Today, I feel ashamed to be English. Rioting and looting going on in the name of 'justice'? Wild, and misguided youngsters stealing and committing acts of violence against their communities in cities of which we are supposed to be proud? Law-abiding citizens seeing their businesses go up in smoke, their property being destroyed, their livelihoods and lives threatened? To say that these yobs are behaving like animals is an insult to animals.
And some of them mere children, too? As a teacher, I always feel a sense of responsiblity that my job isn't only about teaching the structures of complex and compound sentences. or exploring the historical and cultural contexts of a society that produced our literary classics. It's about trying to instil some sense of moral and social code in youngsters who don't have that guidance from their own parents (and believe me, there are lots of them out there.) It's about trying to show this new generation that there is more to life than owning the latest mobile phone or gaming system, than watching reality TV shows that promise fame and fortune for everyone, than living their friendships through social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter or their ambitions through DVD games like Grand Theft Auto and World of Warcraft. But it's difficult - are they prepared to listen to an old fogey who keeps hens and bees, grows her own veg, reads books and likes making cakes and growing a few flowers? And who doesn't even know her own mobile phone number and cancelled her Facebook account after 6 months because she could see the aggravation it was causing?
It's not easy to say...
No, it is not okay to take someone else's property just because you want it and can't be bothered to save for it yourself, or earn your own money because that will take time and you want it NOW.
No, it is not okay to verbally abuse someone because it is 'funny', because it 'amuses' you, because you lack the empathy to understand the distress you are causing someone else.
No, it is not okay to taunt someone to the verge of tears, because you are bored and want a bit of excitement in your life, because you enjoy winding someone up for revenge or whatever other petty and pathetic excuse you can come up with to justify your behaviour.
No, it is not okay to blame someone else for your revolting behaviour just because you can't be bothered to put in the effort to learn how to behave in a civilised manner towards your fellow human beings.
No, it is not okay to spread gossip and rumours about each other because she said that he said that she said that someone else told them that someone else said that she said that because he said that.
Teachers spend almost as much time sorting out the arguments and poor behaviour of a minority of their students as they do trying to teach their subject to the majority. I would be lying if I said this situation wasn't demoralising.
Of course, the majority of our students are well-behaved. They want to learn. They know how to be courteous, they know the value of education, and whilst some may not in possession of the greatest brains in the world, they will always try their best and that's all that can be asked.
But it doesn't take many to spoil the endeavours of the majority. For I think that the majority of British citizens are law-abiding and respectful, that we go about our daily lives working hard, paying bills and taxes, caring for our environments, policing our lives so as not to upset and inconvenience anyone else. And it's us that will be paying for this vile behaviour of the few. We'll be lumbered with rising insurance costs and council tax bills. We'll be clearing up the physical mess if we inadvertently get caught up in some yob's path of destruction. And these yobs are the parents of the next generation.
I'm lucky, really. I have a good family, good friends, a job and a brain. I have a nice little house on the edge of a town (although I woudln't want to be in the middle of that town in the wee small hours at a weekend.)
What can I do for this country that I love? Keep teaching? Keep praying? Switch off Radio 4 and confine listening to the comedy stations?
I don't know.
God Bless England. I think, at the moment, she needs it.
Showing posts with label England. Show all posts
Showing posts with label England. Show all posts
Tuesday, 9 August 2011
Wednesday, 24 June 2009
Henceforth I am English
I've just finished reading a book called 'Real England' by Paul Kingsnorth, who is a young but very wise environmental writer. It is sub-titled 'The Battle Against the Bland,' and I finished it at 6 a.m having leapt out of bed at 5.30 because my bedside clock battery had expired which I hadn't noticed last night so I thought it was ten to eight instead. And once I was up and realised it was only 5.30 I was wide awake so thought I'd make the most of the quiet dawn time and some toast 'n' Marmite (Love it!) and finish reading the book.
It's all about how England (not Britain) is losing its identity and becoming a mass of clone towns; about how the big multi-national companies like Stirbugs and Cafe Nerd, and Tezzco and Aitch 'n' Em are stampeding small individual companies and turning our towns and villages into characterless and faceless blobs, all in the pursuit of 'progress' and 'development' and 'profit', or as Paul Kingsnorth calls it, 'The Thing.' The book covers a diverse range of topics from farming and orchards, through to our waterways and canals, to Chinatown in London, and markets and urbanisation. It is the kind of book that gets my dander up and makes me want to DO something about preserving my cultural identity. It is the kind of book that makes me want to shriek 'NO!' at Mr Big and shout 'Hurrah!' for Mr Small. (Not my old RE teacher I hasten to add, who was called Mr Small; ironic really as he was well over 6 feet tall).
It seems to me that you have to apologise for being English these days. That England has come to represent some undesirable pimple on the face of progress. That if you subscribe to nostalgia and tradition, which I do, then you are seen as being resistant to change and progress.
What I want to know is, who says that change and progress are necessarily good things? Take my local leisure centre. They've just introduced a new computer system. The old system of 'showing your membership card at Reception' has been replaced with a new barcoded membership card which has to be swiped and then a small picture of you appears on the computer screen and you are issued with a ticket. I don't really want the ticket. I throw it away immmediately. My old membership card had my picture on it.
The new system seemed to be causing some problem this morning by declaring that everyone was aged 5 years and 5 months, so the receptionist was having to write all the ticket details down on a piece of paper using a pen (you know, like in the old days before computers were invented).
'So what was wrong with the old system?' I asked, when I finally made it through the turnstile.
The receptionist shrugged. 'Nothing,' she said.
Meanwhile, three of the hairdryers in the ladies changing room are broken and the water this morning was freezing because the heating is up the creek. I am suspicious that these things can't be recitified at the moment because of budgetary constraints caused by the installation of a new computer system to replace the perfectly viable old one.
Ah well...
...but it is this 'ah well,' attitude that Paul Kingsnorth is railing against. He wants people to stand up against the bureaucracy that is suffocating the wonderful heritage and traditions of England. He is saying that 'The Thing' the Government want us to have that will (supposedly) bring us happiness and prosperity won't actually work, isn't actually working and that we shouldn't accept that Government (and I am talking national and local here) are right when they spout on about progress and change being important.
But I have thought this for a long, long time. Why can't we happy with the status quo? Why can't we be content with the small nuances of life, rather than the modern-day must-have pressures that turn living into existence? It's all target setting, models for progression, conforming, and being encouraged to want more and more and it is killing individuality and quirkiness.
It isn't good. But this book is. It is a thinker's book. It contains some pretty shocking facts about what really goes on in local government to pander to the whims of companies like Tezzco. Actually, in the old days this kind of behaviour was called bullying, but we mustn't harp on about the old days must we, because the old days were BAD!
And did you know that England is the only British nation without any form of devolution? It is the only European nation without its own government or parliament? I think that is appalling.
I am English. My great-great-great grandfather invented Pimms for heaven's sake! And from now on, whenever I have to fill in a form that requires me to declare my nationality, I shall either cross out the word 'British' and write 'English' or fill in the word 'English' in the space left blank for 'Other.'
And I shan't apolgise either.
It's all about how England (not Britain) is losing its identity and becoming a mass of clone towns; about how the big multi-national companies like Stirbugs and Cafe Nerd, and Tezzco and Aitch 'n' Em are stampeding small individual companies and turning our towns and villages into characterless and faceless blobs, all in the pursuit of 'progress' and 'development' and 'profit', or as Paul Kingsnorth calls it, 'The Thing.' The book covers a diverse range of topics from farming and orchards, through to our waterways and canals, to Chinatown in London, and markets and urbanisation. It is the kind of book that gets my dander up and makes me want to DO something about preserving my cultural identity. It is the kind of book that makes me want to shriek 'NO!' at Mr Big and shout 'Hurrah!' for Mr Small. (Not my old RE teacher I hasten to add, who was called Mr Small; ironic really as he was well over 6 feet tall).
It seems to me that you have to apologise for being English these days. That England has come to represent some undesirable pimple on the face of progress. That if you subscribe to nostalgia and tradition, which I do, then you are seen as being resistant to change and progress.
What I want to know is, who says that change and progress are necessarily good things? Take my local leisure centre. They've just introduced a new computer system. The old system of 'showing your membership card at Reception' has been replaced with a new barcoded membership card which has to be swiped and then a small picture of you appears on the computer screen and you are issued with a ticket. I don't really want the ticket. I throw it away immmediately. My old membership card had my picture on it.
The new system seemed to be causing some problem this morning by declaring that everyone was aged 5 years and 5 months, so the receptionist was having to write all the ticket details down on a piece of paper using a pen (you know, like in the old days before computers were invented).
'So what was wrong with the old system?' I asked, when I finally made it through the turnstile.
The receptionist shrugged. 'Nothing,' she said.
Meanwhile, three of the hairdryers in the ladies changing room are broken and the water this morning was freezing because the heating is up the creek. I am suspicious that these things can't be recitified at the moment because of budgetary constraints caused by the installation of a new computer system to replace the perfectly viable old one.
Ah well...
...but it is this 'ah well,' attitude that Paul Kingsnorth is railing against. He wants people to stand up against the bureaucracy that is suffocating the wonderful heritage and traditions of England. He is saying that 'The Thing' the Government want us to have that will (supposedly) bring us happiness and prosperity won't actually work, isn't actually working and that we shouldn't accept that Government (and I am talking national and local here) are right when they spout on about progress and change being important.
But I have thought this for a long, long time. Why can't we happy with the status quo? Why can't we be content with the small nuances of life, rather than the modern-day must-have pressures that turn living into existence? It's all target setting, models for progression, conforming, and being encouraged to want more and more and it is killing individuality and quirkiness.
It isn't good. But this book is. It is a thinker's book. It contains some pretty shocking facts about what really goes on in local government to pander to the whims of companies like Tezzco. Actually, in the old days this kind of behaviour was called bullying, but we mustn't harp on about the old days must we, because the old days were BAD!
And did you know that England is the only British nation without any form of devolution? It is the only European nation without its own government or parliament? I think that is appalling.
I am English. My great-great-great grandfather invented Pimms for heaven's sake! And from now on, whenever I have to fill in a form that requires me to declare my nationality, I shall either cross out the word 'British' and write 'English' or fill in the word 'English' in the space left blank for 'Other.'
And I shan't apolgise either.
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