No one prescribes what I say in my class
An editor of a radio program invited me for a debate with representatives of the VO-Raad and the LAKS. To be honest, I was looking forward to it. In the morning, the LAKS had issued a press release containing advice on the language to be used in the classroom.
'Boys and girls', 'doubling' or 'black school': don't do it. Such language use excludes, we must be inclusive. For example, start the lesson with 'Hello everyone'. Now I usually skip that greeting folklore, with me it's 'Pick up your book, on that page… let's get started'.
In short, that press release, it did nothing for me. Forum for Democracy and the Boer Burger Bubbel with their hotline left-wing teachers, LAKS with the white middle class language hygiene, no one prescribes what I say in my class, I'm not a puppet, fuck off.
General education should indeed be fair and inclusive
Still, I would have loved to talk about this on the radio. After all, general education should indeed be fair and inclusive. All children have the right to success in accordance with their capabilities. And that is currently not the case. Wrong funding and silly ideas result in a motivation problem for the Dutch teacher. Those who can, leave the school. The group that stays will look for work outside the classroom.
Paid chatting about the course of school, sticking post-its on flipcharts on non-profit days, things like that. The one who also doesn't make it in this circle teaches, feels misunderstood and hums the work pressure blues.
In short, the ambition to perform in learning with children is wafer-thin and rather personal. Parents see this, opt for the private solution and send the offspring to tutoring.
Tutoring inflates the average score of standardized tests and children without tutoring pay on the upcoming national exam with a lower N-term. As a result, they are more likely to fail. In other words, the non-privately trained student must score more points for a pass.
So yes, make education inclusive. The best teachers for the classroom, out of the office and private exam training is prohibited. A level playing field for all students, isn't that more important than using politically correct language?
Pretty embarrassing, threatening children
But that radio call never came. The VO-Raad and LAKS were of no use. Later I understood that the LAKS was threatened. Pretty embarrassing, threatening children. But that doesn't change the fact that the press release of those same children was discussed in every talk show.
Meanwhile, real problems like administrative incapacity, declining motivation, quality of teachers and systemic exclusion of underprivileged children don't even come close to the tables of those talk shows. In the words of Logan Roy, the media mogul on the HBO series 'Succession': I love you, but you are not serious people. The grief of inability is infinite.
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