There have been regular assaults on children from Afghanistan and Iraq as soon as their nationality has been discovered (because hey, Asians all look the same don’t they), whereas kids from Somalia, Congo, Angola etc are left alone. However it is the difference in treating refugees and asylum-seekers that it reminded me of: when I taught in a top-of-the-league ex-Grammar School, children who arrived there for whatever reason were treated with courtesy, interest and kindness there was a system of volunteers to help settle foreign kids in.Īt Hell High, they are classified into “those whose countries have recently engaged ours in War” and “the rest”.
In some schools I’ve taught in the kids would not (no pun intended) stoop so low because they have been brought up to reject behaviour that makes them look like the scum of the earth. I am presently working in a bad school, and recognise everything you say about “taking it up the arse” comments – we have one openly gay male teacher, who, if he bends over a desk to look at a pupil’s work, draws a host of now rather repetitive comments from the boys in the class. Sentences I couldn’t possibly repeat.Ī bit off-topic, but I notice the difference you draw between a good school and a bad school. A few days later they were also quoting several sentences that were not in the original advert, that had been added as the story spread throughout the school. It was found, read, and within a couple of days every child in the school could quote the blurb from the advert “My name’s Dave, and I like Geography but I’m not just interested in work….”. The other gay teacher I knew of at Woodrow Wilson, despite keeping his sexuality from the kids, thought it would be safe to put his picture on a gay dating site. That said I can understand why most of the gay teachers I’ve known like to remain in the closet to the kids rather than be the subject of gossip. Whereas most teachers would at some point experience homophobic abuse, report it and nothing would get done, he would go straight (no pun intended) to his union rep, report it as discrimination and harassment, and the child would be excluded for a day or two. Very confusing for those students who assumed it must be a secret.
He taught a lot of the PSHE modules on Relationships to different classes and would out himself to each class in turn. At Woodrow Wilson School one of the staff was not just Out but Out To The Kids. If you are going to ask a question that does go too far it is best to start by saying “Sir, can I ask you a question?” (Ignore the reply, as all sensible teachers will say “No” as any question that needs permission to be asked should never be asked.)Īpart from making very stereotypical assumptions about gay men, this approach is also completely hopeless against the openly gay teacher. But be careful, sometimes students will get so carried away with the investigation that they will accidentally ask something that isn’t very polite, like “Do you have any mates?”.Īt a bad school the questions “Do you like girls?”,“Are you gay?” and “Do you take it up the arse?” may also make it into the list. “What clothes do you wear when you aren’t in school?” “Does the person you live with have a girlfriend?” The main method used to find out is to repeatedly ask personal questions. If you are a boy in year ten then (for reasons quite beyond me) it will be very important to you to find out if your male teachers are homosexual.