Do you think that schools are okay?

[applejane11]

When I was in school, I remember absolutely hating school. I like learning. What I hated was the constant feeling of being in a prison, having no freedom. Having to sit for 7 hours a day and not speak. Having no say at all in most things. Constantly being controlled. I remember every morning, feeling dread when I woke up to go in.

I now actually work in a school in an admin position. Ive worked in lots of different companies. Now im in a school. I hear the teenagers say the same things all the time. They hate it, they feel like they are in prison, that it is awful, that they feel depressed every day, that all their young life is wasted. I also have to say, I definitely see school teachers abuse their power over the students. Not in a way that you could say is definitely abuse, but just in a way where you can see that they are really loving having power and control over the teenagers.

Do you think that schools are okay the way that they are? Teenagers don't have a lot of say in things or a lot of human rights, so it's adults that need to have the conversation about it.

The environment of secondary school had a similar effect on me. I've never been like this in any work place or other adult situation.

Can I ask whether it was the school environment that you found hard, or was it individual teachers?

As a teacher in a primary, I have to follow guidance, policies etc. I can’t pick and choose on that. I have to teach a class to the best of my ability because they will need to do their best in SATs as it reflects on us as a school.

However, I also know there are some children who cannot cope in a mainstream school - too busy, noisy, demands to work on subjects that are not interesting or are difficult to understand. I really feel for those kids for whom mainstream is a massive struggle and wish more could be done to support the individual child, but there’s no way to do that without a huge education overhaul and more money to support. So we’re kind of a bit stuck on that. Most teachers on MN would change how education is taught if they could and can get quite defensive when being blamed for working in a system they cannot change.

If it was individual teachers, then just like any other work places, some will be great and others not, with a whole range in between. I liked some of my teachers, but one teacher in particular seemed to dislike me by the way she treated me differently to others or how she spoke to me. Unfortunately, she was both my form tutor and English teacher. Having experienced that, I try to be a better teacher to those I see everyday in the classroom.

I think it was just usual 70s/early 80s schools. They were often brutal places, staffed by people who should never have been allowed near children. Remember there was no such thing as "safeguarding", corporal punishment was still legal (and liberally used), and children had zero rights.

I think that's a really thoughtful response.

I'm a teacher too (secondary). I occasionally have students who visibly dislike me. They still need to do the work if they want to pass the course. I sometimes dislike students (that's human nature) but of course I am professional and there are ways to avoid accidentally being unfair like moderating marks, using random student pickers etc.