The Headmaster Ritual: The Bad Old Days

You know what? I've been on a Smiths streak lately; which means, they've been playing a lot lately at home, that is, I've been listening to them a helluva lot during the last couple of days. The combination of Johnny Marr's gorgeous guitar melodies and Stephen Morrissey's peculiar wailing-meets-singing style and SUPER incisive and intricate, yet elaborate and thoughtful lyrics, and their overall aura of melancholy and emotional anguish make for an always welcome listen if you're in the right mood (just like when reading the works of Oscar Wilde or Goethe). They were one of the most influential bands in the history of Pop and Rock music, and well deservedly so.

I could name lots of songs of theirs which are nothing short of superb: Panic, Half a Man, There's a Light that Never Goes Out (later covered by the Spanish Pop-Rock group Duncan Dhu), Bigmouth Strikes Again, Cemetery Gates, and a big, big etcetera.

However, I was recently listening to one of my favorite songs by the Manchester quartet, "The Headmaster Ritual", when I suddenly paid attention to the lyrics (which I guess I hadn't done before), and everything just made sense: it is the perfect song to talk about education, and about those bad old days when bad teachers could basically take out on their pupils their frustration and unhappy, meaningless existence. Pink Floyd's "Another Brick on the Wall" is the quintaessential song which comes to mind about the theme of abusive teachers, but this one is just perfect in a way that Floyd's song isn't (and I love that one, so go figure!)

Just as the song lyrics begin, they paint a pretty grim picture of the narrator's school days and what his teachers used to be like:

"Belligerent ghouls run Manchester schools

Spineless swines, cemented minds

Sir leads the troops, jealous of youth,

Same old suit since 1962,

He does the military two step

Down the nape of my neck"

And of course, THAT teacher would, more than occasionally, indulge in corporal punishment towards his pupils:

"Sir thwacks you in the knees,

Knees you in the groin,

Elbow in the face,

Bruises bigger than dinner plates..."

"He grabs and devours

Kick me in the showers"

Not surprisingly, that situation makes his hapless victim quite unhappy and frustrated, willing to escape:

"I wanna go home,

I don't wanna stay

Give up education as a bad mistake...

Please, excuse me from the gym,
I've got this terrible cold coming on..."

This made me think about this neverending argument about traditional vs. modern education and what such lack of discipline we have nowadays at school and- something that, quite shockingly, I hear every now and then from allegedly intelligent people- how teachers should be entitled again to give a student a smack if they misbehave, just like the old days. All that, if you ask me, is just stupid drivel. The answer will never be physically punishing students, nor is it boasting about one's intellectual superiority, showing up pupils' flaws. Both are, in my book, forms of institucionalized bullying.

Of course, teachers should not be dispossessed of their authority and need to be, instead, given the right legal and practical tools to deal with conflicts in the classroom but society evolves at an alarmingly fast pace (technological, socioeconomic, demographic changes....)and it is nonsensical to yearn for the ways of the past.

The key, in my view, is just being a good teacher, not resting in one's laurels and try to not ignore the social changes above mentioned and reflect them in their teaching approach. Having passion for what one does is CRUCIAL and whoever resorted to this profession in search of an easy life, should definitely look for a different hobby.

Teachers who strive to bring their matters alive, making their classes dynamic and foster their students' participation will have no big problems to earn their respect and win them over.

What's your take on this issue?