What I Put on Facebook

Until now I have held off from saying that like nearly 70% of NE Lincs I voted LEAVE. If we had lost the referendum I would have accepted it and moved on. Clearly Remainers do not think that way. They are determined to stay in a EU that seeks to become a "Super-Nation" that will blot out the historical national identities. @&%%er the will of the people they say. "We are right. Joe Public is misguided". Nobody mentioned "A Deal\Treaty" during the referendum campaign. Yet now only Farage will accept No Deal - "A Clean Break Brexit". Surely we can establish our own worker's rights etc. And rejoin our Commonwealth and the Rest of the World in a Free Trade future. Rant over.

Paul Butters

(C) PB 22\10\2019. 

(There, I've "Come Out")! 

Anxiety, Fear, Anger and Stress

(Picture Credit - Arthur Tavares - Deviant Art com)

 

Today I posted the following on Facebook and Twitter (the latter a shortened version):

“In the past I've been annoyed at myself for feeling anxious, afraid, angry & stressed. On reflection I should have "listened" to these feelings and responded accordingly. We may see them as negatives but they have a good purpose: to keep us safe and ready for any challenges we may have to face.”

Before writing this I was influenced by the article on NPR site called “Kelly McGonical: Can We Reframe The Way We Think About Stress?” Essentially Kelly put a new positive spin on stress. And she claimed that people who see stress in a golden light (my wording) do lots better than those who do not. Simples.

Of course, as regards “ignoring my anxiety” is concerned, the obvious personal example of that was when I started a particular job in my early twenties. My early anxiety was a warning – and an accurate one – that I had found myself in the wrong place during the wrong thing. Deep down I saw no future in that role and knew that my decision to enter that profession was quite bizarre (to be frank). Maybe now I might be able to meet such a challenge, but that’s after a further 39 years of life-experience! So yes that Anxiety etc. was more than justified. Still, you live and learn.

Anger and “Stress” are just as important as Anxiety etc. of course. Indeed without these emotions our ancestors would not have survived. And they are just as important today. We may think that we are more sophisticated now, but the truth is we still live in a jungle. So when we get worried and scared, or blazing with fury, we should be glad that we still have the emotional capacity to defend ourselves and fight back. Nuff Said. Out.

Paul Butters

© PB 23\8\2019.

What's Right

Here is an extract from an email I sent today to my friend Simon Hudson:

“As you say, the world is evil, corrupt, war-torn, full of crime and drugs, poverty and so on. But what can we do about it? It's People!!! How do we change them? Before the advent of modern science, the powers that be could SCARE them into submission with RELIGIOUS BELIEFS of Hell and "bottomless perdition" (Milton) etc. But that has gone now. Just about.

All I can suggest is that we need to RE-EDUCATE them somehow. Get rid of this selfish, dog eat dog, MONEY driven, go getter "Culture" or whatever and replace it with "Lifism", "Humanism", compassion, Love.... I feel more poems coming on!

Maybe we need a "World Government" to sort out poverty, war, crime etc. - but it will 

have to be BENEVOLENT, and that's a hard thing to establish. The Russian Communists etc. tried this but somehow the inner "Capitalists" took over (as depicted by George Orwell in "Animal Farm" and then taken further in "!984").

So how do we change those evil Mindsets??? That is the question. "Educate" somehow. But how???

My "Emotional Discipline" thoughts are about AVOIDING feeling Fear, Anger, Hate and other Negative Emotions. Such feelings come from the primitive RATS within us. We are geared up to survive PHYSICAL threats from predators or enemies, but modern life is about more sophisticated "threats" so those olde emotions are dysfunctional now. Funny enough "rats" feature in 1984! We have to be cool and rational nowadays...”

Nuff Said.

Paul Butters

© PB 9\4\2019.

Our Education System Sucks

(Picture Credit - Pixabay)

Recently I have been watching a most enlightening TV series called “School” on BBC 2. If you want to see that programme on iPlayer then leave this page now! Don’t want to “spoil” it for anyone.

Anyway, the main thrust of the programme is that Education today is governed by “targets” and “results” and “getting funding”. The impression I get is that truly valuable Education has been sacrificed for cramming kids to “pass” examinations and so forth. Looking at this as a former teacher of the 1970s it seems that things have gone from bad to worse, much worse. As the Americans would say, “It sucks”. To be more specific, the UK Education System is a mess. Just like Brexit is a mess.

But don’t get me wrong. The 1950s to 70s were not Halcyon Days. Sure, I had some very good teachers. At my “Secondary Modern” school we had a great history teacher, Mr. Hanson, who did his own version of the “Horrible Histories” TV series which came later. And he played the piano at school assembly with great gusto.

On the other hand, we had a Science teacher who sat tinkering with some electronics while we all struggled with the dreaded “Physics Calculations”. Our Rural Science teacher bailed us out when that Science Man left around Christmas. That same Science teacher once took great delight in rounding up some boisterous lads to try out his “new cane” on them. That was his main teaching method I recall – swish, cane, scare, swish…

To be brutally honest, however, when I myself became a teacher I thoroughly hated the job. The only “Careers Advice” I recall from my school days was from another 6^th former who remarked, “Most people who study English just go into teaching.” It proved totally unsuitable for me: after all I was one of the quietest, most timid pupils in my classes!

Reflecting on college, well, quite simply, at least where I studied we teachers were not taught how to teach. Sure, they preached Education Theory, Psychology and Sociology to us. I got high grades in all that stuff. But all my notions on how actually to work with children came from older fellow students. Indeed those students told me the old maxim, “Don’t smile before Easter!”

What hints we were given by tutors contained a confusing mixture of “Traditional” versus “Progressive” teaching approaches. They did, however, point us to books such as “How Children Fail”, “How Children Learn” and “Summerhill”.

At least on my Diploma in Careers Guidance (taken later) the tutors had us do “Video Interviews” in which they coached us in the skills required for the job. To me, “teacher training” was mainly a “selection process”. The dominant underlying belief seemed to be that you were either born to be a teacher or otherwise. “Acting” was often touted as a requisite for being a teacher and that was one of my weakest links.

Thinking on it now, I wonder how on Earth I could have met so many good teachers. They did miracles to survive. Each one of us was left to our own devices to do whatever we judged right. Yes, they made us write detailed lesson plans. But that’s not enough by a long way. “Handling” 30 “screaming kids” is no picnic.

I suppose the advent of The (UK) National Curriculum changed things somewhat. But then they probably quashed some fine “individual” teaching with that.

As for my own 6 year stint at teaching (in one school), I cannot recall much teamwork either within the department or the school as a whole. Some colleagues were extremely helpful and supportive whereas others would put you down and have an ego trip.

I do note that “Educating Yorkshire” and similar TV programmes have shown that good teamwork is possible given the right leadership and staff. But like the National Health Service, “Education” requires funding and support. It’s sad to see so many dedicated professionals banging their heads against the proverbial brick wall. Rant over. Let’s hope the powers that be see sense and put things to right.

Paul Butters

© PB 13\1\2019.