AIBU to think some school policies are at least partially responsible for the rise in pupil unhappiness?

[Alittlebitofmin]

A friend’s kid described school like a prison. He is likely to be a school success story set to get really good grades, but sees school as something to mainly tolerate. AIBU to think the school system itself is at least a significant partial reason why teenagers report lower levels of happiness at schools in England? Schools seem increasingly punitive and restrictive, pressure seems high, some children are even made to feel guilty if they have a day off sick.

No, you haven't. You have paid into a taxation system of which a percentage of your money goes to education.
For a net contributor, your lack of understanding of how this works and the volume of services your tax pays for is slightly embarrassing.

Really? No one is a net contributor? How does that work?

Over a lifetime those of us who work and pay taxes, at times are higher rate tax payers, more than pay for 13 years of education at £7,500pa (your figures). Plus we pay VAT, stamp duty etc

How on earth do you think taxation pays for state schools and the NHS?

I agree that we don't pay for education over the years our children are in state education. But we pay our taxes before and after our children are in education. Over the years we pay for our children, plus the children of parents who are not economically active.

State education is free at the point of delivery, but is not free to tax payers.

And those bright young things couldn't think of any other way to identify a bag?
I did mention 'unless they have needs', but yes, different shoe lacing FOR THOSE REASONS perhaps, but that isn't going to apply to the majority and still doesn't explain why your daughters couldn't follow a very simple instruction, unless you are telling me they had those foot issues.

Some of this is what this is about. The ability to follow simple instructions which do not cause the average NT pupil difficulty, or cause harm or distress to others by those who are able following them. Of course there should be leeway for pupils who genuinely have issues, but when it's really as simple for the majority as just doing your laces a certain way, or marking your bag in a different way, it feels like argument for argument's sake.

The truth is, you wouldn't have all this wasted time, etc, if those who were able followed simple instructions. Then nobody would be in detention, losing learning time, whatever. All this acting as though some major human rights has been breached and this is the slippery slope to the Hitler Youth. I think it's actually a massive power play to be awkward about something simple for the sake of it.

Actions have consequences. There are laws I don't agree with. I have broken them. If I'd been caught, the defence of 'well, I don't agree with the law, therefore it shouldn't apply to me' would get me nowhere. By all means question if the rules are of significant detriment to the student body wellbeing, but honestly, neither of the rules you mentioned are. Complying with them would take very little effort for the vast majority who do not have foot problems etc.

Are you being deliberately obtuse? Your taxes as an individual do not cover all the services you as an individual use directly and indirectly over your lifetime. Because they go into a very large collective pot, that includes defence, healthcare, civil service (of which teachers and medical staff are but a small part) maintenance of public utilities, the list goes on. You have NOT paid for your child's education multiple times over, because only a percentage of your annual tax bill will have gone towards that specific public spending area.

@ObelixtheGaul

I'm not sure if you are aware of how many plain black bags there are in schools.

Are you being deliberately obtuse?

Where does this extra money for the services I use come from?

Yes, in any one tax year the services i use may cost more than I pay in taxes. But not over my lifetime.

There are people who will never be economically active, a friend's DD for example has significant disabilities and will never live independently. Tax payers cover all those costs as well as their own. Because there is no other source of money.

Looking at all those pupils cheering, screaming and jumping for joy, when they opened their GCSE results, they didn’t seem to have been scarred by our education system. In fact they were all excited about the next stage in their lives.
So it obviously works pretty well for a lot of young people. No system is ever going to cater for all and there is always room for improvement.
Maybe if the governments made education their priority, instead of pumping more and more into the failing NHS, we might have less young people on benefits and more adding to the economy.
They would also be happier and feel more supported, again saving a fortune for the tax payer.

That’s excitement and relief about the next stage in many cases. But many of them will be joining the ranks of the NEET young people unless they are being pushed towards uni.

Why do we have so many NEETs? More than other countries?

I remember as a kid our school banned marbles for the same reason 😂 it was Pokemon cards at my friend's kids school usually because the older kids will steal them off the younger kids

Underinvestment in non-uni options.
excess availability of benefits for mild depression etc.

Difficulty in employing apprentices due to insurance costs, H&S and high minimum wage

'excess availability of benefits for mild depression' is a falsehood.

This was for GCSEs.
All had a plan ( I appreciate they were on TV).
Most were staying on to do A levels, some apprenticeships, some T levels.

As you say, they were on TV. 🤷‍♀️ They wouldn’t have shown the ones who had fucked up and were in floods of tears presumably (or do you think they would risk filming people without them knowing the results already?)

No system caters for all, but overall there is a marked decrease in children’s happiness within schools.

There’s a marked decrease in happiness in children, not just in schools.

There’s also been a marked change in how children are parented.
Schools haven’t changed, so what’s the cause of the increased unhappiness?

IMO social media/smartphones is the major change.

There is a change overall, yes. One of the biggest changes is unhappiness in schools.

Yes, but do you not get that that is NOT a school problem? It’s that kids no longer want to tolerate being told what to do and how to do it. All these other ‘changed’ elements of their upbringing has rendered them unhappy in a school environment, not the schools themselves.

If they don't want to tolerate being told what to do and how to do it, what do they expect to do with the rest of their lives?

I don’t know because one lad said ‘ oh I didn’t pass Maths, that’s annoying’
But then he laughed and said that he could resit and was pleased overall.
Most students who know they are going to fail, don’t turn up to results day.

Decrease from when though? Are they unhappier than those who went through the school system when bullying was rife and no ND was acknowledged?