T’s and C’s Apply

We wake at dawn, my daughter and I, in order to get us both to school (on the opposite sides of CT) on time. It’s not amazing. But we are now in a ritual where, after pressing snooze about 50 times, I rouse my warm, sleepy little girl and get out of bed to put on the kettle, prepare breakfast and switch on the radio. I then take our breakfasts back to bed and we sit there in sleepy silence shovelling in mouthfuls of cereal, and wearily listen to the (usually quite annoying) music and the cheerful chattering of the DJ’s. And, ye gods! the incessant advertisements.

 I don’t really pay attention to them, but as the days go on I am becoming more and more aware how after advertising absolutely anything from polyfiller to pretzels to concert tickets, that T’s and C’s apply. Like, really? What a sad testament to society that cheesy radio ads have to have this legal jargon incorporated. It makes me nauseous. You can have this “amazing” thing but terms and conditions apply, which means that actually maybe you can’t, because you don’t fit whatever criteria is stipulated in the fine print. Buy two bags of naartjies and you get one bag free, T’s & C’s apply (ie the third bag is dripping and mouldy and from last years crop). And, yes you can have this lovely ladies watch for only R199 but you first have to purchase this flat screen TV for R12000, and unless you uncheck this box we will spam you every half and hour for the rest of your life. It’s funny cos it’s true!

It’s like having to sign an indemnity form to acknowledge that should any thing go wrong, the products company are not in any way liable. Just the fact that if someone chokes on a raison in a muesli bar and then attempts to sue the company that produced the bar, is ridiculous and yet not unheard of. And secondly that company’s are so nervous of being liable for anything that they have to include this form of indemnity thus releasing themselves of being criticized or getting bad press. Passing the buck back to you! Ugh!  Where is the love people? Where is the trust and transparency of trade and produce?

It feels like a sci fi novel or movie, where society has been corrupted and has changed so radically that the food comes in the form of a pellet, hover crafts pass by your windows in your sky loft, and toilet paper is no longer used because there is some other weird system which deals with that … situation…(see Demolition Man, 1993). Or like in The Fifth Element where advertisements are tailor made to suit your position in society and plague you where ever you go. Maybe I’m exaggerating a bit, I realise I am rather cynical, but you know what I mean – these things develop so fast that it’s not hard to imagine it spiralling out of control. There are enough extremes and dogma to deal with already thank you very much!

So, with such disillusioned and complex thoughts occupying my mind, I then have to find something appropriate to wear to school. Something that covers my tattoos isn’t too low, too short, too revealing etc. There is a crisis in education in this country, we really need good teachers; altruistic, highly talented and qualified individuals who don’t expect to earn very much and will dedicate their lives and energy to adequately educating the increasingly (in my situation) reluctant youth. There is nothing more important!  But…
Terms and Conditions apply.                                              

Which brings me to this very thorny and delicate subject, the crown of thorns, the sword in my side (I do not have a Christ complex I’m just running with the metaphor), which is being employed by a school. I cannot say too much here, however what I can say is this. Unless you are employed by the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) you have no real sense of job security, because as a Governing Body (GB) educator (that is, employed by the school rather than the State) your contract gets renewed annually. That basically means that you live in perpetual terror of losing your job for what boils down to 'financial issues', which is seriously an unpleasant environment to live/work in.

How can one, as a teacher, focus on the arduous tasks in hand when one is worrying about how long it will last? The students themselves will be affected by the teachers own sense of tenuous frailty, it disrupts the flow, the continuity, sense of safety and balance if teachers are swapped around and replaced all the time, surely?  I learned in my PGCE course last year and have witnessed it this year myself, that for the learners to have the best chance of gaining any knowledge and sustaining their development, they need to establish a sense of trust in their teachers and in the system.

 It brings to mind the way some people advocate the use of  ritual and routines when caring for an infant. For example, 6 o’clock is bath time, followed by a feed and then to bed. This is supposed to give the infant a sense of safety and comfort, and hopefully gives the parent or care giver an easier time during this period of adjustment and development. So it helps a child / learner to know what is expected of them, where boundaries are shaped, and a form of reassurance that they are in safe hands.

This tenuous position of a GB post is in direct conflict to those who have a WCED post. These teachers are, between the unions and various government organisations, untouchable. This means that one of these teachers can do all manner of things and it is virtually, by law, impossible to fire them. This can result in stagnation, and the making of what my lecturer at UCT termed “the grey lizards”, meaning teachers who have been in a school since forever and have not altered their techniques or opinions or ways of teaching which are, or rather should be, constantly being adjusted, renewed and/or enhanced to fit in with the current epoch, much as society itself does. Then again, some of these teachers remain incredibly resilient to this kind of deflation, and power on with giving all they have to the school, the learners, the world. There are  many of them out there, people who have inspired generations of kids with very little thanks (or remuneration). 

As I mentioned in my previous piece, Technobabble, today’s kids are not like the kids of yesteryear, hence they are naturally a part of a system which is in constant flux. As are the subjects that are taught, and the curriculum documents adjusted for optimum results (though perhaps not as rapidly or fundamentally as it needs to), so must the teachers readjust themselves and, like any decent medical practitioner, should stay current , motivated and continually curious about their subject matter and how it is perceived in the world around them.

These are the terms and conditions of teaching. As I discussed initially, this does not avail the required transparency that ones needs in order to feel secure and valued, and it is this issue that seems to be plaguing many of the institutions that are “shaping” the youth who in term will be involved in shaping a future society etc etc.

Anyway, it’s not like I have solutions to these issues, and as I said in my first blog, this is just a window into my life and thoughts. My platform on which to rant! If iget it all out here then maybe I can avoid getting cancer from all this pessimistic angsting sitting in ma belly! But that’s a topic for another time.

Have a good week yawl! Don’t stagnate!

Peace,

Anna