Thursday 14 July 2011

Do As I Say, Not As I Do…

Angry parents have slammed a secondary school’s handling of a student protest, which took place amid accusations of heavy-handed enforcement of uniform regulations.

Pupils of Lytchett Minster School said they were threatened with police action unless they returned to lessons during the peaceful lunchtime protest on the school field on Friday, June 24.
Are the police now the go-to problem-solving service for everyone? Just who are the adults, here?
Following the incident, parents were then sent a letter home which stated: “Students are expected to air their views in a responsible and mature way that would not interfere with their teaching and learning.”
Errrr, but wait a minute!

Didn’t the teachers themselves just…

Why, yes. They did. As one parent rightly points out:
Parent Marilyn Butterworth, whose 13-year-old daughter, Lauren, attends Lytchett Minster, said: “During the protest, children were threatened with the police being called and there were teachers blowing whistles in an attempt to break up the protest, which involved children sitting on a field.

The children’s protest caused far less disruption and interference to their education than the teachers’ strike, but the irony of this appears to be lost on the school.”
Quite…

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

“If students do not comply with our expectations, this obviously becomes a discipline issue"

Not the rules you note, simply how we choose to interpret them. It was simply about power ~ comply my sheep, comply, do not question, obey, or we will get crazy heavy handed.

A rather neat metaphor for state schoolong.

Angry Exile said...

“The children’s protest caused far less disruption and interference to their education than the teachers’ strike, but the irony of this appears to be lost on the school.”

There might be a few parents wondering if teachers who aren't bright enough to spot that one coming are bright enough to be educating children.

Discuss. ;-)

Shinar's Basket Case said...

WHILE YOU WERE OUT:

Mr Kettel,a Mr Pot phoned...he says you're a 'N-Word'.

blueknight said...

...threatened with police action unless they returned to lessons...

makes you wonder who would have been arrested if the Police had attended

JuliaM said...

"Not the rules you note, simply how we choose to interpret them."

Good point!

"There might be a few parents wondering if teachers who aren't bright enough to spot that one coming are bright enough to be educating children."

I suppose we'll have to hope that there are more of those than the sort who simply expect a 8:30-4:00 babysitting service...

"makes you wonder who would have been arrested if the Police had attended"

These days, who knows?