So, finally, the schools went back this week after two long weeks of tripping over kids in shops, practising dodge to avoid the small snotty ones accidentally wiping their leaky noses on your crotch level on the streets and warily watching the hooded ten year old vandals hooting at each other across the street. But no worries, it's not long until next school break, bank holiday, random Monday off, half day on Friday or another religious holiday in a secular country.
I'm genuinely curious, who decided that kids need that much time off? What for? What is it that they do when they are not in school that's so important that it has to be repeated time and time again with barely any week in the school year when they actually spend their time learning Monday to Friday?
These days it is illegal for kids to work and they often don't have money to play. So they get bored. So they get destructive and dangerous or at least annoying.
What do they learn about realities of adult life from that?
It's hard enough to sign your first contract and realise that you now have a right to 7-14 days off a year on top of weekends/two days off a week and an odd public holiday. How much of a slap from reality it is, if you're used to weeks and weeks of time for yourself, I can only imagine.
Incidentally, how much longer is it going to take us all to dig our way out of economic recession when a third of the workforce is tied into unemployment or working short hours by the holy 3pm school run? Why don't parents stand up to schools and demand that school hours be extended to allow them to work a normal working day?
I personally know people who would gladly go back into full time employment, but they can't because they have to be home by half 2 and race to the school gates.
Of course we all need time off to rest and pursue interests and catch up with people. But in UK AD 2014 we live in some bizzare world of public education, where there's more easily accessible knowledge than ever before, but kids' curiosity and work ethics and learning abilities get blunted by forced 'free time' lasting days and days on end. Not so much in private schools, but if you pay, you can demand, as usual. Not fair on smart kids from normal families. Not fair on childless people having to deal with kids who have no money for fun other than attempting to burn a motorcycle with fag ends put in the fuel tank (I've seen it from the window last week).
Oh well, nothing new about that.
("Children happily run out of the school
Lit their cigarettes, took out their booze
Spat all over the pavement, chased everyone away,
They are sitting on their benches
Hollering at each other.")
No comments:
Post a Comment