's an impossible task.

But what can the government/society do to make teachers' lives easier, especially when you consider the drop out rate or is it just inevitable that with so little money and so many children to educate that the school system is essentially fucked?

Absolutely, Statesman. And depriving children of that practice, because it isn't sufficiently "fun", is a good way to end up with children in secondary who misbehave because they can't do maths at secondary level (although that is not the only reason for disruptive behaviour, by any means).

I'm afraid I have to disagree, NSM.

At secondary level, yes, knuckling down has to occur. But IME at primary level maths can be taught in a range of ways that don't include sitting at a desk.

The OP's DS is at secondary.

I learned arithmetic, which is what you are talking about, through a combination of creative and traditional ways. Maths such as algebra and calculus, needs to be taught at a desk. Arithmetic is important, but counting, weights and measures and distances are the fairly basic skills, and thus can be taught creatively. Times tables are best learned through rote learning though.

I gathered that, NG.

Sadly Local authorities dictate to schools how many exclusions they can hand out! Our hands are often tied!

Is the cost thing an issue? If parents had to pay even a little for education would it change the behaviour of their children?