Truancy rises..some thoughts
Truancy rates have risen 29% since 1997 ( Independent)
Traditionalists bemoan the erosion of discipline/order/parental control. They demand that parents ensure that young people attend.....some call for the re-introduction of corporal punishment...or lash out at so called young trendy teachers who fail to command respect.
However...it's worth asking...why does anyone do anything that they don't want to do ? What is the exact nature of control? It seems to me pointless to appeal to fear as a motive... go to school or something ghastly will happen to you.....this is patently untrue...both in the short term and the longer term. Kids are not daft and have a fair idea what school offers them and what currency it has in the open market in terms of jobs and income.
I have seen the original Careers Service for young people change over to the all encompassing Connexions Service....fundamental to this has been a sea change in attitude. Almost NO-ONE does anything now because they HAVE to...and we must learn to live with the fact. Any service...be it Connexions..the Library Service..the Youth Service...or School itself HAS to attract it's users. They have to be treated as customers and be provided with a service which is attractive to them...addresses their needs and is designed to be friendly and accessible to all. Incredibly...Connexions Centres now have music and Internet access and often food.....absolutely unthinkable for many offices a few short years ago. Then...Careers Offices( with honourable exceptions) had imposing libraries...asked callers to behave and keep quiet...confined them to the public waiting area...wouldn't dream of offering refreshments or music etc......Many young people came in because they had to...or faced losing benefits....Now, they are being encouraged to see Centres as there as a resource for THEM...not a centre of control. A massive change in attitude which some staff have struggled to understand...or deliver.
This change of focus has to take place in schools...or what would be left of them if Education were truly reformed. The challenge is...How do you keep the enthusiasm for going to school that Young People have at age 5 and which we progressively knock out of so many of them?
posted by Richard @ 11:07 AM
1 Comments:
This blog is a pleasant discovery. Education is what I do... technical education for adults. An American writer, Richard Brautigan once said that he thought his teachers were Jesse James for all the time they stole from him.
It is interesting that some of us reach adulthood still hungry for knowledge and learning, while others have been turned off. Is it depite the process? Perhaps we each have been fortunate enough to connect with a few older mentors somewhere who woke us up so that we want to wake up others.
There is a bumper sticker seen around these parts that says: "If you think an education is expensive, try ignorance."
Some of us learning in the school of hard knocks so enjoy the knowledge gained that even the difficulty of that school is a source of humor... er, humour.
Cheers,
J
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