Hard Teachers!

[loppylugs 8,427]

There was one teacher at Chandos, his name was Kurtain. (Spelling). He was there when I started there, I think he left the next year. He taught metalwork and math. A nicer guy you couldn't have wished to meet. Instead of beating me up or offering sarcasm over my math weaknesses, he suggested various board games etc. that would help speed up mental arithmatic. Never heard him raise his voice or hit anybody. Maybe that's why he left. Sick of seeing "disciplinary methods". Anyway whatever school he went to got a good man.

Actually none of the"shop" teachers was too bad, except one woodwork teacher who seemed to have anger problems. Fortunately for me I was never in his class. Maybe working with your hands relieves pressure without taking it out on the kids.

[mercurydancer 1,104]

I was at Mundella from 1970 to 76. Not one teacher was a bully. Not one of them. It was a good school to grow up in. Some teachers, including, and especially Mr Wood, the PE teacher, were totally ineffective, and to this day I blame him for not educating me in sport. I was quite a weak child initially, but as I grew older I got things like coordination and a passion for cricket. I cannot ever remember Mr Wood giving any instruction for cricket, football, rugby, or anything. Not the slightest.

I did learn discipline and respect from some, which was of great use in my life. Mr Robinson for instance. His initial was C. I never found out what that stood for. He was in fact my mental model for me when I was an army officer. His detached but effective presence was an inspiration.

[radfordred 6,284]

My old English teacher is in prison, facing a long sentence.

[MapperleyMan 122]

At Mapperley Plains School in the 70s there was a teacher called Mr Williams. He lived down on Wensley Road in Woodthorpe and could been seen walking back there every day after school down Somersby, Malmesbury and Pateley Road, turning left into Melbury Road (past my gran's house) and on to Wensley Road. He was proper old school and had been teaching throughout the 50s and 60s. He was about ready for retirement by the time I turned up. He had an ulcer and used to have milk and plain biscuits all the time. He caned me! It was like being taught by someone from a black and white film!

[loppylugs 8,427]

I often used to wonder if discipline was ever discussed in the staffroom during breaks. If you ever had to go in there for some reason you could cut the cigarette smoke with a knife. The lads got a caning if they were ever caught smoking. Don't do as I do, do as I say I guess.

[Missjacnotts 3]

Any memories of strict teachers? What did they do that made them so bad?

[plantfit 7,569]

Made me sit in class with wet pants on 

 

Rog

[FLY2 10,108]

None were hard, in fact some were nice and I admired them.  I just couldn't stand rules and authority. 

Still can't. ! 

[loppylugs 8,427]

This sort of re-Inforces what you just said Fly.  Seems to me there were essentially three kinds of teachers in the all boys school I went to.   First kind were hard nosed sarcastic twerps.  Handy with a cane.   Jobsworths that went by the book.  No compassion or empathy seems like they hated their jobs.  Second kind, were kind hearted caring folks like the math / metalwork teacher that took individual time helping me with the math I struggled with.  He could be strict but was always fair and injected a bit of humour into things.  Third kind, the majority.  Combinations of the first two.  Some days o-k, on others miserable so and so's. Seems like they treated teaching as just a means to a paycheque and nothing else.  We remember the good ones.  Some of the others I'd like to meet so I could tell 'em how I felt, but they are probably all dead by now.

[catfan 14,793]

Most of our teachers were ex forces who were used to discipline & expected best behaviour at all times.

[loppylugs 8,427]

I could see why that would be Mick.  That said, a school is not the military so the kids probably perceived them as the first kind on my above list.

[benjamin1945 16,139]

Liked all my Teachers at Padstow.........even the ones who dished out a bit of Strap,Cane,Slipper etc.........they kept 500 Bestwood kids in check.....but also showed great kindness to some that lagged behind others,........Mr Bond was the head throughout my time there......huge bloke his very presence made you behave.......lived at Bagnall Cottages on Cinderhill road Bulwell,which i pass most days and always give him a thought.............

[MargieH 7,599]

I liked all of my primary school teachers at Arno Vale except for one, who unfortunately was my first teacher at age 5... At secondary school (Carlton le Willows) I really liked a couple of the teachers,  who both had a sense of humour as well as being really good at their job.  The others were all OK and were also good teachers, I think.  As I've said before, I enjoyed my schooldays.  

Just  remembered one teacher whom I wasn't keen on but I think that was because she didn't seem to like me much!!

[catfan 14,793]

A lot of forces personell went in to teaching after the war, used to discipline. The growing number of women teachers was the beginning of poor discipline in schools, some of the stories my kids related to me left me aghast !

[catfan 14,793]

I remember one teacher in particular from my junior school, kind, compassionate, fair & a top class teacher. Eric Towle. Jill Sparrow knows/knew him.

[FLY2 10,108]

The only teachers I liked at FFGS were Mrs McMillan who took art. Mr Argyle who took history. Mrs Diamond who took English Language, and who I have to thank for me being pedantic about spelling, grammar and punctuation. Last but not least, the amazing David Crick who took geography. An absolutely  brilliant teacher. The lessons were interesting from the moment I sat down. He caught malaria fighting in the Far East, and never fully recovered, and died quite young. An amazing man as well as a superb teacher.

[TBI 2,351]

7 minutes ago, catfan said:

A lot of forces personell went in to teaching after the war, used to discipline. The growing number of women teachers was the beginning of poor discipline in schools, some of the stories my kids related to me left me aghast !

Where's the logic in that? Many of those forces personnel were probably taught by women teachers.

[loppylugs 8,427]

7 minutes ago, catfan said:

The growing number of women teachers was the beginning of poor discipline in schools, some of the stories my kids related to me left me aghast !

 

Brave man, Mick.  Brave man!

[Jill Sparrow 10,302]

I did indeed, Catfan. He was my Sunday school teacher, as was his wife. I'm still occasionally in touch with her and her brother.

[Jill Sparrow 10,302]

9 minutes ago, catfan said:

The growing number of women teachers was the beginning of poor discipline in school

Not at The Manning! 

[catfan 14,793]

40 minutes ago, TBI said:

Where's the logic in that? Many of those forces personnel were probably taught by women teachers.

How do you work that out then ?

[MargieH 7,599]

Having worked in a mainstream comprehensive secondary school for 30 years, accompanying hearing impaired students to various classes across rhe curriculum, I am in a good position to state that the gender of the teachers made little difference to the discipline in the classroom.  There were strong  teachers of both sexes, who were able to keep the interest of the students and maintain order in the classroom,  and there were weaker ones - again of both sexes - who found it more difficult.  

Maybe this is not the case in all schools, but it was certainly true in this one.   Just saying....

[NewBasfordlad 3,599]

At Ellis mid to late 50s it worked both ways. We had one teacher who came up from London, double barrelled name and what an accent. Completely ineffectual, no discipline and wanted to be everyone's friend, the kids ran rings round him he lasted one term and never came back the story was he had had a nervous breakdown.

 

The rest were par for the course I suppose, but I do remember moaning to dad after I had just left school and him saying to me "just remember without some of those men you'd be talking German now". Then a good few years later I met and became good friends with my mate Terry, he was 13 years older than me and was at Ellis in the early/mid 40s he told me it was nearly all female staff in those days.

[TBI 2,351]

1 hour ago, catfan said:

How do you work that out then ?

I didn't need to work it out, catfan, fact and common sense. Plenty of women teachers in primary and secondary schools pre and post-war, despite the fact men were paid more.

 

You comment many male teachers post-war had served in the forces and experienced military discipline. Quite probably true but so what, did that make them good teachers? Look back at many threads where members cite teachers who were hated for harsh discipline and bullying, male and female for that matter.

 

The best teachers are the best because they engage their students, gender is completely irrelevant.

 

 

[NewBasfordlad 3,599]

The men who served in the war may have had a different outlook on life which is understandable to most. Some must have been suffering from PTSD which of course was not recognised back then, that is so what! I have served and knew some of them and still do not fully understand some of the privations they went through.

 

Apart fro that comment I could agree with most of your post.