Secondary School My Experience: Funding Cuts

Today has been an emotionally draining day. I woke up feeling good, 15 mins into the day and I'm feeling ratty as hell and had to have a 45 min rant to my wall about everything and anything. So here's my last rant. Something that still plays on my mind to this day and effects me, was funding cuts and the way it shut my school down and the after math it cause on students eg. me. This is in no way me saying "oh I'm a victim". 

This isn't a post for sympathy or aww bless her cotton socks, it could be considered motivation for people if that's the way you want to read it. After all any form of documentation whether a novel or play is subjective to each reader or viewer. My point is to highlight the implications of government funding on education and the effects it has on (in globalisation terms) the individual and the locality (community) and nation.

First off it would be an understatement to say my school was rough. It closed down the year I left and we had a pedo teacher who slept with year 11s whilst I was in year 10 and got arrested whether he's still trying to avoid bending down and reaching for the soap now I don't know.  (Classy). Throughout my GCSE's I had very little support as most teachers left the school, and we were left to be taught our GCSE's by supply teachers. I had 0 support for my dyslexia until half way through my first year of college and it was left undiagnosed until then. I went to my teachers in high school and I quote my maths teacher word for word I will never for as long as I live forget this him saying I'm not dyslexic "I'm just thick and lazy." I came to realise in year 11 my brain worked and processed information differently to other people in the class. But got told by my doctor that my school had to refer me for testing. The school couldn't because of lack of funding and so I suffered. Teachers would try and teach me things in a certain style and it just wouldn't sink in. I'd revise for hours at home and nothing would stick. Not having the extra time I needed in exams (which I get now) and the study skills or support sessions which have nurtured me for the past 3 years and helped me find a learning style that suits me. I began to Believe my maths teacher's words and still sometimes now if an essay thesis isn't working or I can't grasp Nietzsche or Postmodernism I think I'm stupid or "thick and lazy" as he put it. That statement still drives me to read as much as I fucking do now which is a lot. When people have said "you're smart" I doubt myself and can never think I'm "clever" because that statement haunts me still. I just put it down to reading a lot which isn't my intelligence its other people's. 

 But regardless of all these factors, supply teachers, no dyslexia support at all and bullying. I revised my little ass off at home and managed to come out with an A* 7A's 2B's and a C (in maths). Oh and an D in AS Level  Religious Studies (which I sat the exam for when I was 14).

I managed to get support from three firm teachers in school, my science and form teacher who used to stay behind after school and do revision sessions with me and during school holidays. You helped me explore different ways of learning facts and never gave up on me. My year 11 art teacher, I was predicted a C and only believed I could achieve this until you encouraged me and allowed and nurtured my water colour style and creativity. You gave me the confidence to experiment outside of my comfort zone something which is still helpful to me today and most important of all you made me love art, and made a subject a hobby. And finally my Religious education teacher you noticed my artwork in year 7 when you asked us to cover our books in pictures. From then on you framed lessons around the way I learned and taught me so much about religion and philosophy but also ethics and issues such as racism and social inequality. These are all life lessons gained from three teachers who if it wouldn't have been for them I would've left school with very little. Think what I and all the other students who sat their GCSE's with supply teachers would've done with proper teachers like these three.

(Year 11 final piece my art work is better now I swear). 

My high school experience hindered me from wanting to peruse higher education, I looked at simply getting a job rather than going to college and didn't even bare thinking about university because it was something I was too 'think and lazy' to do. If every person had this same experience who would be trying to cure cancer or professors writing PHD's contributing original ideas which effect and evaluate the world and the way we see it from culture to science.



My point is through cutting the funding for my school, rumours flew and most teachers left during my year 8. They announced it would close when we were in year 9. People in the year below us were forced to move schools half way through their GCSE's and were displaced from friends, and had to catch buses to and from school. This tore apart our towns community as students did and still have to commute to schools outside of our town. This adds stress onto parents from funding buses or transport to having to get up earlier in order to make sure your child gets on the bus. The funding also meant that mine and many others educations were hindered, we didn't get the teaching we needed. Sure its up to us to revise and we did but the fact we had to learn the majority from a text book ourself imagine a whole curriculum taught by 15-16 year old girls and boys. A very chaotic image right? It also stopped people from wanting to go into higher education as those letters on a sheet of paper that you spent two years working for making them feel inferior. And dyslexia and other learning disabilities were left un diagnosed and simply brushed under the carpet.


Over all lack of funding and cuts to the education system not only fuck up things for teachers and people planning careers in education (don't even get me started on them wanting to cut drama), but also those who are our future. Stop fucking us up and pay attention. Your actions have consequences and those impact the minds of our future generations.

Thanks for reading this huge rant,
Bekka.