Nick Yapp

This fell out of the bookshelves recently where it had somehow got wodged in and unnoticed. I didn’t ignore the irony as I myself had somehow got wodged into school education, only managing to extricate myself many years later by the skin of my teeth (and with my heart in my mouth, just to mix metaphors). I couldn’t finish this when I first came across it for it was much too painful — despite its deliberately humorous take on the state of pedagogy it was too close to the madness that show more pertained in British teaching at the time, and no doubt still does. Would a revisit bring back the pain?

Skimming through it now I note that, as is to be expected, it’s way out of date in terms of practice, acronyms and the like — but not where the mindset of authority is concerned. By authority I mean of course anybody in the echelons above the level of the humble classroom practitioner at what used to be called the ‘chalkface’, which is where I spent most of my time. When I wasn’t in interminable meetings. Or writing reports. Or having to do some creative accounting.

Bluff your way in Teaching is written by an insider. I see that the author was a teacher for 27 years before switching to writing, so he knows — or at least knew — whereof he wrote. Now a prolific writer of documentaries and light entertainment for radio and television he’s also responsible for short fiction as well as scores of non-fiction books — from photographs to film stars and from crime to cricket — and finds time to contribute travel pieces for the New York Times. By turns cynical and insightful, he vents his spleen on institutions and personnel, gives us the lowdown on classroom technique and other requirements of the job, and finishes with The Teacher’s Year and a glossary.

I particularly relished his “How to get out of teaching” hints beginning with Death, working through Early Retirement, Nervous Breakdown, Suspension, Slipping to the Side and ending with Opening a Wholefood Shop or Pottery. It turns out I went for the fifth option by becoming first a supply and then a piano teacher.
His one-liners are best, though a bit tiring after a while: Rousseau “was the first person to admit that children are like wild animals,” an open testimonial is “a measuredly meaningless document that tells nobody anything about anybody” and music education is a no-no in the curriculum: “Educational research revealed that playing in a string quartet was no sort of preparation for working in McDonald’s, and anyway music was making children happy, and education should have nothing to do with making children (or teachers) happy.”

And then there’s the advice on classroom technique.
There are four techniques to be mastered:
1. How to get the children into the classroom.
2. How to keep the children in the classroom.
3. How to get the children out of the classroom.
4. How to deal with the children while they are in the classroom.

You can see why he got out of teaching. The whole slim volume (less than 70 pages) is a quickish read but, to answer my initial question, it still brought back the pain of teaching, not so much the requirement to educate those unfortunates pushed through the sausage machine as having to deal with insane systems which squeezed out any joy to be had from learning. At least that pain is only a dull ache now, flaring up when I’m reminded of it.

http://wp.me/s2oNj1-teaching show less

The ten volumes in Hutton Getty Picture Collection series document each of the decades of the 20th century in photographic form. Each book is a squat but thick volume of approximately 400 pages, filled with gray-scale photographs printed at one per page. This volume on the 1970s is organized into 12 chapters that illustrate international events and political activity ("Movers and Shakers," "Conflict", "Terrorism", and "Issues"), as well as entertainment and social life ("Cinema," "The Arts", show more "Pop", "Fashion", "Youth", "Sport", "Children", and "All Human Life." Each chapter is introduced with a few paragraphs of text printed in English, German, and French, each photo bears a very brief description shown in all three languages.

This volume, like its predecessors, gives a broad overview of the decade. The photographs themselves are of fine quality, and printed at adequate size. On the positive side, one gets a broad impression of a tumultuous decade, filled with international conflict and natural disasters, as well as great social movements that swept the West -- movements seeking social justice, sexual liberation, and youth - based trends in music, art, fashion, and cultural morays. Nevertheless, I found the book somewhat disappointing for two reasons. First, the descriptions of the photographs are so brief that they impart little useful information to readers not familiar with the events mentioned. For example, the caption to page 30's photograph reads "Mobutu Sese Seko, President of Zaire, in a television interview at the height of the civil war in 1977. In front of him are captured Portuguese and Soviet arms, forged American banknotes, and two prisoners from the breakaway region of Katanga (now Shaba)." On page 86 "A woman pleads for help for her wounded husband in the Dekwan district of Beirut. In the early months of the war, the Lebanese government was reluctant to use force to separate the rival factions." Clearly, most readers must turn to other sources for explanations of the events in question.

Second, the photographs are focused on British perspectives of events. Thus, we see depictions of English rock groups and music festivals, youth protests, sporting events, and fashion, with secondary nods to those in the USA. Far less attention is given to the rest of the world, except insofar as conflicts and natural disasters disrupted Western complacency. Most likely this (literally) insular focus reflects those events and people to whom the British photographers had the greatest accessibility. But by the 1970s, photographs were widely available from all over the world. This book could have benefitted by a much broader choice of images.

In sum, this book offers a photographic overview of the 1970s, but falls short of a broad depiction of this tumultuous decade due to its lack of a perspective that is suifficiently international in scope. show less

The Hulton Getty picture collection is the largest in the world, with more than 15 million photographs, engravings, and prints. The series that includes this book presents photographs from each of the decades of the 20th century. Each book contains 400 pages, with one gray-scale photograph per page. The photos in The 1950s are organized into 15 chapters, and illustrate political activity and events (with such chapters as "Movers and Shakers," "Conflict", "Living with the Bomb"), social life show more ("Work," "Leisure," "Entertainment," "The Arts," "Fashion," "Youth,", and "Children") and other activities (e.g. "Science," "Transport," and "Sport"). Each chapter has a few paragraphs of text, printed in English, German, and French, and each photo bears a brief description shown in all three languages.

Most of the photographs are of fine to excellent quality. One notable feature is that the choices of photos show a distinctly British perspective. Thus, the chapter on racial issues shows conflicts in Great Britain (with but one photo each from the US and one from South Africa). Those illustrating "Youth" show English teens and "teddy boys -- (no US beatnicks or folk singers here), and only those rock musicians based in (or visiting) England. While a parochial regional focus is perhaps understandable of a London-based collection, prospective readers ought not assume anything like worldwide perspective. Even chapters on international events show a British focus (British soldiers in Malaya, Kenya, and Port Said), although events in Europe that were of particular concern (the Soviet invasion of Hungary and occupation of Berlin) also are illustrated.

A few other features contribute to making this collection less than it might have been. The photo descriptions are very brief, and commonly do not provide sufficient context or description of what is depicted; likewise, photographers are only seldom identified. The index is minimal, and offers no additional information. In addition, the photos are smaller than optimal (the book itself measures about 6" /15cm on a side, and photos often are 2/3rds that). Then again, the alternative could have been a series of "coffee- table" books with prohibitive prices.

Overall, these photos offer a glimpse into a historically - distant decade, and if it encourages some to seek out more information, perhapos it serves a function. After all, some extremely amazing people trace their origins to the 1950s. show less

I really enjoyed some of the photos, but would have preferred if they were organized chronologically within each section.