job plus education rant

[lobelia321]

I didn't get it.

In case you were wondering.

Also, the real life vortex goes on hence my absenteeism. But I've been missing you lot!

Real life has been pretty much it for the past two weeks or so, and looks set to stay it for some time longer. Still, the fantasy life springs eternal. Well, with me, anyway. There were a few days where the slashy-slashy was undermost in my mind but sure enough, it resurfaced. (It always does.) Anyway, there has been a major dramatic reversal in the denouément of the HP opus but alas, so far only one sixth of it has actually been committed to paper.

And what about homo floresiensis, eh? I find the thought of two species of human utterly confuddling and bamboggling.

Apart from that:

Schools!
Interviews!
Recruitment!
Publications!
Academic career: chariot to the future or quagmire???!!!

At the moment, we are veering towards private education for t'son. This goes against all my principles but recent weeks have rubbed my face in the turd of reality so ideology had to go out the window. Also, money has to go out the window, it seems. Money we ain't got, for f's sake! And this is a school that had assisted places until 1997. *has minor fit in face of the LABOUR GOVERNMENT's wonderful commitment to EDUCATION* *has brief vomiting spurt in the direction of Blunkett who presumably presided over this piece of shit legislation*

It has indeed been an enlightening if disheartening excursion into the land of State Schooling. The best, and I mean the best of the state schools, still falls short by a mile of the private school and of anything I find acceptable for secondary education. And everyone knows that standards have fallen. It's not enough for a school to boast about their not-even-all-that-marvellous percentage of pupils who get A-C at GCSE. Who cares about a C? Or a B? Even today's As, even today's starred As, still fall short of what I consider to be a satisfactory standard. So an A is the least that pupils should be striving for. The f'ing least! And then the so-called best state school in our city offers one (yes, you heard me: one) foreign language. And instead of making resources available for another one, you can do media studies. Well, I teach f'ing Film Studies and it's not something I think my son should be doing if he could be learning another language!! (Yes, and I want to rant about this at you, badgermonkey!)

Now we're drilling t'son every morning at breakfast to pass the exam for that stupid school that's going to drive us to an early grave finance-wise. Ten thousand pounds per year!!! *would do a 'falls over' but falling over doesn't even begin to cover it*

It's been an interesting learning curve. Not only have I learned a lot about the school system but also a lot about my own views of education. One nice side effect has been the total way that t'hus and I converge in this matter. I have discovered that I am entirely old-fashioned; I want a school that sparks their pupils, that teaches traditional subjects in separate departments, that is: history and geography and classics NOT 'humanities' where these are all mashed together, where you do at least three languages, and preferably Latin, and where the school uniform does not permit trainer-type shoes. I want them to be stretched and challenged, and I don't need my son to be doing 'media studies'.

I would also love for him to go to an arty school. There's a wonderful school here but it's too far away from where we live and it also has 'humanities' but it offers six languages, incl. Japanese, and has wonderful art and art history and music and performance. He's not at all that way inclined but it would be nice to be in an environment that values these things. The private school isn't so good on art. But then I'm thinking that this other arty school is possibly the school I would like to go to and not necessarily t'son... Because, surprisingly, he's really into the private school.

*sighs*

Um. End of rant. Anybody not au fait with the secondary school system of England will be sorely puzzled.

Comments

[cathexys.livejournal.com]

i have no idea about english schools but can very much relate to the debate of conscience over private...i'm still ashamed to admit we're sending the older one to private school, but at the same time he's happy there and is learning and selfish as i am about my kids, that'a all that matters to me at the moment. i haven't given up my belief that private schoiols are inherently a bad thing, but i won't sacrifice him/his education on the altar of my beliefs.

*hugs* for all the rest of the misery!!! been thinking of you and hoping you were doing ok...

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

Well, there's not really any misery. I didn't get the job and that was very disappointing. Otoh, before I went I didn't even want the job because it's miles and miles away and 2 hours minimum commute, 4 hours by train. When I got there, however, the thing had a momentum of its own; applying for a job sort of makes you want it, and then when I saw the campus (which I loved), browsed the library and met the people (who were really nice) I suddenly really, really wanted it. A colleague of mine whom I know was also applying so we emailed each other later and she thinks that an insider got it. This makes me feel better, otoh, because I didn't lose out because lack of merit but it also makes me feel annoyed because they made me jump through hoops for nothing. Then again, it's not for nothing because I learned a lot from this interview for future interviews.

But I'm not miserable. I feel quite robust at the moment, actually. I don't know how long you've known me on LJ, I can't remember but I was depressed for a lot of the time I've been on here. So not getting a job is nothing compared to being depressed! :-) Still, though, it's a blow to the ego and makes me feel worried that I've let my career slide into the mud, spending my days slashing instead of writing books and applying for funding.

So you went the private route, too, huh? I would never have thought it of me but I am just as you say: I have the principles but am not going to sacrifice my own child to them. When he's old enough he can make choices himself but in order to make them, he has to be set up right so that his choice won't be limited, so for now we'll have to make that choice for him.

I remember you saying what a horrendous time you'd had with your older one. If paying is what's needed to allay worries and guilt, then paying is what it's got to be. Unfortunately, of course, not everybody has the choice of paying or not. We cannot afford private education but, as t'h, says, we're just going to have to. I've gone begging to my parents. They are nonplussed, though, because a) German and b) from a different generation that was less hysterical about schools.

[cathexys.livejournal.com]

no, i don't think i was on your lj for any serious depression...and the insider job is really a two-edged sword..i know the feeling of not feeling incompetent but also being very, very angry!! *hugs*

yes, we finally decided it was best for him there, and we've been ver happy. but it still smarts when i discuss it with other parents who went public...it ,makes me a tad ashamed (esp. since the one good reason, i.e., religion, is really an anti-reason for me!)

it's hard for germans in general and our parents' generation in particular to understand...but from what i've heard, things are really changing over there!!! pisa and all :D

[childeproof.livejournal.com]

V sorry re job. I selfishly wanted you to get it for my sake as well as your own, to reassure me that there (a) were academic jobs and (b) people I knew got them. I was ironing this morning when I struck me that, if I leave this job, as I plan, at the end of the academic year, no money will appear in my account at the end of the month, and I was shaken. I've been that poor, and I feel I can't face it again... (Moan, self-pity etc.)

I only became au fait with the school system in the UK after I became a graduate student there, and began encountering its results in Oxford. The state school/private school divide is only in its infancy in Ireland, where most schools are still parish-based and (technically) run by religious orders, with a general perception that you send your child to the nearest school to where you live. To send your child to one of the (very few) private schools there are is a huge social statement, generally.

However, speaking as a former clever child who attended what would in the UK be called a failing school -- grotty prefabs, rats, intermitten TB problem, more people dropping out pregnant in the final year than going to university -- I wouldn't want to put any child of my loins (or indeed, any child) through the same experience of having to pretend desperately not to be clever, so as not to have her teeth kicked back her throat on a daily basis.

One of my saddest early school memories is being about eight and being quite unpleasantly bullied for using some word which was considered to be exotic/show-offish/in some way beyond the ken of my class mates - and the bit I remember is walking down the steps in the school yard afterwards resolving to restrict my vocabulary for safety's sake, to genuinely try to clamp down on my intelligence. I think this is a truly appalling memory.

I realise this has stopped having anything whatsoever to do with the UK private/state school divide, but I suppose what I'm saying is, for God's sake, salve your conscience on this one. If you can afford to send him somewhere with languages and opportunities, and LATIN (*has an orgasm*), then don't let your conscience stop you. Although I entirely agree with your scruples.

Gosh, what a mess it all is, really.

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

Don't fear: nothing will stop me. Well, the fact that t'son may fail the entrance exam may put a dampener on proceedings but we will try again for the 13+! Your story is absolutely sobering and throws a sorry light on all sorts of things. And, sadly but truly (turd of reality again), the school decision is a decision about social milieu as well. And little as I like the idea of my son sitting next to vulgar rich kids from the fens, I like the idea of him sitting next to shaven-haired thugs from the estates even less. And despite genteel reputation, this city is full of the latter types, alas. Especially bad for boys, I fear.

The sad thing is that the school I was really setting my hopes in is not thuggish. It is a very nice, very cosy school full of middle-class kids whose parents can afford to live in the area and half of whom are university academics. And still the school struck me as mediocre.

[msilverstar]

Damn, I wanted you to get that job. But I remain optimistic that there are other ones.

My kid is in public school, we have a weird setup in berkeley where approx. 1/3 are children of professors and other intelligensia (including me), 1/3 are very poor and of a strong african-american subculture and the rest are everything from very new spanish immigrants to working class to middle class. We were doing OK until our district discovered it was broke the same year our state went broke. There was enough enrichment (though not languages, dammit) so the kids got a good spectrum of interesting stuff, from math tutoring through art and music and an organic vegetable garden. The last couple of years have been harder. Dunno what we're going to do with the kidlet.

BTW, I took Latin in high school and regretted it, wish I'd taken spanish as we have many spanish speakers around here. What's wrong with "trainer-type shoes" for uniforms? Aren't they much more comfortable and supportive than leather shoes?

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

I, too, did not take Latin at school even though it was on offer. Now that I am a parent I sometimes wonder why my parents didn't make me take stuff (well, no, I don't wonder, I know why but that's another story...) The paradox is, I guess, that the fifteen-year-old stroppy girl who thought Latin was fuddy-duddy has mutated into the forty-something middle-aged, middle-class tyrant mum who wants her son to do Latin, dammit.

*takes breath*

As to the trainers: if they wear 'proper' shoes, it inculcates a sense of propriety and seriousness. It's so not leisurewear. Although my son has flat feet and might have to bring a medical note to school, explaining why he needs to wear trainers... but that's another tale as well!! :-)