Jane's back and she's going to tell you how to get out that dreaded friend-zone.
Oh snap, it's been over a month since I wrote on this thing.
I feel like I always start these posts the same why. Feed you all the same rubbish "haven't posted in a while, that's going to change blah blah blah". Nothing changes. I'm still the same unreliable guy I've always been. But I have been busy, Masters is no walk in the park you know. I feel like I've been a bit serious lately so time to be a bit more upbeat and write about something a bit more random.
So let's talk about citizenship... No I'm not going to give you lessons on how to be model citizen because that's a bit boring. But for all my UK readers out there, all 10 of you, I want to speak about the academic pile of nonsense class we had to take which was titled citizenship. I recently had a conversation where I was reminded about this complete waste of time and it made me a bit angry, so I thought I'd better talk about it. For those of you who don't remember citizenship was... hold on... what the hell even was it? I CAN'T EVEN REMEMBER! That just proves how pointless it was man.
Now the UK education system isn't the best, but it's also not the worst. Well actually this comes into question when you try and make "citizenship" a class. Like really and truly, what does that even mean? And I thought P.S.H.E was pointless... well it is... but Citizenship even more so. Seriously that time could have been used for revision of a class that actually made sense or it could have gone towards an extended lunch time. Instead I'm learning about... nah still nothing. Can't actually remember a thing.
If you're going to try and brainwash us with a subject that could basically mean anything then at least make it a little bit useful. Why not teach us about the stock market or how to do taxes or how to get that perfect peel on a muller corner. 45 minutes a week I wasted on that. Literally, the school just robbed us. I don't know if other schools in the UK had to do this or whether it was just my school thinking they were being innovative. I can safely say its wasn't innovative. Innovation was when I drew the Ralph Lauren logo on a plain shirt with a sharpie in a drastic attempt to be cool.
This is perhaps part of a bigger issue though. i don't know whether they've got rid of that monstrosity, I hope they have but it's often a topic of discussion about the deterioration of our education system and how grades mean nothing. And now becoming a teacher seems like an easy career path. Let's not underestimate how important education is though. Kids don't go to school just to learn algebra, school also just teach kids about general life lessons. It's one thing knowing pi to 50 decimal places but if you're unable to apply your knowledge and be a decent human being then you're not going to get very far.
What hope do we have for future generations if they're learning citizenship? There are children out there who would love to be part of an education system like ours and is this what they're really missing out on? My best school memories are achieving good grades and school trips. And I'm tired of people saying grades don't mean anything. Of course they do. Grades are not just a letter on a piece of paper, they represent a period of hard work and dedication and also I do believe in some regards exams are "memory tests" it is not that easy to cheat the system. Students achieving these high grades should be celebrated and not be told that their achievements will amount to nothing in the real world.
Still to this day I often have to reference my GCSE and A Level grades. This is in no way me saying work experience isn't always beneficial but both are able to co-exist. Teachers perhaps have one of the best jobs in the world, shaping the future generations as well as getting amazing holidays. They have the opportunity to have an impact on a number of lives and be rewarded in the process. There is no better feeling than knowing you've made a difference, no matter how small.
Wait, we were talking about citizenship... what a waste of time.
