Another day and another pompous government minister telling the kids what best for them. Not listening. Not accepting differences. Not accepting that some will be ready to jump back into life, others will not. Not accepting that his form of education is really about serving his needs and the economy. Not prepared to listen and work with what individual children and families need. Wanting schools to go backwards towards Victorian values. Totally against the notion of moving schools forward and turning them into wonderful places of learning and personal growth. To make them enjoyable and yes FUN. But what do we know, he clearly knows best. Just do what we are told.

So this middle aged pompous bloke will shut up and tell you exactly how Hawklad sees where he is. This is what he told me last night when I LISTENED to him.

  • I love to go back to school. But not because of the teaching. To meet up with my friends again.
  • Most of the teaching is so not me. Doesn’t suit me.
  • I hate being told what to learn and how to learn it. Getting no choice. Being told what to think and how to remember it
  • Hate always worrying about breaking the rules. Worrying about getting negatives.
  • Hate having to put my hand up in a lesson and ask for help. It’s so hard in front of all the other classmates admitting I can’t read something.
  • Being told it’s perfectly safe to go to school when I know I can catch covid. Being crammed in a class with someone who might have it and not know it. Having to share equipment without them being cleaned. Then being told that I won’t get the vaccine as I’m low risk. Reading about mutations that no one seems to understand. To me school is not safe at all. Just can’t go back for a long time. Until it’s really under control. Until I’ve been vaccinated with something that really works. Until I get some space in school.

That says it all to this middle aged pompous chap. Tells me where he is. That’s who I will listen to. Not some pompous government minister living his closeted life who doesn’t care and doesn’t listen.

92 thoughts on “Who do I listen to”

  5. It sounds so similar to conversations I have had with others around the idea of church life. I got a message from one of our 60 something ladies last night who is pushing to get the choir back together. She won’t get out of bed to come to church but she would if we all started up the choir again and agreed to sing our spit on each other. I am learning to listen to my inner monologue more than the voices of other people.

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      1. I agree. That seems easier said than done these days. The pressure to conform to people’s wishes seems higher than ever. And people get irate when you don’t see it their way. Maybe it’s just me but it seems the world is getting pushier.

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      3. I apologize. You are right, this is not really an age question, but a question of whether a person is able to look forward or whether they are stuck in a place of lamenting the past to the point of being stuck in it.
        I guess the truth is it is not so much an imposition to me (except as I refuse to stand up for what I am feeling at the moment which is a me problem not a them problem). It is however a real difficulty for those who are insisting on things returning to the old normal. In my neck of the woods at least the old normal is not coming back any time soon.

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      5. We really are all different and for some learning new things will never happen via one particular way. I do dislike the thought that school is the only way and the “One size fits all” mentality being peddled. I left school having learnt “Llareggub!” and yet can say of myself as being successful in my own way.

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      7. I do so agree with that. We took my son out of school here in the States when we were told there were certain things he would never learn. My son now has a Masters Degree and teaches English in South Korea. He loves the idea of helping children to learn according to their natural bent.

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      8. I too did not learn at school, yet now have a masters degree, because I was given the choices as an adult to learn what I was interested in. We are not factory fodder, we are not war cogs, we are individuals with intelligence and so are children.

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      18. Indeed. I have found having worked both sides of the issue (I was a special needs para-professional for almost three years) that it about how we adapt the systems to individual needs. If there is anything that needs to change it is the rigidity of the sytems or the individuals working with them.

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      31. Bur am ah though? Am ah? or did Babs o’ chik’inn run translate it orl for uz? Will theur ivva na fu sure? Mebbe aam a scottish cheil wi’ win’ blowin’ up mah kilt or an ‘eaven and ‘ell ter do Londoner er a mucky brid from der pewl or beep bip beep bip bip bip beep from bipp beep! 🛸

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  6. This is simply ignorance and convenience. They do not want to deal (now) with unpleasant and time-consuming changes or conversions. But it is precisely now that the important needs crystallize in particular, which should be taken up in order to improve the system.

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  10. We realise that the best days are school days when we pass out from school. Whosoever I ask now do you miss school, even the ones who never liked coming to school, are now wanting to go back to school and wanna go back to good old days.
    Great post.

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  12. Well I am not quite 73, but I see things your way, Gary and I have a lot of sympathy for Hawklad’s situation. Being old doesn’t automatically make you stupid, but I can certainly see why people think so. Gad.

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    1. I’m currently having a bit of a ding dong about words, in that listening and understanding what is said, is much more important to me than getting the words said correctly. So if someone says “Towee” for both the river Towy and the river Tawe, I’m not going to give a flying fig, because I am able to understand their not talking about a carpet, a pair of earrings or a book and of course the person can always say where the river they are on about is Carmarthen or Swansea. “innit?”

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  17. In my humble opinion, I do not think you are pompous at all, but very wise and compassionate, which is what every child needs their parent to be. Hawklad is very blessed.

    I find conservative governments – especially the extreme right-wing sort are interchangeable all over the world. Their narrow little minds just cannot seem to grasp that we are each unique and individual, including children of all ages.

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  18. “Education” has changed so much since I was in school, back with the dinosaurs… kids aren’t even taught anymore. They are programmed to retain facts, then regurgitate them on tests. USELESS!!
    Also useless is continuing to try to cram all the kids into one mold. I’ve thought all along, as have you, that Hawklad would do better with a homeschooling program you both created. I’m glad to see he’s finally coming round to the idea. There will be other places and times he can meet up with his mates. He won’t have to lose out on ALL the teen stuff😉

    That farmer’s field is looking quite the Winter Wonderland!💌💌💌

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