Re: Who will teach the kids?
Originally Posted by
mindbender
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But lets remember that during our schooling there were teachers who never used corporal punishment and still controlled their classes even with disruptive kids - so what were their skills all those years back?
We had several amazing teachers who never used physical violence (or threats of visits to the head). Their major "skill" was their love and enthusiasm for the subject they taught and their ability to transmit that enthusiasm to us. One of my english teachers, Tom Barnes, taught us to speak Middle English through the medium of Chaucer and to this day I can still quote great chunks of Canterbury Tales in a middle english accent. Another English teacher, as part of a poetry course, regaled us with tales of his experiences as a conscientious objector who became an ambulance driver for the Canadian army in World War 1, including how he was imprisoned for a time as a POW with the American poet e.e.cummings. A chemistry teacher enthused us, not only with his explosive experiments which often went wrong, but also with his experiences as a Christian Missionary in pre-communist China. Compared with some of today's teachers, these people were well rounded individuals who had had a real life prior to teaching. The current career path of school- college-teaching tends not to produce the kind of people who will enthuse young people with a desire to learn.
A second characteristic they all had was a wonderful self confidence combined with the ability to be verbally cutting when necessary. These teachers could whittle a disruptive child into a fragile matchstick with just a few well chosen words. No-one in my school was physically afraid of these teachers, but we were mortally afraid of being the target of their acid wit and caustic derision.
There are also several 'disciplinary' special schools in UK were very disruptive kids can be sent. I have seen them in operation through documentaries - they deal with extremely disruptive kids but do NOT utilize corporal punishment.
I've worked with young people in several of these. Some are totally counterproductive and produce kids which are even worse when they come out. Others - usually with the best teachers (the kind I am talking about above) - worked reasonably well, but, like ASBOs, for some youngsters, being sent to a "special" school was a badge of honour and an affirmation of their "bad boy" status.
Although I am critical of some of today's teachers, they tend to be scapegoated for the shortcomings of the family. It's a bit like expecting a First Aider to cure cancer - the cause is older and more deep rooted than their skills allow them to address.