Teachers who have watched 'Adolescence'- what are your thoughts?

[Fstt1978]

Had an interesting experience this week after watching this at the weekend

sanctioned 4 boys this week with a demerit each - for pushing and shoving in the corridor- swearing loudly and generally being gobby to me.
All 4 boys parents have written emails to say it's unfair/ I'm picking on them etc etc. As it was 4 of them- none of them can be singled out.
We also have a boy caught on CCTV physically assaulting a much younger student unprovoked - it is categorically an assault- with the victims parents pressing charges. He has been permanently excluded and his parents have instructed a solicitor to contest this.

What is going on with parenting boys? Girls sanctioned rarely have parents like this - this is NOT a goady thread- I am genuinely really interested , and open to discussion about it

Because we now centre children in a way that was never the case- and every emotion is pandered to

Compulsory schooling has only been available for the masses in the UK since the end of the 19th century. And even then it was only for 5-10 year olds.
Prior to that only the tiny minority of the elite upper classes gave their children an ‘education’ with a pen in hand.

If you track education since then ie over the past 130-140 years, not a lot has changed with the curriculum or the system. It has, in my opinion as a teacher, run its course, become totally outdated and unfit for the modern digital age we live in. Unfortunately governments are failing to make it relevant to today’s kids although Labour have just done a review and say they will make changes but I don’t hold my breath.

Exactly this @howchildrenreallylearn I completely agree. Education in state schools is completely outdated. It isn't working anymore.

Not all boys had to sit still with a pen. In the olden days boys that were not academic had other outlets. At my school the massive manly working class deputy head took a carefully chosen group of lads out of French and he taught them how to be builders. How to behave in site certain skills etc. They did loads of jobs around school, they dug a large swimming pool. They loved it (and him). Wouldn’t be allowed now.

I agree with the last point about a large tranche of kids now who don’t understand why they are at school at all- they see it like the park. They can’t fathom why they’re not allowed to just bundle into a toilet together or wander about the place.
In a way I get this- after all, if they might scrape a couple of passes in a couple of subjects if they attend lessons where is that really going to get them now? What hope is there that they can own a property, get a decent steady job?

We have only watched episode 1 and a bit of 2 so no school scenes yet.

so far it really doesn’t depict the young people i know but im not in a city now and my dc are female

The breaking of the social contract means that it is hard enough to conjure up the motivation to learn when you are a good student! This again goes back to wealth inequality, it is the worst it has ever been and working hard to progress doesn't necessarily equate to a job that can afford you your own property, rent, travel anything other than the necessities and living with your parents until you are 30 (or worse).

40 years ago I was just leaving school and had friends and relations in other schools.
I have no recollection of kids being taken out of schools for holidays. No recollection of kids not wearing the uniform except the odd girl who tried to get past the school gates with makeup on and was promptly handed tissues at the gates to wipe it off.
In my experience there wasn’t any need for so many schools to be so enguard re basic rules because they were rarely broken to the degree we hear of today. Kids just wouldn’t dare So schools had no need to encroach on family life

My school days were much the same as my kids with a lot of rules. After a while you don’t even notice the rules, they are a way of life and such things as polished shoes or opening doors for others ( rather than leaving them to close in someone’s face for example ) becomes the norm. I’m not aware of excessive state school rules so I can’t comment on those though.

another problem is far right wing ideology eg Trump which appears to have misogynistic views and I fear is on the way in this country

Can I just check with you what you mean about it being outdated for the digital age? What difference does it make that we live in a digital age do you think? How is that relevant to learning history, biology, physics, high school standard maths, grammar? Or are you saying that all of this traditional education is now not needed, in your opinion?
And if so, university is also outdated? And to become a teacher, a lawyer, a doctor education is no longer needed? And understanding history, politics, people enough to get to where you want socially is no longer needed?
Genuine questions

I don't think Trump has mysogynistic views, he has a fair number of high flying intelligent able women working with him in his teams. He has also said he judges people on merit. And his policies so far have not been misogynistic.
The issues around abortion were a mess and highly politicised and I hope that the US end up with something along the lines of the UK and most other countries re abortion, but NB the real problems (re RvW) started on Biden's watch.
It is the people who want to get rid of him for other reasons and not necessarily good reasons who are discrediting him. If you want to get a good idea of what is going on with him, watch his press secretary and find out what he has actually said rather than what he has been misquoted on.
It seems he wants to get rid of extreme liberalism (extreme being the operative word) and to be honest it would probably be a positive thing for this to spread to the UK. He isn't far right - his expressed ideas have always been part liberal part traditional, not far right. However, not extreme liberal (eg he supports literacy whereas the extreme liberals support some sort of progressive/no education is needed policy)

I dont envy a teachers job, i couldnt have the patience reguired, i have six children aged from 40yrs old to 14yrs old,.and times have changed so much parenting children if these ages,.the kids of today have zero respect

How can you be an "extreme liberal', extreme liberalism is an oxymoron!

I never thought anyone would argue that Donald Trump was not a misogynist. Are these acceptable sentiments for a Head of State and is this what you aspire to for your children?

“I better use some Tic Tacs just in case I start kissing her. You know I'm automatically attracted to beautiful... I just start kissing them. It's like a magnet. Just kiss. I don't even wait. And when you're a star they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab them by the pussy. You can do anything."

I don’t know where to start with “extreme liberalism either”

As I said my son is a secondary school teacher and said that all teachers should watch adolescence

Has he said why?

Our knowledge-based curriculum has become outdated as knowledge is (literally) at kids fingertips. They KNOW they can just look information up at any time so it makes a sort of mockery of the whole thing. Yes some knowledge memorisation is needed in order to develop skills and for creativity but no longer in 2025 should intelligence be based upon the ability to memorise information. We need more skills in the curriculum. And creativity. Not this obsession with rote learning. Another point is that coursework doesn’t exist anymore so GCSEs are all about the ability to regurgitate facts on exam day. This suits very few. This is seen by the fact that 30% or more of pupils leave school without the basics of 5 passes at gcse.

Of course we need to learn to read and write and to do basic maths but when we carry around a calculator/map/encyclopeadia of literally anything and everything in our pockets what use is learning so many facts and little in the way of skills.
If someone wants to become a doctor or a dentist or a brain surgeon then some memorisation and learning is very useful. But for most people a lot of what is taught at school has become redundant. We are teaching for a world that no longer exists. We have AI for goodness sake!

I agree there is value in learning about history or politics but the issue is teaching it to children who have zero interest and it just turns them off. Learning shouldn’t and doesn’t stop at age 16 or 18. Learning goes on through life it doesn’t all need to be crammed into kids age 4-16/18 and then done.

The main problem is the school system is so rigid now and so singularly academic. Long gone are the days where comprehensives took less academic kids and taught them woodworking, engineering, home economics, textiles, plumbing etc. We need these skills elevated in our schools and not just the academic stuff.

So no I don’t think traditional education is needed any longer. Some bits yes, most of it no. The whole thing needs an overhaul for the 21st century and the digital age.

As a physician, none of it was surprising. A lot of kids are like this now. It's all down to shitty parenting.

I have worked in schools for over 20 years. The behaviour nowadays is totally shocking, parents don’t believe that their little darlings could possibly behave the way they do. Too many parents want to be friends with their kids and not parent them.
Some people are genuinely afraid of their children. All this is going to result in is future generations of illiterate students with limited futures and a cost to taxpayers that have to support them. I really despair some days and want to retire/change careers so badly.

I’m an ex teacher with twenty years teaching experience. Large High school. I was also DSL for the latter years. I’ve had involvement with Social Services, Police, Doctors, Counsellors, etc.

Nothing I saw about the portrayal of the school surprised me. Sadly I’ve witnessed worse, seen students and staff hospitalised following attacks from students.

I’ve also watched CCTV, clearly identifying perpetrators, with one parent calling us liars and throwing a table over when we shared footage at a meeting with them. They accused us of tampering with the footage, saying we wanted to PEX their DD.

It’s real, it’s happening, and well done to the creators of this drama.

Stephen Graham has said that he got the idea after reading about multiple girls being attacked by boys. Also, that it isn’t the parents fault, although they should be extremely vigilant about controlling access to the internet. It isn’t teachers fault either, ultimately their job is to teach. It’s cultural and society. Banning smart phones would help immensely in my opinion.

Let me give you a real world example from today. Not specifically boy connected.
Big push in our department post recent review that as soon as students are in the room, they are 'down and doing' we also need to take the register in the first 5 minutes. In a mainstream class of 26 , 3 are too anxious to answer the register , another 3 answer very quietly. So the register takes me twice as long. I marked a student absent by mistake last lesson as they were so quiet. Demanding email from mum to correct as I was obviously stupid/incompetent/not caring or showing due attention to the fact their child is quiet etc etc...
The demands on us are many and contradictory

Doesn't sound like teaching is for you OP if taking the register is stressing you out.

Nope . Love teaching. The job at the moment is unsustainable.

You've also wilfully missed the part where a parent sent an abusive email

@Fstt1978 in what way was it abusive?