Confronting Toxic Mindsets and the Dismissal Epidemic
It’s a dilemma that’s as insidious as it is ubiquitous, as destructive as it is dismissive. It’s a dilemma born from the lips of our own colleagues, echoing within each department and reverberating through the corridors of our schools with the unsettling frequency of the Silent Hill radio static. This dilemma, my friends, is the casual dismissal of complex issues through language rife with logical fallacies.
Navigating the Passpocalypse
A seemingly benign practice has evolved into an issue that’s impacting education far more than perhaps we realise, and as a teacher, it is definitely grating on me. Here is a typical scenario: a student raises their hand, brandishing a brightly coloured, laminated pass like it’s a VIP ticket to meet Taylor Swift backstage, and proceeds to step out of class. Seems harmless, right? Wrong. It’s become a significant issue: the overabundance of time-out passes is threatening to derail learning and I can’t shake it off. But before I go absolutely postal, it’s crucial to acknowledge that I fully support the use of these passes for genuine reasons and to those kids, I’ve got your backs. However, I can’t help but feel that they’re sometimes distributed to students who may not need them as much as others.
Of all the issues in our education system, this is one of the most concerning – an issue that demands our serious consideration. The problem at hand is the pervasive and unchecked aggression students direct towards female staff, creating an environment where toxic masculinity and misogyny flourish. This is not a subtle concern; it’s an infuriating reality that rightly stirs anger. Are our schools, and institutions entrusted with shaping minds, inadvertently fostering a culture that dismisses the principles of respect and equality? This isn’t a mere inconvenience; it’s an urgent matter that requires our scrutiny and immediate action.
The title is an unfortunate coincidence but not a day goes by without bumping into a colleague who has been ‘gaslit’ by SLT. This could manifest as a sanction downgraded by a member of gaslighters, who wasn’t a witness to the event. Or upon interviewing a future HM Belmarsh inhabitant about a classroom incident, SLT will suggest that:
“when he told you to go fuck yourself, I think he was actually saying to ‘go look at yourself’, you misheard”?
Some member of SLT
The only thing lacking here is a Jedi-style, wave of the hand.