Welcome to the Great British Underclass

[fallen-archie]

I was chatting to a young lady who recently completed her teacher training and this week was inducted into the new Primary School where she will commence her chosen career. The school is multi cultural and located in West Yorkshire, it is a deprived area but by no means as bad as some inner city areas. Despite this around 90% of the childrens parents are welfare dependent. Most of the children have been labelled as having some kind of lerning difficulty reading standards among eight year olds is expremely poor.

The young Teacher who comes from a middle class background with a strong work ethic is the only member of the family not to be following a medical career, she has always wanted to Teach and help young children.

So what was her verdict following the three days?

The majority of pupils appear to have no respect for authority in any form, Gentle persuasion is the order of the day and the children respond with a tirade of abuse and colourful language.Attempts to impose discipline inevitably result in a family visitation where the source of the colourful language is confirmed. The Head Teacher in conjunction with police and the education authority has introduced a code of conduct and special measures to protect staff from irate and often hostile guardians. What is clear is the children are being raised in a manner likely to confine them to state dependence in one form or another and deprive them of the opportunity to escape poverty. 

We have a young, committed new teacher, keen to get on, with talent and the drive to succeed faced with the uncertainty of a career dealing with feral kids and their often broken families who challenge her ability not by interlect but by threat of physical abuse. The Only beneficiary of this sad situation is Jeremy Kyle. 

Why is it that despite having a welfare state designed to ease poverty and an education system which is free to all we end up with an Underclass seemingly incapable or unwilling to grasp the nettle break away and get on? 

Will this new teacher tough it out or simply follow many others and seek an alternative career? 

[pixiesen2012]

I blame the benefit system, 

I was an unmarried mother in Margret Thatchers era,

social security payments in those days were just enough to ensure you didn't starve, if you wanted the nicer things in life you had to get off your butt and work for them.

Nowadays they get enough to pay for every member of the family to have a mobile, designer clothes and holidays abroad!

There is no incentive to better themselves.

[ceridwensgirl711]

Coming from a mental health nursing background, I hope she is strong enough to tough it out, teaching at that school. Those children need a positive role model, something that their home environment does not provide them with. It will take time and a lot of stamina, but once the children build up some trust in her, respect will follow. The abusive language and the hostile reactions are their attempt of self-preservation, the only way they have learnt so far. 

In the past, I have dealt with the aftermaths of such chaotic and antisocial upbringing, having worked as a nurse in a substance misuse team. There was hardly a client with a "normal" childhood. And I often wondered where were the professionals when them kids needed them most. 

I really hope that young teacher will persevere, not all is lost for them children, unlike for their parents. And even if she can only turn the future around for only one of her pupils, she has achieved more than many others before her and it would have been worth all her efforts. Best of luck x 

[gorillaswolves]

Hello

Why is it that despite having a welfare state designed to ease poverty and an education system which is free to all we end up with an Underclass seemingly incapable or unwilling to grasp the nettle break away and get on? 

Will this new teacher tough it out or simply follow many others and seek an alternative career? 

Yes indeed !

I used to teach in secondary schools Modern Foreign Languages & cover for English/drama classes for many years & I can assure you that also being a Special Need class teacher it was truly a challenge working in the schools I worked in !

I loved the challenge & the fact that one had to be super human or strong willed to enthuse interest in the students ! 

However teaching Modern Foreign Languages it became very clear to me that the pupils did not have a "good " understanding of English whether writing or speaking their Native  language thus making it a nightmare to teach them another language

However creating ways of making them interested was the challenge for me despite being subjected to verbal abuses/anti social behaviour in the class & other problems

When I met some of the parents it was obvious where the problems came = parents using abusive form of languages in front of their kids &  the teachers/threatening behaviour & the list goes on

I do believe & hope that I did enthuse some of them in learning few words in another language & created a platform in which learning could be achieve just about

I saw so many new teachers or ones that have taught for many years leaving  due to being  exhausted/disillusioned/over worked/bullied  & met others up to the challenge

I loved teachings these kids but it became apparent that the challenges faced by so many teachers were beyond in some may ways untenable in regards to these kids getting an education that will give them the freedom to choose a career or get away from their initial predicament with the help & tools at hand

Finally I hope that I was a role model by sharing at times with these kids my experiences of life & showing them that life is not set in stones & that anyone with the strength of mind can indeed rise & chose the path that suit them most & go other the hurdles with the help offered to them = not easy but possible

[joamur_gosof]

The OP is like reading something from the tory media ...never seen so much biased and over opinionated rubbish in a while....

and yep thats from experience in''UNDERCLASS''  ....

Eurgh

[fallen-archie]

That's kind of you JG, not dissimilar to the response of the parents in question.
What you are guilty of is accusing someone with no affiliation whatsoever to Capitalism of telling a true story, one which seeks to help so many kids in society devoid of parentage and opportunity. Nothing Tory about that, neither is it an attempt to stereotype part of society, though they do a pretty good job of it themselves.
So to summarise I support the kids and the Teachers, the parents however well it's up to them to act responsibly.

[joamur_gosof]

I was talking to my 'NEW' friend who is middleclass so obviously hard working ,sheesh the trouble shes having with the shoddy underclass in the welfare system..well you could blow me down with a feather..it reminds me back in the day when those little urchin things  from the underclass would spoil the beaches by being there doesnt it what .I am soooooo glad people like me exist so we can voice our utopic world 'free of those dirty things ,where we as a people can eventually look up from the rivers of pollouted mire to a world that is ours ,mine and yours my fellow middle ypper to upper elite frienfs ,..one world one vision one class less .

Let us join together and pray 

[joamur_gosof]

Was that an opinion ? looked more like an opinion ,wonder if you have any opinions ? do share 🙂

[fallen-archie]

Yes we should pray. But be careful to whom you worship.
The middle class teacher is currently waiting on tables at a pub on minimum wage, but perhaps that is what draws the line. The middle class now defined as anyone who works 😡

[cee-dee]

There's no such thing as middle class.

You're either working class or Upper Class.

Middle class is an invention of those with aspirations beyond their station (in life).

[joamur_gosof]

Shouldn't I be using foul language ?? I sound just like them ? 

Cd you are obviously upper to middle as you did not swear...thats where the underclass get it from you know...the parent on welfare...grinds me up so much I want to post and post and post all about my doctors 2 days a week graffting 75000 a yearer s...thier daughter you know has joined the civil service on the go round telling people about underclasses children tales ,paid from OUR tax pot..not theirs but ours I might add...She didn't want a private job that doesnt take from the pot ,she definite said ''I want to go into tax funded employment so I can tell my neighbours stories of how hard it is for me.

[joamur_gosof]

I had better go as I am starting to sound just like those class things 😄

[fallen-archie]

Of course there is massive inequality, Doctors are very well paid which is meant to reflect the responsibility they carry and their skill.
Swearing however is not meant to form the structure of every sentence one utter, Expletives have there place but it is not in the mouth of a primary school child to be used to gain respect from a teacher.

[joamur_gosof]

respect usually starts with self 

Wonder if this countries people with ever tire of blaming and bigoting about others..from coloured people to foreigner's from fat people to smokers from elite billionaires to paupers....must be all the coke the upper class snort that the doctors sell to the dossers ...we are talking infrastructure baby it all works just dandy lol 

[joamur_gosof]

ps..is that hearsay about the swearing ?

[gorillaswolves]

Hello

In my book people are people & have met people from all path of life = wealthy/poor//middle class with problems of their own & even in some of the schools I have taught

However having taught in various schools I have learnt that indeed there are problems regardless of if a child/student comes from a poor/privileged background

I remember working in a few  upper secondary schools were quite a few of the students were in their "rebellious " phase whist others did indeed have major problems due to the expectations their parents were putting on them & not wanting to admit that the pupil did indeed have a problem with behaviour or learning

Bits me 

[cee-dee]

Is it any wonder kids are only semi-literate when parents and teachers (???) don't seem the know the difference between "were" and "where" also "there", "their" and "they're"?

[joamur_gosof]

and being literate means of course .......what prey tell ?

[fallen-archie]

Quite right CD, however would it not be better to attempt basic communication, written and oral, prior to fine tuning things? Or must we seek perfection and condemn others to the dustbin?