It's Your Time You're Wasting by Frank Chalk

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

Oh, please, what a cop-out. You can speak English just fine (you seem to be able to craft arrogant insults with complete ease, though maybe that's a French thing), and you can say a lot more by typing a lot less--just cut out all your extraneous BS. And others draw groundless interpretations? You're the one who insinuated I'm a dirty, low-life capitalist based simply on my saying society has progressed.

And, maybe I've given the wrong impression. I'm not saying the current generation is the best generation ever, just that there's no reason to think it's so much worse than previous generations.

[B. Laumness]

Don’t feel personally offended. It was not my intention at all. Your remark was a pretext for general considerations.

And yes, English is a difficulty for me, since I try to think in a foreign language, which means a limited vocabulary, etc.

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

Well, then you have my apologies, also. Still, you're English seems better than most Americans.

[Seasider]

@ Mutatis Mutandi

your English...The English you speak.
you're English...you are English.

Sorry if it was a typo, but in a thread that is all about standards of education/attainment etc, I thought it was necessary to point it out.

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

I hope you'll trust me when I say I do know the difference. Just a typo . . . I seem to do that a lot with "your" and "you're," for some reason.

[Seasider]

I meant no offence. It's a pity spell-check can't pick up grammatical errors as well as spelling mistakes.

[frank chalk]

Hello everybody, I'm Frank Chalk and I've just been directed to this thread about my 2 books "It's Your Time Your Wasting" and its sequel "Education: My Part in its Downfall". If any of you have any questions, I'd be quite happy to answer them.

By the way, the quote "I used to be a liberal guy who thought the best of everyone" was actually made up by my publishers, i'm afraid. It's worth bearing in mind that what's actually published isn't always exactly what the author wrote. (Unless you self publish of course, which is what I did with the sequel).

[LitNetIsGreat]

Hi Frank,

It's amazing how people stumble upon things on the internet really, you'd have thought such a thread would have been buried years ago. Maybe I should have used an assumed name as well, as slagging of the school system doesn't go down well generally does it? (Hi boss you're doing a great job. )

Do you still work in education or have you escaped?

[frank chalk]

Hi Neely, I got out of teaching and now run a business. I keep a blog of my witterings at frankchalk.blogspot.co.uk

[LitNetIsGreat]

Thanks for the link, I've had a quick read and your blog looks pretty good, I'll have a further read tomorrow.

Glad you managed to survive the supply and find life beyond.

I recommend your book to many of my colleagues at the time. I remember us laughing over coffee at break as they quoted you back to me - the kid with the personal target of not to 'verbally abuse teachers', or the non-uniform day where the girls come as 'prostitutes' and countless others. It was pee your pants time. Even the other day I was in a class and one of the 'learning objectives' displayed on the board was "I don't swear, level 3" brilliant! It's like working in some sort of surreal pantomime sometimes. Of course it is shocking but if you don't laugh you go mad.

[stlukesguild]

Neely! It sounds like my school. I've actually gone from bad to worse... if that is at all possible. The greatest pleasure I get now from teaching involves the classes of Autism students I have who are far better behaved, far more willing to learn... and in a great many instances outperform the "normal" students... often those years older than them.

I don't know about the system in the UK but in the US the absurdity of teaching in the inner-city is combined with a clear strategy to destroy public education as a whole and replace it with a privatized system without unions and teachers earning half of what they now earn. This is underway in the large urban districts because they are easy to target due to poor scores, the unions tend to be the strongest due to the sheer number of employees, and it is simply logical: take out the biggest school systems first, and the surrounding systems crumble like dominoes. Right now there is what can be only defined as a concerted effort to make teaching an absolutely horrible profession through every-increasing and absurd requirements, inane class sizes, lack of any support for teachers... and for quite some time now, a virtual vilification of teachers by the press and politicians.

As warped as it sounds, the school shootings in Connecticut actually served to take pressure off the teachers as both the press and politicians found it difficult to vilify the profession after the example of teachers who died in the line of duty... attempting to protect their children. Yet just two years ago... when the state tried to outlaw unions and collective bargaining for all public employees (teachers, police, fire, sanitation, doctors& nurses in state facilities, etc...) all the ads calling for support for public workers included images of firemen and police... but no teachers... because it was recognized that we were actually a liability to the cause. I am seriously looking to get out of the profession myself.

[qimissung]

Neely! It sounds like my school. I've actually gone from bad to worse... if that is at all possible. The greatest pleasure I get now from teaching involves the classes of Autism students I have who are far better behaved, far more willing to learn... and in a great many instances outperform the "normal" students... often those years older than them.

I don't know about the system in the UK but in the US the absurdity of teaching in the inner-city is combined with a clear strategy to destroy public education as a whole and replace it with a privatized system without unions and teachers earning half of what they now earn. This is underway in the large urban districts because they are easy to target due to poor scores, the unions tend to be the strongest due to the sheer number of employees, and it is simply logical: take out the biggest school systems first, and the surrounding systems crumble like dominoes. Right now there is what can be only defined as a concerted effort to make teaching an absolutely horrible profession through every-increasing and absurd requirements, inane class sizes, lack of any support for teachers... and for quite some time now, a virtual vilification of teachers by the press and politicians.

As warped as it sounds, the school shootings in Connecticut actually served to take pressure off the teachers as both the press and politicians found it difficult to vilify the profession after the example of teachers who died in the line of duty... attempting to protect their children. Yet just two years ago... when the state tried to outlaw unions and collective bargaining for all public employees (teachers, police, fire, sanitation, doctors& nurses in state facilities, etc...) all the ads calling for support for public workers included images of firemen and police... but no teachers... because it was recognized that we were actually a liability to the cause. I am seriously looking to get out of the profession myself.

It's sad, isn't it? I remember a time when I liked teaching, but that profession has been entirely subsumed in this culture of hate. It's like working for zombies. They walk slow and look human, but the goal is to destroy.

[cafolini]

It's sad, isn't it? I remember a time when I liked teaching, but that profession has been entirely subsumed in this culture of hate. It's like working for zombies. They walk slow and look human, but the goal is to destroy.

So you had too much hate to be a teacher? I'm not surprised. I have read you.

[LitNetIsGreat]

Neely! It sounds like my school. I've actually gone from bad to worse... if that is at all possible. The greatest pleasure I get now from teaching involves the classes of Autism students I have who are far better behaved, far more willing to learn... and in a great many instances outperform the "normal" students... often those years older than them.

I don't know about the system in the UK but in the US the absurdity of teaching in the inner-city is combined with a clear strategy to destroy public education as a whole and replace it with a privatized system without unions and teachers earning half of what they now earn. This is underway in the large urban districts because they are easy to target due to poor scores, the unions tend to be the strongest due to the sheer number of employees, and it is simply logical: take out the biggest school systems first, and the surrounding systems crumble like dominoes. Right now there is what can be only defined as a concerted effort to make teaching an absolutely horrible profession through every-increasing and absurd requirements, inane class sizes, lack of any support for teachers... and for quite some time now, a virtual vilification of teachers by the press and politicians.

As warped as it sounds, the school shootings in Connecticut actually served to take pressure off the teachers as both the press and politicians found it difficult to vilify the profession after the example of teachers who died in the line of duty... attempting to protect their children. Yet just two years ago... when the state tried to outlaw unions and collective bargaining for all public employees (teachers, police, fire, sanitation, doctors& nurses in state facilities, etc...) all the ads calling for support for public workers included images of firemen and police... but no teachers... because it was recognized that we were actually a liability to the cause. I am seriously looking to get out of the profession myself.

Yes that’s a pretty close description of the strategy against teachers and public sector workers here in the UK, only not quite as bad as you have you there. The vilification tactics sound about right but the attack on pay has been limited to an attack on pensions and freezing pay rises at the moment – ‘work longer, pay more, get less,’ but with the shift to privatisation models they’ve not managed to reduce pay so drastically and we still have union representations, for what that’s worth.

Meanwhile the pressure on teaching standards and target hitting increases. I heard the other day that teacher suicides are up 80%. That doesn’t really surprise me. The amount of NQTs I have seen come in fresh and full of energy and enthusiasm only to be reduced to anti-depressants, sleeping pills etc, if they don’t just manage to leave, is all too common. There are lots of problems but it feels like teachers are struck between behaviour (the mammoth in the room) and having to meet impossible standards - I think the famous line from the education minister sums that one up ‘I want all schools to be above average.’