Posts by mark taslov

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  • Up Front: Absence of Malice,

    giving due respect to authority figures whether they deserve it or not is mandatory

    Um, ew.

    it's simple pragmatism Danielle, would you like a speeding ticket or would you prefer to be arrested? I don't respect the officer, but I pay him respect as the situation required.

    Te Ika-a-Māui • Since Mar 2008 • 2281 posts Report Reply

  • Up Front: Absence of Malice,

    My former boss disagreed.

    ha! ok, Sorry for misconstruing events, like I said Emma, it's more the general trend that concerned me'

    But... how should we then "respond to their failings"? If parents aren't allowed to protest on their children's behalf, and the system provides no opportunity at all for students to provide feedback on their teachers?

    I'd suggest methodical diplomacy, or if that fails, biting their ear off. I think what I'm getting at is not so much the intent as the tone. There are ways to set a teacher straight, without the children forever knowing that our mum pawned Mrs Bishop or whoever.

    When the children realise that the teacher is everyone's lacky, parents, administrators, students, then they lose the respect necessary to enable a good learning environment. there are also (unfortunately) the types of teachers who will continue that cycle by taking that out on the students. This is a cycle to break.

    Te Ika-a-Māui • Since Mar 2008 • 2281 posts Report Reply

  • Up Front: Absence of Malice,

    yes Eddie, The stories are funny. It was just that one section I was taking issue with, and fairly, having read your blog a while Emma , I know how responsible and caring you are. I just wanted to raise the issue.

    Te Ika-a-Māui • Since Mar 2008 • 2281 posts Report Reply

  • Up Front: Absence of Malice,

    note; Cartman, not Cartman's mum.

    Te Ika-a-Māui • Since Mar 2008 • 2281 posts Report Reply

  • Up Front: Absence of Malice,

    I don't think we ignore the failings of the teachers Eddie, definitely. It's simply about how we respond to their failings. Do we make fun of them in public forums 10 years after the fact. Or do we tell them directly so that they may do a better job with future generations? Emma's post is bold in and indicative of a wider trend. However mocking our teachers is never as effective as teaching our teachers. Hence Emma had her mum pwn her teacher, rather than set the record straight herself.

    Te Ika-a-Māui • Since Mar 2008 • 2281 posts Report Reply

  • Up Front: Absence of Malice,

    I'm not the only one who cares Emma, I never said I was. Many do. This is not about me or you, I write that. Because it really doesn't effect me.

    giving due respect to authority figures whether they deserve it or not is mandatory for maintaining our society and our own well being.

    I dunno how to respond to this except to say 'no it isn't'. Have we really, in your mind, never in history benefited from rebellion?

    against our teachers? seldom.

    Te Ika-a-Māui • Since Mar 2008 • 2281 posts Report Reply

  • Up Front: Absence of Malice,

    Well Emma, since you ask, you missed so many days off school, that eventually it was going to come to the crunch, and your friends would be the first people to ask.

    "I absolutely disagree. I think conditioning children to give respect automatically to authority figures who don't deserve it is dangerous."

    on the contrary. giving due respect to authority figures whether they deserve it or not is mandatory for maintaining our society and our own well being.

    be they police officers, doctors, judges or traffic wardens.

    We did respect the teachers who were good. There is at least one other person who reads these threads who had Janet as a teacher and can testify to the lengths to which she would take a personal vendetta.

    as I said, and it's pretty much all I said, "let it go"> She has her own mind space to regret the job she has done. Those lonely years when none of her past pupils return to have a cup of tea.

    If my kids had a teacher like her I'd back them against her too, and not to be cool...

    and hence my post.
    clarified Eddie?

    Te Ika-a-Māui • Since Mar 2008 • 2281 posts Report Reply

  • Up Front: Absence of Malice,

    I was responding to Emma, the old kiwi third party stand over tactics..yet another symptom of the teen malaise. I'd call it tall poppy syndrome, but I'm a no one. 1000 teachers left NZ last year. as of yesterday NZ bullying second highest in the world.

    big ups Eddie.
    Now is clearly the time to be making jokes about the NZ education system, but i sincerely care enough not to make too many. If you missed my humour Eddie, it's only down to your reading comprehension.

    Te Ika-a-Māui • Since Mar 2008 • 2281 posts Report Reply

  • Up Front: Absence of Malice,

    Nothing wrong with wagging, but this kind of attitude:

    Finally, my form teacher had some kind of conniption fit. I was absent. She phoned my house, but couldn't get an answer. She started dragging my friends out of class and interrogating them as to my whereabouts. "I know she's bunking", she said, several times.

    Bit of a shitter, wasn't it Janet, that I turned out to have glandular fever. And then my mother went and publicly pwned you at Parent-Teacher Evening and said she wouldn't be writing any more absence notes, on the grounds that I was old enough to be working and wouldn't have to bring Notes From My Mum if I took a sick day.

    Hints at one of the major causes behind the present day truancy and problems in the NZ education system. You go to great lengths to detail your daring acts Emma, you mock your teacher for suspecting you, you dropped your friends in a hole, you dote on your parents pwning your teacher, clearly using your mother's trust in you to find an easier loophole to hide your deviousness. Alot of teachers leave NZ, it's more about the attitudes passed on to the children by the older generation than the students themselves.

    Exactly the same situation as the drinking problem, the older generation aren't good at setting a good enough example or knowing when to stop, let it go Emma.

    Janet was trying to do her job. Perhaps the reason you got away with it so long was that your teachers liked you and saw your ability and didn't think dragging you through the mud would do you any good, but perhaps it may have. We can't be teenagers forever.

    and Janet, if you're reading this. I would like to see her develop her skills in creative writing too.

    When you breed a culture where the teacher is not respected, regardless of how good or bad they are, you not only undermine your own child's education, but by peer corroboration, the education of their fellow students too.

    All it really takes is one parent in a class, and that parent is seen as cooler than the other parents because he or she will be down with the teeangers. This empowers the teen perspective.

    It's time New Zealand matured.

    Te Ika-a-Māui • Since Mar 2008 • 2281 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: From soundbite to policy,

    Marks out of a hundred, Mark? :-)

    Well, to be blunt (and I hope you'll forgive me), I'd give you 79-83. Perhaps you'd feel that's unfair based on my previous glowing comment (which I'll attribute mainly to the candid clarity with which you wrote.

    I'll explain the reasoning behind your low mark; you gave solid examples and sound reasoning for the ways the teachers and system influenced you, both positively and negatively. The question was pretty much aimed at garnering the negatives, and while I appreciate the fairness of your answer, I'd say you may have been a little too evenhanded (if that can ever be a bad thing). More to the point, I feel that you perhaps neglected to mention any extra curricula influences, above you mentioned:

    because my mother taught me to love stories. ... My father's rage at my arithmetical incompetence also probably didn't help.

    You did not really elaborate in what way their attitudes affected your own. In this respect there was also no mention of how or if your peers' reactions to the teachers and system had a significant influence on your outlook.

    Having said all that, and felt like a NAZI, still...
    a wonderful answer.

    Te Ika-a-Māui • Since Mar 2008 • 2281 posts Report Reply

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