Friday, October 19, 2012
You don't want to be a school administrator!
Micah6 keeps on moving forward and my eyes are continually opened to the reality of school life in South Africa.
Today I was at two different schools for admin reasons. The first Sparks Estate Secondary - a mainstream high school. The second Westridge School - a special needs school. As I sat in the corridors of these two institutions I was amazed at the constant stream of difficulties and challenges that reach the registration office doors every five minutes. At Sparks, the teachers were phoning the police because rogue, delinquent boys were jumping over the fence, seriously disrupting classes and probably adding to the drug dealing woes the school currently faces. If I was a female teacher there I would be frightened as the young men stare at them incredulously and lie straight to the face while wondering things you don't want to know (P.S. I say young men, not boys, because I don't consider a 20 year old who is still in matric your average child). This school needs a seriously BIG Zulu impi to stare these reprobates in face and tell them the truth they need to hear. The police on various occasions have arrested trouble causing, drug dealing students but a day later they are back at school and it is VERY difficult to get rid of them. Honestly, the discipline and social issues facing schools are beyond bizarre.
I then moved on to Westridge where I watched the administration guy at reception being consistently harassed for form after form, by phonecall after phonecall and by one impaired learner after another. If I was him I would have quit long ago! By the time I left, a child was on the brink of a epileptic fit (for real) and the reception lady looked like she was about to suffer a major heart attack from stress (I am sure the wrinkles on her face and crusty looking skin were not just the result of age) while yelling at some wandering boys to "GET BACK TO CLASS, DON'T BE STUPID, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE!!" . Bright red blood vessels.
And while all of this was happening the learner at the front desk was suffering from short term memory loss (for real) and all I could do was shake my head in dismay gratefully thanking the Lord that I am not a school administrator!
