tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33211251.post6442407120322981989..comments2024-01-08T19:49:13.932+00:00Comments on Froogville: Dying in harnessFrooghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06738623732860210935noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33211251.post-63785107136393933402012-05-07T11:39:59.613+00:002012-05-07T11:39:59.613+00:00I did a couple of spells of teaching practice at c...I did a couple of spells of teaching practice at comps during my PGCE, but they weren't one of my more rewarding classroom experiences, no. And they were supposed to be quite 'good' comps - god help us all!<br /><br />Actually, in academic terms, most private schools aren't very much better. A senior colleague of mine once bitterly described the place where I worked as "a rich man's orphanage". The behavioural problems may be a bit less severe (although there were a lot of very disturbed, dysfunctional, potentially dangerous kids at that particular school), but there are still problems of weak discipline, low motivation, and very low average standard of ability.<br /><br />I might have to go back to teaching in my dotage, but I don't think I'd consider anywhere other than a grammar school.Frooghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06738623732860210935noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33211251.post-45024432516411592952012-05-06T10:11:55.850+00:002012-05-06T10:11:55.850+00:00So you wouldn't be tempted by the challenge of...So you wouldn't be tempted by the challenge of a Comprehensive then?Johnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15692328535476075420noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33211251.post-12717964622146011522010-12-08T01:27:25.318+00:002010-12-08T01:27:25.318+00:00Froog: I'm not familiar of Sister Surly, thoug...Froog: I'm not familiar of Sister Surly, though I do imbibe the occasional beer, so it's possible that our paths have crossed. Thanks for the warm welcome!Ryanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05413045644112317178noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33211251.post-6356349027259480672010-12-05T07:09:44.514+00:002010-12-05T07:09:44.514+00:00Gosh, a new visitor all the way from Seattle! Wel...Gosh, a new visitor all the way from Seattle! Welcome, Ryan.<br /><br />You're not an associate of Sister Surly (former drinking companion and occasional blog correspondent from those parts), are you?Frooghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06738623732860210935noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33211251.post-6645086112176171372010-12-05T05:24:55.820+00:002010-12-05T05:24:55.820+00:00I randomly came across your post and it reminded m...I randomly came across your post and it reminded me of some of the depression I went through while I was "enjoying" a career as a publicist. Where it was limited in expectations, I found that it was demanding and emotionally taxing. Over the years, I've switched jobs and found solace in meditation (mostly by reading <a href="http://comforthealingandjoy.com/about/" rel="nofollow"> David Fox's</a> book, Comfort Healing and Joy), but the thought of even going back to that old job bums me out. Thanks for sharing.Ryanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05413045644112317178noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33211251.post-367066130124594712010-11-30T02:07:49.353+00:002010-11-30T02:07:49.353+00:00Hmm, I suppose Goodbye, Mr Chips would be an appro...Hmm, I suppose <i>Goodbye, Mr Chips</i> would be an appropriate addition to my Christmas film-watching marathon. I must get down to that 'golden oldie' store soon.Frooghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06738623732860210935noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33211251.post-76928174090283426372010-11-29T01:12:27.135+00:002010-11-29T01:12:27.135+00:00I know little of the man, Tony, but I like his wri...I know little of the man, Tony, but I like his writing. As I just pointed out to JES, I think this is an imagined perspective. I don't know if Scannell ever was a schoolteacher, or if he was of quite an advanced age when he wrote this - or even if he was particularly obsessed with his own mortality at any stage of his life. However, it does seem reasonable to assume that we might often find this mood in an elderly schoolteacher. I think the school environment does tend to throw your own mortality - and your ageing - into sharper perspective: your surroundings change little or not at all, and the youthfulness of your charges is continually refreshed, but you... inexorably wither and decline.<br /><br />And I have quite a bit of affection for some of the 'miserable sods' who taught me (but then, I'm of rather a morose temperament myself, at times). A quicker intelligence, leavened with a little humour, a hint of a creative spark, and a little unconventionality - a willingness to stray out of the usual ruts, to wander and digress, and share something of their <i>personal</i> concerns and interests - was what appealed to me in teachers. I suspect that you find these attributes rather more often in the depressive types.<br /><br />I may have been one such myself. I would like to thinks so.Frooghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06738623732860210935noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33211251.post-37332898180530609342010-11-29T01:03:49.612+00:002010-11-29T01:03:49.612+00:00Thanks, Weebs. Is that the complete thing? I ha...Thanks, Weebs. Is that the complete thing? I had thought it was <i>a bit longer</i> than that.<br /><br />Thanks for checking the Scannell source, JES. I had thought I remembered it as one of his, but then finding a couple of places online attributing it to Larkin sowed the seeds of doubt. I thought the tone, the attitude very Larkinesque - but I'm not sure that our Philip ever adopted a character point of view in any of his work.Frooghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06738623732860210935noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33211251.post-33347753644844420022010-11-28T15:37:45.380+00:002010-11-28T15:37:45.380+00:00That poem appears in Scannell's Collected Poem...That poem appears in Scannell's <em>Collected Poems, 1950-93</em> (per <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/reader/0860517659?_encoding=UTF8&query=ageing%20schoolmaster#reader_0860517659" rel="nofollow">amazon.co.uk</a>). <br /><br />You seem to be correct that the entire Larkin is nowhere online. I have a feeling The Weeble's comment will start showing up as the canonical result in future Google queries on that stanza.JEShttp://johnesimpson.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33211251.post-84443699456335140282010-11-28T13:34:56.837+00:002010-11-28T13:34:56.837+00:00That Larkin poem would be
It was acted as he plan...That Larkin poem would be<br /><br />It was acted as he planned: grown old and favourite,<br />With most Old Boys he was quite intimate<br />For though he never realised it, he<br />Dissolved. (Like sugar in a cup of tea.)The Weeblenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33211251.post-35529503129826145882010-11-28T10:17:55.600+00:002010-11-28T10:17:55.600+00:00Tough luck for those who were taught by a miserabl...Tough luck for those who were taught by a miserable self-centered sod like Vernon Scannell.Tonyhttp://www.omf.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.com