Having been in the city on Weds and Thurs night, I realise how much quality drinking and money and "not stressed" times I am missing out on. Despite hating Canary Wharf cos it looks so fake, there still seems to be a lot of rather jolly graduates around there. I wonder how long it'll be before I officially regret my teaching decision? Everyone knows I'm driven by money :)
This week I have seen some shocking examples of bullying. The worst was in netball yesterday when A kept hurling the netball at R (yes, I am worried I will get sued if I use their full names). A has a wicked mean streak in her - apparently she made some other girl cry by calling her a lesbian. Poor little R as well, she is ginger and a bit chubby, a sitting target. Anyway, not sure if it's morally correct, but told A that if I caught her picking on R again, I would make her life a living hell. In retrospect perhaps shoulda been more diplomatic.
So I got thinking about my own school days, trying to figure out if I was bullied or a bully. I came to the conclusion that I was a bit of both, which seems to be the same as most people. I remember life being made rather challenging in the 3rd form when the "asian rude boys" (you'd think you couldn't be an asian rude boy when your parents are both doctors, you've had elocution lessons and can play the violin...but you can) made it their mission to hassle almost every asian girl in our year. At the same time, I remember being an absolute prick in the 1st and 2nd forms, having fallen in with the mean girls and thus devoted to cementing my place in the social hierarchy through various mean activities. Luckily I grew out of all that, but still. Apparently 8 out of 10 kids experience some kind of bullying at school, isn't that a horrid amount? Kids can be really mean.
On the lighter side, I also remembered this hilarious lesson of RE where we put one of those little electronic dogs that bark and jump in circles in one of the lockers in the classroom. So the teacher could hear this random yelping and barking coming from somewhere in the classroom, but couldn't figure out where...she was really getting quite annoyed, but just couldn't find it, ace. Obviously this was topped by the sixth form with the old "mobiles taped under chairs in the theatre" gag, where phones were randomly placed around the theatre and then people would call these phones during assembly, leading to ringing coming from the seats of unsuspecting pupils, and many an innocent student to get done for having a phone in assembly, good stuff. This lasted more than a week before the school clocked on, hahahaha.
This week I have seen some shocking examples of bullying. The worst was in netball yesterday when A kept hurling the netball at R (yes, I am worried I will get sued if I use their full names). A has a wicked mean streak in her - apparently she made some other girl cry by calling her a lesbian. Poor little R as well, she is ginger and a bit chubby, a sitting target. Anyway, not sure if it's morally correct, but told A that if I caught her picking on R again, I would make her life a living hell. In retrospect perhaps shoulda been more diplomatic.
So I got thinking about my own school days, trying to figure out if I was bullied or a bully. I came to the conclusion that I was a bit of both, which seems to be the same as most people. I remember life being made rather challenging in the 3rd form when the "asian rude boys" (you'd think you couldn't be an asian rude boy when your parents are both doctors, you've had elocution lessons and can play the violin...but you can) made it their mission to hassle almost every asian girl in our year. At the same time, I remember being an absolute prick in the 1st and 2nd forms, having fallen in with the mean girls and thus devoted to cementing my place in the social hierarchy through various mean activities. Luckily I grew out of all that, but still. Apparently 8 out of 10 kids experience some kind of bullying at school, isn't that a horrid amount? Kids can be really mean.
On the lighter side, I also remembered this hilarious lesson of RE where we put one of those little electronic dogs that bark and jump in circles in one of the lockers in the classroom. So the teacher could hear this random yelping and barking coming from somewhere in the classroom, but couldn't figure out where...she was really getting quite annoyed, but just couldn't find it, ace. Obviously this was topped by the sixth form with the old "mobiles taped under chairs in the theatre" gag, where phones were randomly placed around the theatre and then people would call these phones during assembly, leading to ringing coming from the seats of unsuspecting pupils, and many an innocent student to get done for having a phone in assembly, good stuff. This lasted more than a week before the school clocked on, hahahaha.
