Comprehensive crabs

So strongly does he feel about this, that "No hands up" signs have been placed in every single room at the school. He argues that it’s always the same students who raise their hands to answer questions the teacher puts to the class. The students who don’t put their hands up feel bad, especially if the teacher decides to ignore the students whose hands are up and call on them instead. This traditional means of drawing greater student participation is now seen as an act of victimisation that seriously damages the students’ all important self esteem.

And in a move that seems to have been swiped off of the game show "Who wants to be a Millionaire?" a "phone a friend" system is also in place at the school which allows the child who has been called to answer a question to nominate another child to answer instead.

When I’d first read of this it immediately reminded me of my A level sociology class with Ms Douglin which we had in one of El Dorado’s under utilised science labs. In the textbook affectionately referred to as "the Haralambos" where I first learnt that married men were statistically happier and lived longer than single men while married women died earlier than their single counterparts, there was a brief reference to a tribe of American Indians whose children didn’t put up their hands when asked questions in class. This fact puzzled teachers, who were accustomed to the traditional means of volunteering to answer. It was only after much sociological investigation that it was discovered that the tribe to which these children belonged considered it taboo to embarrass another member of their tribe. Unless they knew for certain that every one of their classmates knew the answer, they would not risk breaking a cultural norm.

Although similarities may be drawn, the situation in the Jo Richardson Comprehensive School is far different. This decision to not volunteer an answer is not a collective decision drawn from an inherent and intrinsic social more but a decision forced upon all in an attempt to mollify a few. There will always be division among people in terms of their abilities, their personalities, their goals — every thing that defines a human being can also separate him. And it has always been in society’s interest to dismiss these separations and create a collective that is easier to govern and, at the risk of sounding a bit paranoid, control.

"The biggest problem we have facing our students is apathy," the principal of Kirkley Community High was recently quoted as saying. Located in Lowestoft — once a thriving fishing port and holiday resort — both the area and the school have now become synonymous with poverty and underachievement. Students have been filmed beating classmates who are good looking, those who get a question right, or simply, those who look like they need a good thrashing. When asked why the typical response is, "because they think they’re better than us."

And while I said the headmaster’s decision at the comprehensive has a few people scratching their heads in confusion, sadly, not enough people are doing so. For the sake of appeasing those who choose not to study, not to pay attention or simply not actively participate in class, the rights of those who have studied, who have paid attention, or who want to participate in class must be infringed.

A little over a month ago a girl had her face slashed open by a group of girls who accused her of being too bright. Motivated by feelings of inferiority they decided to address what they perceived to be the source of this, namely the girl who opted to stay at home and do extra lessons because she wanted to improve her science grade, rather than their own negative attitudes towards their education. The school’s reaction to this attack was to tell the girl who had been cut to stay at home rather than risk provoking other attacks by attending school.

As a student there were many lessons I didn’t prepare, many answers I didn’t know. And yes, I felt bad when others did. But that was my fault and my choice was either to study or continue feeling bad. Either way it was within my power to improve my scholarship. I didn’t expect the school to try to bring everyone down to my level to make me feel good about my lack of preparation.

During various times in one’s life one finds oneself to be the lone crab trying to claw one’s way out of the bucket, with the other crabs at the bottom desperately trying to pull one back down. But when the very institution that should be a means of escaping actually implements and sustains this system of mediocrity, among a generation that already lacks a sense of responsibility for self, well then things are very bleak indeed.

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