The above really pissed me off, so I replied to the editor of the Pick ‘n Pay newsletter, via e-mail: Response: Parenting
When my kid’s not good enough for a government school….
I would like to comment, probably none too briefly about this unfair (?) article. I am, have been for the past 6 years, a teacher at a government high school. Lets play open cards, at Hoërskool Edenvale. Our school is situated as you can guess, in Edenvale, which has turned out to be an extremely narrow-minded community. Our school changed from a mainstream Afrikaans school, to parallel medium 5 years ago, due to certain government pressures relating to our language of education at the time, and our low numbers. We now, since then actually, offer EXACTLY the same english - language subjects as other schools such as Edenvale High & Edenglen High, to name but a few “competitors”. Parents in general, seem to have a blocked view of education in this country, and as your writer proved, it IS country wide. Parents think that schools with previously “hoity-toity” reputations will offer their kid the best education. I say $%$#$#! All educators go to the same training. Yes, some schools have more money for flashier, seemingly better sports equipment or some such thing. But only because they charge you more for a service which your child will receive in exactly the same quality down the road. Seen as I am not pulling any punches, Edenvale High are currently asking something in the order of R7000.00 per year for school fees. So yes they offer swimming, and Italian as a subject. Lah di dah, who needs to learn Italian in this country?? We have at least 6 other commonly spoken “native” languages to rather choose from. Hoërskool Edenvale, are charging around R4900.00 per year, yes we do not have swimming, no we do not offer Italian, but we can almost guarantee you that your child will not be a number, as our students numbered a record high this year at around 380. Your child will almost certainly play for any of our first teams from their 8th or 9th grade. We still get kids who excell at provincial sports level, playing action netball for the Sandton Skarks (yeah, who knew they existed?), our rugby and netball teams have stepped out of their leagues from 1/4 finalists to winners the last 5 years running. Of the 380 pupils in our school, I know the name, surname, basic family situation and much more of at least 250 pupils. What other teacher can say that? I teach every grade from 8 to 12, therefore I know what most, if not all the children are like. For a final nail in the elitist coffin: parents think that because they pay mucho denero for their kid’s education, their world will be free of sexuall inuendo, drug abuse, substance abuse, environmental pollution, etc etc. Let me tell you something, you speak to any honest teacher in this country, and they will admit to at least one of the above taking place in their school this year. The rest are lying!
Can’t find place for your kid in a good school? You haven’t put away your own prejudices and looked around. Send them to us. At least we’ll know their names.
A teacher who wants to set everyone straight, but lost her bull horn, Mrs. Laurette Seddon Biology teacher (M.Sc Zoology) Hoërskool Edenvale
Think someone will listen?
“Only with our voice”
10:09 pm
As a parent of a child educated in Edenvale, admittedly some years ago,I can only hope that you dear, are not typical of the standard of teacher in the town. If however the standard of teaching in South Africa has sunk to your level then it is fortunate that my kids are now out of education. How can any educator criticise parents for wanting the best for their child. Italian - yes you may have a point: but Afrikaans and the native languages, give us a break. Where other than South Africa are these languages usable? You stick your head as far into the ground as you like but Verkrampt thinking like yours is what got your country into the mess it currently is in.
6:50 pm
Why would I be such a bad standard to have in the town of Edenvale? Because I speak the open mouthed truth? Because I have a democratic opinion, that YOU definately do not have to agree with.That I am unbiased as to the origins of our kids, meaning their social background, and that I would like this idea to grow amongst them also? If all of the above would place me in your “bad” category, I would have to say thanx, I am sure I share the membership with at least a handfull of openminded people (you perchance have just not met them). As to the “standard of teaching”, how dare you make a judgement based on your narrowminded view of the world around you. How many teachers do you know? How many parent’s evenings did you actually attend at your kid’s school? I don’t go around making false pigeon-holing statements such as that, by saying all doctors are rich rip-off artists for instance. Get to know the people around you. I am not critisising parents for wanting the best for their children, I am simply stating that what is best for the kids is not necessarily what was good when the parents themselves were at school, and if you want to judge goodness, you don’t rely simply on your limited experience. You go the extra mile to investigate all possibilities, as I am sure you did for your kids to give them the best. It is what I will have to do next year this time when my oldest goes to primary school. I am not just going to send him to the primary school that I went to, because I can guarantee you that the standard and quality of education there will not be the same as 23 years ago. I know this, I actually live in the real world. As for the language issue: wake up and smell Northern Europe!! Kids these days are flocking to England for job experience or “rest” the first year out of school, so much so that the British are blocking them. Have they thought of Belgium, Holland, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, and even to a certain extent Denmark, Sweden etc?? These are all countries where you will be able to communicate and make yourself understood if you speak Afrikaans. With a little patience, the problem is not as bad as some people expect, considering Afrikaans and Flemish for instance sound EXACTLY the same. The other South African languages I spoke of, would include Zulu and Xhosa, as they are understood and spoken the most. Perhaps if we started understanding each other better, we could actually make this country into what it seemed to be in the 80’s, when we were entirely self sufficient due to sanctions. As per your last comment about “Verkrampt” thinking, just reread that sentence, and check that you said “your country”. If is sucks so much, see if you can gather around a million aussy dollars, and go to live in their pristine world, where houses cost three time what they do here. Where Aboriginal discrimination is just as rampant as any type of discrimination here, and where kids in schools have no more discipline than they do here, because all they hear at home is “Teachers are so stupid”, “What has that twit of a teachers done now again”, etc etc. Need I carry on?
When parents of teenagers actually stop trying to be their friends, and start being their parents again, then we can talk about the education system improving in this country. Because yes, ask any teacher, there are problems. But when it’s us against the GDE, teenage angst, and parental indulgence, why do you think we are the most emotionally distraught workforce in the country? Oh, yeah, sorry, I forgot, teachers only work until 14:00, then they go home to relax and twiddle their thumbs. They do not have scripts to mark, exams and tests to grade, exams and tests to set, preparation for the coming week to do, administration to do so that parents can receive report cards, a sport to coach, kids to chaperone to, at and from sporting events, special functions to organize and run so that the meager school fees can be boosted. Oh yeah, and the wonderfully relaxing four holidays a year. I DO SO apologize for sitting on my behind, whilst people with “real jobs” rake in the cash.
3:16 pm
Thank you for affording me the opportunity to address your response. You do not have a democratic right to do anything: get a dictionary. Luckily I know what you mean and admit that you have a just as much right as the next person to express your opinion,it doesn’t make your opinion right however. How many teachers do Iknow ? My ex-wife; my ex-partner in Alberton; my wife; my daughter and all their fellowteachers. With 4 children I would imagine I have attended over 100 parents evenings but what point are you making? These evenings give the staff chance to build bridges but few teachers use the evening this way and most parents treat the evening as an uncomfortable chore:but I cannot think of a better moethod that takes up so little time during the school year. You are critisising parents for wanting the best for their children,and no you are not stating that what is best for the kids: to do that you would have to “know” what is best for them. You think you know but this is not the same at all. You cannot be a very experienced teacher if you are so busy in the evening ’scripts to mark, exams and tests to grade, exams and tests to set’- how often do you set exams and mark exams ? It sounds as they are a weekly event ? I don’t believe you. Once a teacher has been in the job for 5 - 10 years (some being slower than others’), they have built up a sufficient resource and experience to do the job for 80% of the time on a strictly ‘hours paid’ basis. They have no need to spend extratime in doing the job.
My wife has just come back from France having given time during the mid-term break to take a group of children on an ‘educational trip’ - 90% of the time spent at Euro-Disney. She knows that this, though having little cultural or educational value benefits her ‘kids’ who are largely from a semi-deprived background and is probably the only chance they will have of an overseas experience. My wife gets her place free - as do the other teachers on the trip - paid by the travel company and EuroDisney because of the numbers in the group. Would she do it if she had to pay - of course not and why should she. She knows she has a protected job, that is very well paid compared with any other graduate sector of the same level and she enjoys very generous paid holidays. Most people have to do their jobs with less than a month a year of paid holidays, most companies these days expect an employee to give extra hours with compensatory pay. So if they wan’t to spend their hard earned cash on trying to give the child a better future then it is their decision. When was the last time you were in the ‘Low Countries’? I am Arikaans speaking but knowwhere in Belgium,Austria,Holland etc., can I get by easier than speaking Afrikaans rather than English. The Europeans know that English is best medium of communication and do not hesitate to use it. While with Afrikaans certain words are easily understood the sentence construction the grammar make fluent conversation very difficult and which normally results in the bastardised Anglo-Afrikanns commonly used in South Africa. And please don’t apologise for sitting on your backside: teachers have been trying to justify their overpaid, underworked status for years it is nothing new.