Not impressed with the daily chanting. Do other secondary schools do this?

[ReanimatedSGB]

DS is in Year 8 and he has told me that, at the start of every lesson, they all have to stand up and chant together, something along the lines of 'we promise to be good and work hard' (OK that's NOT the wording, don';t want to give exact wording in case it outs us).

Every lesson FFS. This strikes me as a waste of time (DS told me that the class took to dragging it out as much as possible in lessons no one likes) and... well. a bit creepy and cultish. AIBU?

We used to have to stand up when the teacher came into the classroom and then say a prayer (convent school). While I think the prayer or chant is nonsense in and of itself, I think having a marker of some sort is good as it gets the students' attention and indicates the class is starting.

I work in an academy. I heard a teacher reprimanding a child on the corridor, saying 'Now you know that's not in line with our core values'

Oh blimey has it come to this?? Home Educate is my answer

I'd think this was really strange. Contact the school and say you want your DC to be withdrawn from this. It would annoy me.

It's like when you remind a child how to behave when going somewhere so they have a clear idea of expectations. If they misbehave, it's not because they didn't know or forgot.

If the school is making them remember to behave and work hard, that's not sinister, that's what they (and all children) are expected to do at school.

BurnThe Respect should work both ways Imo. They should be taught to be independent and not to trust every adult.

They should, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't be reminded to behave and work hard in a lesson. The two things aren't mutually exclusive.

Does the school have a bit of a history of poor behaviour/low level disruption. Because it’s a good way to focus in the whole group and instil that it’s time to focus and learn. I’m a bit 🙄 about you seeming concerned that the school focuses on uniform and ‘discipline’ etc. Don’t you want your child to go to a school that expects him to be smartly presented and well behaved. And expects the same from everyone else?

In general, schools that are obsessed with petty uniform rules and 'discipline' ie silent obedience, are shit schools trying to cover up for inadequate teaching (and usually previous underfunding). You know a school's struggling when it gets handed over to some new 'superhead' who bangs on about 'respect', quickly excludes all the DC with SEN/EAL and brings in an expensive, fiddly, impractical uniform.
At the moment DS school is overall a nice school where the kids seem to be happy and doing well enough. But I keep an eye out for nonsense creeping in.

It's also interesting that someone mentioned this sort of chanting being required at call centres. It's the sort of thing you only demand from people you consider inferior to you and in need of firm control...

I'm not bothered about smart uniform. But I don't have a problem with a technique to get everyone facing forward and concentrating. In an activity I run, I sit quietly and put my hands on my head, and wait while the children notice and do the same before I start.

But tbf OP teenagers are in need of form control. Everything about their lives is changing and they do need and thrive on simple clear instructions. SEN and EAL issues don’t prevent the majority of students from wearing the correct uniform (allowing of course for tactile issues) nor from silent observance in class. You are starting to sound a bit like ‘that parent’ maybe the daily fail would be interested in doing an article with you and your child displaying your best classic compo face?

Firm control that should have been

If my teen needs "firm control" I will do it. The school is not their to indoctrinate them with chanting

I think if they did it daily, I wouldn't mind

but at the start of every lesson?

it's probably a "refocus" thing but it smacks of workplaces where they do that and then ring a bell when you hit your targets - arrrgh....

My DS and many of his friends are clever kids, keen to learn. I don't object to schools dealing with bad behaviour (by sending kids out of class, givng them detention etc). I do object to an overall ethos of treating kids as though they all need forceful control and that obedience and deference are the most important things to instill. As yet that doesn't seem to be happening in this school, but as a general trend (fucking academisation, and the banging on about 'traditional british values) is worrying.
Don't forget that UK kids start school earlier, are tested far more frequently... and have about the highest levels of mental illness in Europe.

Oh god, that's ridiculous.

DS said that it could be worse, they could be in America and have to pledge allegiance to a flag.

Many schools in the US don't do this. Mine didn't and my children's didn't. And refusal to participate is a constitutionally protected right.

PMSL at
Joe Bloggs, are you ready to learn?” “Yes, Mr Smith, I am ready to learn!

"Having worked in places like that, I can tell you that all you subliminally (and superliminally!) believe is that the people making you do it are utter asshats and you need to get a new job, quick. It lowers motivation and gives even less incentive to engage."

Have to say this is what would worry me. A quick "good morning, Mr X" is common courtesy and won't encourage you to think school is a silly place. Motivational chants might well. I'd prefer something that made it easier for teens to retain the respect I think they should show for the adults in charge.

Why, OP, do you think it is all about obedience and control when the chant itself is about personal responsibility and motivation?

Why, OP, do you think it is all about obedience and control when the chant itself is about personal responsibility and motivation?

Because its not personal responsibility or motivation when you are forced to do it. You are not motivated, you are controlled. It does the exact opposite of what it says.

In that case they’d better not attend school as they are “forced” to do stuff all the time, put your phone away, take your pen out, stop kicking him, copy these notes yada yada.

Yeah - I think my biggest concern is that it's the sort of thing you associate with shitty workplaces, where the management have zero respect for the staff who are made to stand up and declare the equivalent of 'I love Big Brother' (in the Orwellian sense, not the TV z-lister parade). If you are respected and valued by your employer, they are unlikely to make you dance for coins...

OP I suspect in the staff room you are known as that parent.

Probably not, actually. I haven't complained to the school at all (as yet) and always been very civil in my interactions with them.