Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Why all the anti school/teacher threads?

245 replies

shithappens123 · 23/07/2019 23:04

I’ve not been a member for long but I’ve noticed the amount of school bashing threads on MM. it’s almost as if some patents see the school as an enemy not as organisations wanting to educate their children the best they can.

I’ve read threads on how they gleefully complain about teachers (seems more in primary education though) and saying how incompetent they are when they have no idea how hard they work.

Teachers are fair game on here and it’s most disturbing.

OP posts:
echt · 24/07/2019 11:27

Good point, recrudescence.

I checked out the OP to see if they need welcoming to MN, but not so, however the wearisome regularity of these threads, socially the summer ones, makes me wonder.

On the other hand, I've never bought anything from the intrusive ads. :o

JacquesHammer · 24/07/2019 11:36

I’m coming here to discuss the constant bashing of all teachers by people who have no actual idea what goes on in the classroom

Constant is a touch hyperbolic, no?

Why on earth does it bother you if a poster criticises a teacher who isn’t you, in a school you don’t work it?

shithappens123 · 24/07/2019 11:42

Bangs head on a wall...

OP posts:
JacquesHammer · 24/07/2019 11:43

Bangs head on a wall

Do so, it might help clear your head a touch. This is nonsense quite frankly!

JacquesHammer · 24/07/2019 11:45

DisorganisedOrganiser

Naming schools/healthcare providers is obviously inappropriate.

“Concerned because Little Jonny hasn’t been heard reading in 6 weeks” isn’t.

shithappens123 · 24/07/2019 11:45

I believe there’s no point trying to discuss things with your attitude. Have a good day.

OP posts:
herculepoirot2 · 24/07/2019 11:46

JacquesHammer

If you can’t see the negativity towards teachers on this site you’re not looking. This isn’t hyperbole or nonsense. It’s an issue.

donquixotedelamancha · 24/07/2019 11:46

And it’s worth remembering that teachers are backed by a very powerful union and it’s almost impossible to get rid of a teacher.

Don't know where you are from but MN is a UK site. There are several teaching unions with little power. It is far from unusual for teachers to be dismissed for daft reasons or false allegations.

About the only advantage over any other career is that a union will provide support and advice where employers abuse the law and will fund legal challenges. This is true in any profession with high union membership.

JacquesHammer · 24/07/2019 11:47

I believe there’s no point trying to discuss things with your attitude. Have a good day

Look, if you can’t cope with people responding who don’t agree maybe AIBU isn’t the forum for you: it seems to upset you disproportionately- the onus is on you to handle that.

If faceless strangers on a forum are upsetting you that much, it’s fairly concerning.

MarieIVanArkleStinks · 24/07/2019 11:47

Apologies: have not had time to RT whole FT. I've followed some of the school threads. What I've seen hasn't been a wholesale bashing of teachers per se, but has certainly been extremely critical of governmental policy, with which schools are duty-bound to comply.

Frustration on many occasions seems to stem from a focus on trivial issues. I..e the colour of the stitching on a child's shoes; the policing of their lunchbox contents (whilst giving them ketchup and cordial with school lunches); the jurisdiction or otherwise for parents to take their DC out of school for reasons they deem appropriate. Meantime, really serious issues are ignored. A prime example is the problem of bullying, the laying down of detailed, intricate policies to stamp this out, and the frequency of rugsweeping as the preferred method of dealing with it as opposed to adhering to their own policies.

Teaching to test, browbeating them with phonics, the obsession with SATs, meeting attendance targets with discriminatory incentives, etc, are other areas of criticism. And they often frustrate teachers in equal measure.

Teaching, like many other public sector professions, is stymied by red tape and this is all imposed at policy level. Granted, some teachers do impose this stuff more gleefully than others, and there are many very dedicated, talented teachers out there who do do an amazing job. But for the most part, what I see on this is mostly criticism of a system as opposed to individuals.

It's justified. The system has gone very badly wrong and is failing generations of children. And yes, I'm educator; in my case a university lecturer, who sees at first-hand the mess that frequently comes out at the other end of the schools. (Not, I hasten to add, the kids' fault. They can only work with what is put in front of them).

GCSEs and A Levels (I've taught both in the past) have been dumbed down. I'm afraid that's undeniable.

JacquesHammer · 24/07/2019 11:48

If you can’t see the negativity towards teachers on this site you’re not looking

I didn’t say that.

If you don’t see “constant” as hyperbolic that’s you’re problem.

It isn’t constant.

JacquesHammer · 24/07/2019 11:49

*your

shithappens123 · 24/07/2019 11:50

MarieIVanArkleStinks - then people should be venting/moaning about gov policy and the constant slashing of budgets instead of venting at the teachers who have absolutely no say in regards to cutting class support etc

OP posts:
herculepoirot2 · 24/07/2019 11:51

“Constant” has a clear commonplace meaning. Obviously it doesn’t mean every moment. It means a regular and unending flow.

shithappens123 · 24/07/2019 11:52

herculepoirot2 Best to ignore Jacqueshammer as they have nothing useful to add.

OP posts:
herculepoirot2 · 24/07/2019 11:53

Frustration on many occasions seems to stem from a focus on trivial issues. I..e the colour of the stitching on a child's shoes; the policing of their lunchbox contents (whilst giving them ketchup and cordial with school lunches); the jurisdiction or otherwise for parents to take their DC out of school for reasons they deem appropriate.

Parents aren’t in charge of schools. It isn’t for them to decide what’s “trivial”. When you actually look at the reasoning behind most school policies, it is sensible. As a parent you may not see it because you don’t see the big picture. My view is educate your children at home if you want to make the decisions.

JacquesHammer · 24/07/2019 11:53

Obviously it doesn’t mean every moment. It means a regular and unending flow

Indeed. Which I don’t believe happens. Of course it happens if you specifically go looking for it, self-fulfilling prophecy.

herculepoirot2 · 24/07/2019 11:54

JacquesHammer

Of course it happens. You want to pretend otherwise for some reason of your own, but there are literally several of these threads a day. I know because I am usually on them, as are you.

JacquesHammer · 24/07/2019 11:55

shithappens123

And people wonder why posters think teachers are petty minded.

Oh and Hercule told me very clearly she wasn’t replying to me weeks ago. It lasted about 4 hours Wink

JacquesHammer · 24/07/2019 11:56

You want to pretend otherwise for some reason of your own, but there are literally several of these threads a day. I know because I am usually on them, as are you

How many today? Yesterday?

Don’t over egg the pudding.

I fully agree there are threads where teachers take a pasting but for goodness sake be reasonable over it.

herculepoirot2 · 24/07/2019 11:57

JacquesHammer

You know as well as I do how many there are.

herculepoirot2 · 24/07/2019 11:57

JacquesHammer

Oh yes, I forgot what you were like!

shithappens123 · 24/07/2019 11:57

That’s an interesting point, if a patent was so dissatisfied with the education system then why not home school your children? After all reading some of these threads they tell us how to do our jobs, so go ahead.

OP posts:
JacquesHammer · 24/07/2019 11:57

You know as well as I do how many there are

AS of all these threads you and I have been on is a truly wonderful thing.

Try it.

herculepoirot2 · 24/07/2019 11:58

AS of all these threads you and I have been on is a truly wonderful thing. Try it.

?

Swipe left for the next trending thread