The clock ticks and when it goes off, it is time to bake the bread. I feel rushed because the children will be home soon and I have not yet done all those things I intended to. It's not that I haven't done anything on the contrary, but time goes fast.
Housekeeping, gardening, and caring for the animals all seem like chores of a few minutes but together it takes a lot of time, more time than I always have in mind.
I started the day early, earlier than usual, because the children had to get out at 4 am to catch the quarter past 5 bus to get to school on time.
It always amazes me how little schools consider students when it comes to timetables. Let's face it as a teacher you get in the car easier than a student does. A teacher can spend 1 or 2 free hours between lessons to check homework or a test. For pupils, two or even three hours between lessons - where a lesson starts earlier than usual and they then come out of school extra late - is a problem. Especially if you have to walk for half an hour to a bus stop with a 25-30 kg book bag plus a gym bag twice a day no matter the time. Next, it's waiting for the bus, sitting on the bus for 75 minutes (doing homework is impossible), and after that the travel of going home.
Once home, it is dinner time and bedtime within 1-2 hours. After a school day where there are no lunch breaks, where leaving school to buy some food or get some fresh air during free hours is not allowed this can be frustrating. Children do need to have free time off, and time to relax too.
When I went to school, it was quite normal to leave school during the breaks, after all, children who can travel to school alone can also go into a shop on their own.
The school of my children has multiple standards and the planner clearly does not understand class schedules (remark made by my children).
Every school year it is the same. The timetable is bound to change many times because it does not suit the... teacher.
"Just look at the school days per day or most per week," I comfort my children who now travel to school and home together. That together means that at this moment, my son in particular has to sacrifice going to school earlier and waiting for hours at the bus station or in the car for the youngest to arrive.
Nothing is like the old days, the old days when I used to go to school. Although the school is neither insured nor responsible for the health and safety of the children, it does use this as an excuse for why the students are not allowed to do certain things.
There must be daily gymnastics although the sports teachers do not set one foot themselves. I do not believe that daily sport changes the fat child into a slimmer one or the sports hater into a sports fanatic. Children are not the same, they do not all like football (soccer) and there's nothing wrong with that. If sport is always the same it doesn't motivate. Playing football (soccer), volleyball, handball or running a few kilometers is annoying.
Everyone pupil gets tired of that at some point. Pupils don't really learn anything and the sports instructor can't demonstrate anything. What is the point of an hour of sport for children walking or cycling to school? The average child thinks it is a waste of time and I share that opinion. Even if the minority of pupils in a class is female the girls have no choice in choosing a sport they like.
Let's be clear, those who love sports do go to a sports or athletics school.
Introductions to new sports are not possible. When I was in school, we were taught tennis, badminton, table tennis, volleyball, javelin throwing, rope climbing, hockey, basketball, batting, jazz ballet, you name it. We had swimming lessons and in winter we were ice skating.
My children learn virtually nothing at school which is quite sad. Most days they feel frustrated.
For the past two years during the lockdown, they definitely did not stay behind with their lessons, and the same goes for my friends' and eldest's children. Interestingly enough, you never hear how well many children did during the lockdowns because they could finally manage their own teaching time more efficiently, without being distracted by a handful of troublemakers in the class, and also they had more time to relax and more hours of sleep.
Of course, this fact is not something the average school wants to hear. Every child is stupid and needs classroom education. Were it not so, more and more teachers would be redundant. Frankly, I think that is already the case. An awful lot of lessons have been taught online for at least 50 years. This includes not only subjects taught in high school or universities, but also almost all vocational courses, music lessons, and language teaching. A school building with teachers will definitely be redundant in the near future. Personally, I don't think this is a loss. In schools, the exact opposite of what is preached is being done. It's time to move on - or if you like move backward - without the good preachers.
By the way, the school doesn't provide any healthy food, toilets are still without soap and toilet paper, bullying is not addressed, there are no equal opportunities, and an awful lot of paper, teaching materials, and books are wasted not to mention supplies for practical lessons.
The weight of the school bag is too heavy for children and damages their backs, the outings are neither fun nor instructive and everything that is instructive and necessary to live a good life is not learned. That in itself is strange.
Every year thousands of school-leavers cannot survive even with a diploma. No job matches the education, no living space or they don't know how to pay the rent, or do their financial administration. They have never heard of a budget and with the language, they learned at school they cannot make themselves understood abroad. Writing a proper letter, filing a complaint, keeping a vegetable garden, and cooking a healthy meal have never been taught. Just like repairing broken furniture, mending clothes, cutting hair yourself, taking care of wounds, doing the laundry, and how to spend time alone.
To live a good life you have to live and not waste your time in school while nothing is being learned. School is increasingly becoming a shelter for parents who work or do not want children around them 24/7. What is educational can also be done within 30% of the school hours and that is quite sad besides school is for the average child only. Those who do not understand the lesson material, are on their own or hope that a classmate will explain it. Those who are smarter are easily bored to death and feel annoyed by the slow pace and the amount of time wasted.
It is surprising that after so many decades education has fallen to an even lower level, including teachers.
It's 4 pm. My children are back home. Again it turned out to be a waste of time. The school of the youngest was out of materials, sealed with some leaking pipe, and sent the children home at 10:30 am. My youngest had to kill time till her brother finished school. So the child went into the city with a schoolmate and killed two more hours watching find at the bus station.
Last week it was exactly the same. School preaches about being on time, sticking to the rules, and so on but they are not able to do what they preach themselves. It feels like it will be a very long year. Let's hope the biggest part is without those good preachers cause they only slow down and are not able to motivate pupils to stay in school.
