Torrential rain for the last 24 hours. But so in need of a run to clear my head. Head to the woods for a bet of shelter. Unbelievably the rain stopped to give a brief respite from the deluge.

Sadly no respite from the school madness. Not even in Drama. DRAMA!! The subject assessment tests reflect Government policy on teaching and testing. Students are required to write the Drama Term and it’s meaning. Correct spellings must be learnt.

Tableaux – a moment of frozen action on stage

Accumulation – adding another performer arch time a movement is repeated

Exaggeration – when you perform something in a heightened style

Melodrama – a sensational dramatic piece with exaggerated characters and exciting events designed to appeal to the emotions

And on and on…. I won’t bore you with the full list.

Correct spellings …..

Really …..

For goodness sake this is Drama. This is on top of negatives which are dished out if you forget to bring in a completely black T-shirt and Track Suit bottoms for the lesson. On top of negatives for not learning lines. On top of forcing kids into groups of strangers and expecting them to interact freely. On top of negatives if kids are found laughing and having fun. Forcing kids to go on stage and perform in front of large numbers of kids, support staff and teachers – even when it leads to extreme anxiety. Isn’t it supposed to be fun and enjoyable. Obviously not according to those in charge. Some kids are set up to fail. Some kids are clearly deserving of having their confidence ground into the dirt. Just feels like there is no respite from the deluge.

Dad when I get the first opportunity to drop Drama I will go into the Guinness Book of Records for the quickest ever exit from a subject.

I can’t blame him at all. But it’s such a potential waste. Sadly it’s not just Drama and it’s not just our son. How many kids are turned off subjects which they could eventually excel in because of inflexible and insensitive teaching practices. Education should be about finding the gifts, talents and special interests in every single child. Encouraging kids to reach for the stars. Unfortunately education has been skewed by politicians who just don’t understand.

It’s time to kick this generation of self centred politicians out of the education world. It’s time to let good teachers teach. Its time to let every child have a chance and above all else it’s time to let kids enjoy being kids again.

60 thoughts on “Respite from the deluge”

  2. Oh man…☹ Theater nerds are usually very accepting and a drama class could be awesome for your son if… IF…
    In my drama class way way back in the 80s, we had to audition for stage roles. Everyone else was crew. Costume, makeup, props, set, lighting, etc… a place for all interests.
    This makes me double sad. Not only is he set up for failure, it’s a wasted opportunity for him to find a group, fit in, excel on his niche. Grrrrr 😡

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  4. FUCK!! Bloody hell we are out of step. This is just a case of our age gone mental in yet another way. Everything is so goddam literal and constipated, you have to live within these fucking narrow lines that leave no space for the soul to express as it needs to even if it misspells some words. I want to scream and shout when I read this. I hope you son can find some place outside of this madness to let himself ‘be’ and express his dramatic self.

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  5. Now that is muddy .. but you did get a chance to run ? I did read that right? Oh the school system is so backwards . Kids should be kids and should be free to be who they are . To learn they way they learn .everyone learns differently . I I feel the frustration . Stay calm run more if you can. Keep taking care of your son like you are . I went through this for yrs with my daughter. And I was not liked . I did not care . My child was being abused in away by the system. .. things need to turn around . It’s just getting someone to figure out this is all wrong 😔

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      1. No she shouldn’t have . And the scars run deep . I do not want any kid to go through any of this . It should not be this way . And yes it does keep repeating but it’s getting worse as the yrs go by. Is there really such a thing about beating the system?😔

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  8. Gosh, reading this flooded my mind with memories of pure anxiety surrounding drama. Absolutely hated it, and PE. If you werent one of those students with lots of friends and an abundance of confidence you quite simply were destined to do poorly in that class.

    I’m all for nurturing a student’s potential and giving them an opportunity to channel there creativity through drama but it’s not for everyone, why must they force it so? I hate forced fun.

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  10. Drama should be fun shouldn’t it? This sounds excruciatingly bombastic! I fear that the generations coming out of school these days will likely not know anything of value for their lives. This sounds like forced dogma to keep students from actually thinking independently, and that implies sinister reasoning from Government… Keep ’em stupid, keep ’em compliant, keep’ em in their rat runs!
    I hope you son can do a fist pump in the air when he can drop these useless subjects that are only designed to subjugate and destroy all joy for life!

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    2. That’s in the are before education became politicized. Now the government feels the need to exert pressure to make sure the schools are accountable. Therefore one template to fit everything into. Loss of creativity, loss of teacher personal touch, loss of students as unique individuals.

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  16. That is utterly ludicrous!!! Heck, I didn’t know some of those terms, at least not as applied to drama. Drama should be an elective, an option, for those kids who are more social and are interested in it. It should not be shoved down the kids’ throats, and certainly not pushed on your son, who the school officials already know cannot handle that! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. Lemme at ’em … 👿

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  17. For some reason this made me think back fifty years to when I was in a public speaking class in high school. I can’t tell you anymore if that was a required class. There was a boy in my class who had disfluent speech, which in those days we called stuttering. Watching and listening to him struggle through speech after speech was painful for me. I can’t imagine how he felt. He never gave up. Then the teacher gave us an unexpected assignment, a pantomime! At the time I guessed that this was not one of the regularly assigned “speeches” but I never knew for sure. The boy who had struggled through so many speeches definitely outperformed everyone in the class when it came to the pantomime. Hopefully your son’s teacher will be creative and offer assignments that let every student shine at some point in the class. We can only hope.

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  18. Push them, break them, rebuild them, methods used by the military, drug and alcohol reabilitation centers and cults, do you see the pattern here, cloning of people and kids. 🌹

    ❤️✌️
    BY FOR NOW

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