Back on the chain gang

Well, the long summer holiday is well and truly over. It really is one of the wonderful things about teaching. As my avatar suggests, I'm a night person and I had six glorious weeks of getting to bed at 4 am. Now I pay the price, up at 5.30, to work by 7 and perpetual sleep deprivation.

There's one interesting addition to the staff this year, an absolutely gorgeous young guy who I think is more than likely gay. The soft spoken gentle manner, the shaved legs, the suburb he lives in... who knows. It's funny, his manner is quite like mine before I started teaching and hardened up my manner. It shows how things have changed that you wouldn't think about doing that now. If he is gay, it will be an interesting conversation with him about how out he will be with students, for they will surely ask. I really hope he is, if only for the effect on the bimbo female students who will fawn over him. This will be one for all the gay boy students.

One thing I've been thinking about is school uniform and the purpose they serve. The start of every school year involves a crackdown on uniform and it's always interesting to listen to the passion of so many staff over this issue, particularly from older staff, from teachers who are parents. Now certainly a big reason we have a uniform is community perception. We live in a competitive system in which schools are forced to fight for students. "Market forces" - it's crazy, but that's another story. The popular perception is that uniforms are associated with strict dscipline and academic success. That's what parents want, so we have no choice. There is also the need to enforce compliance, if we crack down hard on uniform we win on all the other things, so the argument goes. Kind of a zero tolerance approach. Frankly, I think there are more important issues to stress over, but I'm in the minority.

 But I'm convinced one of the big reasons, especially for the middle-aged mothers on staff is the need to desexualise students. So much of their attitude to students reflects their concerns and fears about their own children, and this is never more obvious when you listen to them talk about uniform. When singlets were part of the sport uniform you should have heard their complaints. Any attempt to show a little more flesh, like rolling up the sleeves or shorts,  always provokes outrage. Visible piercings, too. I think boys who sag look silly, they treat it like the end of civilisation as we know it. Girls who flaunt their bust or wear their skirts too high always get a bigger response than other infractions. For many parents the age of the internet and mass marketed sexuality has led to a profound fear of the loss of control of their children's sexuality. Like in so many areas, the protective urge too often dominates at the expense of supporting their kids to explore life in a healthy way.