society - Doubled Up

I would like to point anyone who is interested in children, (be they a teacher, governor, parent or none of the above) towards an article in the Daily Mail. Yes, I know, it surprised me too - I'm not a Daily Mail reader and I came across this when looking for something else. It calls for us all to take responsibility for young people today, to do everything we can to help them develop into responsible, happy adults. Sadly, as a society, we are failing them miserably, it says. It may slightly scare monger, but its heart is in the right place.

At least now I know that I have upset people with my questions about bouncy castles. I spoke to a member of our parents association yesterday about my concerns and suggested that we put up a sign to say the age limit on the castle. When I walked away, I heard him mutter 'miserable cow'.

Now, I know I am setting myself up for this, but I want to know if it is miserable of me to want to be sure that the children are safe, that people working on the bouncy castle know what rules theyy are implementing and that, should there be an accident, the school will not be sued. I don't for a minute want to suggest that things haven't been done right in the past (my kids have only just joined the school, so I wouldn't know), nor am I unaware of the hard work that the parents' association put into the fete. However, I think that is the way it was taken. Ho hum.

I'm going to be even more miserable about the whole affair next year and this is where I want your opinions. All parents have been given a plastic bowl to fill with a pounds worth of 'goodies', which will then be sold for a pound. Threehundred and fifty kids in the school - you do the maths, it's a good fundraiser. Now, here's where I get all bah humbug about it. WE ARE AN ECO SCHOOL. WE ARE A HEALTHY SCHOOL. But what are these plastic bowls filled with? Essentially, more plastic and sugar. Now, if other parents want to let their kids eat sweets filled with gelatin and sugar, that is up to them. However, I really object to a) the number of plastic bowls being handed out when a jam jar or paper bag or even a recycled flowerpot (Yum, hygenic!) would do and b) These are being filled with plastic toys made, most likely, in China and probably by children of the same age as our little darlings in not very nice conditions.

So, thanks to this plastic frenzy, we get 350 pounds to spend in our leafy, middle class school where  the kids want for nothing and all at the expense of (possibly) children elsewhere in the world. Personally, I would like to do without the 350 pounds and, instead, spend some time talking to the children about what they would like to have at the school fete and why, the implications of their choices and any alternatives that they can come up with. I wouldn't be very surprised if they decided that it would be rather nice to run the school fete to raise funds for others who are less fortunate than themselves.

So, you tell me. Am I a miserable cow?

Whilst doing some work for a company I do the odd bit of writing for, I came across some research that was done back in 2003 by a lady called Sonia Lupien. I believe that she is a scientist in Quebec. Her research was on how having low self-esteem reduces the brain power and memory of elderly people. In fact, having a negative attitude about yourself can, she says, lead to your brain actually shrinking (although, personally, I blame having children for my pea-sized brain!).

It set me to thinking about something of which I tried to be aware as a teacher - if you can make kids truly believe that they are FANTASTIC at your subject, then this will be self fulfilling. If you can increase their self-esteem, then they will be more inclined to want to learn and, in turn, this will improve their brain-power. It wasn't always easy, particularly in the inner-city secondary school that was in special measures - so much damage had already been done to the self-esteem of many of those kids, that it was kind of hard to reverse it.

The school where I am a governor is an infant school, and I see the children come out bouncing with excitement about what they have learned and what they can do - proudly holding up their 'technology projects' (cardboard boxes and yogurt pots forced to briefly stick to one another solely by using up a whole 500ml bottle of glue). At the age of five or six, life is so full of excitement and school is almost as good as a trip to Legoland. I can't help but feel that most of these children believe that they can do anything they put their mind to.

And it makes me wonder - at what point does it go wrong? I know that the social and economical backgrounds of the two schools I am thinking of are very different. But I fear that the enthusiasm and self-confidence I see in my daughter and her classmates may well gradually be eroded by the system. And I wonder what we can do about it?