School Sucks!

'Life is a roller coaster,' or at least that is what Ronan Keating described it as in his song of the same name. A song by Irish singer-songwriter Ronan Keating from his debut solo album, Ronan. This was written and produced by the New Radicals frontman, Gregg Alexander, and Rick Nowels. It was recorded at Fredonia International Studios & Track Record Studios (Los Angeles, CA) and released on July 10th, 2000.

As everybody knows me, and especially to all the great readers here on Vocal do by now, I find music a very powerful & evocative tool when writing articles. When sitting at my desktop computer, I always find that inspiration comes from within myself (conjuring up a song close to my heart & taking me back to a certain event in time.)

I first heard this song in particular at the Wembley Arena, London, in 2003, with our (very) young family at that time. It was May 13th, 2001. An extremely memorable time thanks to our baby daughter at that time, who was only at the tender age of just nearly 3 then. Our daughter suddenly began laughing, grinning & smiling, throwing both her arms in the air waving, and bouncing up and down in her chair. She was obviously enjoying this concert & Ronan's musical performance - but much to the annoyance of the person behind us (who kept complaining that 'she could not see because of our child.')

Meanwhile, everyone could suddenly hear Ronan Keating stop in the middle of a song he had been singing (as named above) and was giggling. He excused himself saying that he needed to 'have a drink of water,' at that point. Whilst he was taking a break, a security guard came out to us shortly after that and asked us to come with him and sit somewhere with a better view - looking at our child and smiling. We were then moved a few rows closer to the stage, actually giving us an even better & more comfortable view with which to see him from! (much to the pleasure of our 3-year-old daughter!) - okay and my wife too!

Anyhow, I digress but, it is simply an example of just how powerful music can impress upon us all!

I have published another article of mine regarding the evocative effects of how music is received by our brains at the link below:

https://vocal.media/psyche/the-power-of-music-iw1xwo0xm2

School, well my infant & junior years were particularly positive and inspiring (and that is my only enjoyable view on that time period that I can recall today.) Recollecting these times in my life were filled with being read stories in the afternoon by our teacher, whilst you were sat, or laid, comfortably on a bean bag, in (the 'soft room') as it was known as then. Or the moment of 'milk time?' (remember? - the half-pint, full cream milk, with a straw in the top.) The infant years were more relaxed and the learning style was more interesting to all. No child bullied another child - school (in those early years) had been pleasant, fun, and an enjoyable system to be within! (And we all could not wait to get there every day!)

And as I mentioned above, every year in school should be just the same - fun and rewarding, without negativity from those around us.

Now here is the crunch. In schools today (and I am saying this because I know that there will be people saying 'but school is not all about it being soft & not challenging, even in the younger years.' ') I am not entirely dismissing any of this, but, a good writer is able to proffer points that will challenge the readers' choices & thoughts written by other peoples thoughts, emotions, and perspectives on an issue.

But in the secondary school years? - I cannot find any inspiration within that area! They were physically stressful, boring, mentally painful and some of the pupils 'enjoyed' verbally abusing you by calling you derogatory names and punching you if you did not 'fit' into their own little 'gangs' or 'clicks' when you were there, if you chose not to 'go along with them,' just for the sake of them - you could say 'an emotional rollercoaster?'

Yes, you went to school to learn - NOT to be bullied if you did not fit in. And here was a stunning negative effect, children began 'bunking off' & not wanting to eagerly get to school as they once did in the earlier years before.

How many times have you heard somebody say to you, when, as a child going through these directed comments, were being told it will 'toughen you up for the real world?'

If this was an example of the real world then what exactly was the point of preparing for it?

Discrimination both racially and disability-wise suddenly became a far rifer and common-place in this era of education.

Teachers were not much better at managing the discriminatory and abusive experiences in the secondary phase of schooling. I, much like my older brother & my two older sisters who had done so before me, went to Roman Catholic (RC) schools (and were also same-sex private schools.) Which left no opportunity to mix with the opposite sex, and learn to be around one another. There is plenty of evidence regarding how both sexes can learn to relate to each other better within mixed-sex schools - to be easily found on the Google search engine.

We experienced religion & attended the on-site church every Monday morning. My sisters' school had been run and managed entirely by Nuns of the RC faith, and mine was run entirely by Priests of the RC faith. There was much mental, physical, and racial abuse going on here. I had a very good, and close friend there, who was black - and simply because of that, he was racially discriminated against for it, and the teachers never intervened to stop it. There was daily bullying from an emotional & physical point. The older years threatened the younger years, by using their physical attributes in stealing lunch money and/or their tuck shop money. In particular, I was emotionally bullied because I had been treated for having had Brain Stem Cancer when I had been just three, so I was bullied because I had a right-side weakness and gait problems when I walked or ran, and because I was a slow learner - which was just a typical type of emotional bullying with a large number of children within the school system. Some of the teachers there even threw chalkboard rubbers at children who were talking or dozing, rather than talking to the child instead to solve the issue - oh, and these were made of wood and bloody hurt and always cut the skin.

The link below has an example of how secondary education affected me and effectively how RC Priests actually can negatively affect people. For example, Priests are supposed to listen & support those within their parish. My dad committed suicide on that day in question (as in the article linked) because the RC private school did not answer their doors to him before the tragic affair. My dad needed to talk with them but they never answered him. So you see, another moment of showing that educating in secondary years about preparing older children for adult life goes to show that - adult life might not be any better if no one cares to listen.

https://vocal.media/psyche/visions-z51ukw0iit

The 1990s saw a series of television programs publicized allegations of systemic abuse in the Roman Catholic-run childcare system. A report by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) was set up by Alexis Jay, OBE. The British Home Secretary at that time, Theresa May, acknowledged the concerns on 7th July 2014. also highlighted the flawed response of the Catholic church, police, Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), and child protection teams who failed to act upon significant opportunities to stop abusers in the school -this led to a culture of abuse spanning over 30 years.

So again, were private schools any better - most probably not.

This behaviour has to STOP and NOW, to allow children to be educated in a safe, calm, non-abusive, and enjoyable way. To make schooling more appealing to our children - so that children WANT to go to school - just as much as they used to in their infant & junior years.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. Please read and click the heart after reading. Anyone choosing to tip me, well, thank you so much for your generosity and kindness shown by this - hearts are great but tips help me succeed and do better but remember they are not obligatory.

More of my articles can be found at: https://vocal.media/authors/jonathan-townend

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