As a base concept it is actually something I can (and do) subscribe to i.e. a collective of PROFESSIONAL specialists who actively choose to undergo additional academic study in order to engage in a VOCATIONAL profession which facilitates other people to attain their INDIVIDUAL potentials.
Doesn’t sound like too much to ask right? WRONG!!! What used to be the glimmer of what Education (as an institute of society) should be about is turning into a political smoke screen which should more aptly be named “Do what the government tells you or your f***ed! Oh and even if you do manage to break through every last inch of bleeding red tape using your teeth, with your hands tied behind your back while standing on one leg, there is still a chance you will be buggered with a hot branding iron by beelzebub and all his little minions (aka the government cabinet) because yet another stuck up politician with a messiah complex who’s home/private school education means that he’s never even seen (less experienced) a “real” classroom environment, thinks they have come up with yet another “brand new” way to “fix the system!”… But to be fair I can see how “The Education System” roles off the a little easier.
As a Social Scientist (okay let’s not go into that one), I’ve always tended to take a Functionalist view on life that societal groups live in consensus, but as I get older, wiser and less naive, I now subscribe to the simple notion that this is a load of fairy tale b****cks! Now don’t get me wrong I’m not suggesting that socialism is the solution (mainly because this is yet another POLITICAL concept), Karl Marx did have a point regarding the mechanisms and process of class division (and its effects) and the opium of the masses (except with secularisation politics is the “new” religion).
This rant could go on for hours but to bring it back on track I just want to make four final points:
1) If you are thinking of becoming an educator in some formal capacity, do it for the right reasons (whatever they may be).
2) Contra to popular belief working in education (if done properly) is not an “easy dinner ticket with rock solid job security and a bank safe pension” … Who ever told you that go and slap them.
3) don’t look down on those less “fortunate” than you as fortune is not a fixed entity.
4) if any politicians read this, may I suggest that before the next education secretary is appointed that their CV is checked to see if they even have a teaching qualification… Just a minor detail that has been overlooked for the last 15 years.
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