The Reluctant Teacher....

Yes, I have become a Reluctant "Teacher" - and if you are underwhelmed by that information then you are not alone.  I have now got the job of  "teaching" Reluctant Learners.  I am told that they were reluctant even before realising that it was me that had been charged with their study of numeracy and literacy.  I remain unsure about this. 

The situation I find myself in has, however, made it nearly impossible for me to continue with my head in the sand.  I am now forced to interact with the seedy underbelly that is "excluded teenagers".  Oh dear Lord what have I done?  I suppose, apart from the inescapable realisation that we need more money coming in to the Reluctant Household, some part of me must have thought vague Miss Jean Brodie type things.  How else to explain why I accepted the offer to "work" with these people.  I can only hang my head in shame.  The only slight mitigation being that I cannot for the life of me imagine anybody actually enjoying this type of work so, in a small sense I could be seen as doing everyone a big favour by taking it on. Actually even a cursory examination of that last sentence shows up the level of my ignorance but still, the facts are there, it is, for the moment at least, me that has been charged with seeing to their basic education for the time being.

At the very least I hope that you will bear with me through these difficult times and allow me to use this Blog as a de-briefing room.  I have had many jobs in my time, being aged 158 will often do that for a person.  I have had jobs I quite liked, jobs I detested, jobs I have walked out of, and even, very occasionally, jobs I enjoyed.  I don't honestly think I have ever had a job that has had me feeling sick and burned out after only an hour.  Until now. 

If you ever wondered what happens to all those kids that get expelled from school then let me enlighten you as I have now been enlightened.  They go to special "holding pens" or "Centres" where kind people attempt to rehabilitate them into some semblance of useful members of society.  Except they cannot, for the most part, be rehabilitated.  They are the bare forked creatures that mainstream schools cannot cope with.  I can see why.  

Who was it that said "Give me a Child until he is 7 and I will show you the man"  Rousseau perhaps?  Cant remember.  However, what he definitely didnt say was "Give me a teenager raised on heroin and white lightening cider and a smack in the face for affection and I will show you the man..."

I remain hopeful however that better people than me can attempt to make a difference in this sad and frightening world that I have stumbled into.