How it is

Schools are their own microcosm, a petri dish of hormones and half-baked people.  I mean that with affection.  The order alluded to in the rest of society is clear here.  There is a hierarchy.  There are people with clear levels of explicit authority.  Regardless of the lip service, it’s not a democracy.  Students must stay in line, or face the consequences.  Same goes for staff.

Personally, I like the order and structure.  The bells, the timetable, the clear expectation (whether they are met or not) and the general orderliness.  It’s neat, reliable.  And more than a little stifling.

I am teacher and I work across a few schools. I walk into new classes daily and sit up the back, trying to be invisible. But I’m not. I am so visible, in all the wrong ways, for teenagers at least.  They can’t work out why I’m there.  But more importantly, they can’t work out what gender I am.  So, being teenagers, they ask.  Loudly.

Clearly, I am not invisible.