I teach in F.E. More specifically I work with 16 to 18 year olds with social, emotional and behavioural issues.
I have done this for 20 years and, honestly, my learners are some of my favourite people in all the world!
I have been thinking about them a lot whilst in Lockdown and worry how the current situation will impact on their already limited opportunities.
I think about M, a “child prostitute” who, at fifteen, was trafficked to the UK 6 months pregnant with a baby whose father could have been any of the men who abused her.
I think about D who, with cripplingly low self-esteem, when I asked him to write his name on his class file wrote “The fat one”.
I think about J, desperate to escape a toxic relationship but whose mother secretly gives J’s new numbers to her ex. Why? Boredom I think. The inability to cope unless life is lived in chaos.
For M education was her chance to escape her horrific past and make a good life for herself and her son. By the age of 18 She was in a relationship with a much older man and pregnant with her second child. Why was no one looking out for her? Well, who was there?
For D education has been a disaster. Rather than address the relentless bullying he endured; his school suggested “home schooling.” So no GCSEs, no lessons in developing resilience and transferable skills but plenty in delivering pre emptive strikes in anticipation of the next blow.
For J education has offered up opportunities which some would say she has squandered. In reality if something isn’t recognised as an opportunity then it isn’t an opportunity.
J is one of many young people I have taught who have developed a brittle veneer of protection against the idea that other people might view them as failing themselves. This veneer is a marvellous construct of defensive deception. So for their own peer group:
“ He got kicked out of school for head butting a teacher. Cool!”
“Ha Ha she didn’t turn up for her work placement so they’ve sacked her off. Cool!”
“ He smokes weed every day. Cool!”
“She’s got kicked out of her house so the council are going to find her a flat. Cool!”
“He’s in court next week. He reckons he’ll get sent down but he’ll be OK he’s got loads of mates inside. Cool”!
I’m reminded of a project I was reading about, “The Favorite Poem Project”, led by Boston University, where people of all ages and backgrounds made and uploaded films about their chosen poem.
One of these was a young man called John Ulrich and his choice was one of my own favourites.
THE POOL PLAYERS.
SEVEN AT THE GOLDEN SHOVEL.
We real cool. We
Left school. We
Lurk late. We
Strike straight. We
Sing sin. We
Thin gin. We
Jazz June. We
Die soon.
It makes me think of and makes me scared for some of my favourite people in all the world.
Check out John Ulrich’s contribution to the Favorite Poem Project.