How can you justify this view-point?

[KarlMonster]

He is also adding.

.An indoor cricket field
.An academy for pretty much every sport you can think off (sadly no cheese rolling)
.Making a brand new school and sports uniform compulsory to everyone who's not in sixth form
.Adding a house system, thus compeletly changing the whole staff system
.A thing where kids can make the cafeteria food.

Yeah, when I read the OP, that's where I thought this was going.

Now I can't speak for your particular school, but I happen to know; British institutions of higher learning that used to be state subsidized are changing how that works. They still get a little bit, but colleges were told they could charge students fees "within a certain range" to cover the difference in funding. And every single school started charging the maximum possible. From Oxford & Cambridge all the way down.

That tells me that the writing is probably on the wall for education at lower levels too. This means that the future of British schools is cut-to-the-bone efficiency - whether you want it or not. Higher test scores and illustrious sports complexes are a boost for marketing, and drawing future students. Better efficiency makes the school look like an attractive alternative to other schools. I presume that the students cooking the food in the cafeteria will get yet more uniforms for that - more efficiency from savings on not having dedicated cafeteria staff.

So how does he justify it? He doesn't care. He's got one eye on the bottom line, and the other on damage control. Anybody that might have personal problems gets shuffled off before they can affect the test scores.

On the other hand, here in America-land we have this zany stereotype for an English School Headmaster. He's some yutz that spent 40 years of his life in India with the Royal Army, where he mostly did latrine duty - but somehow has a shocking number of totally dull and nonsensical stories. Somehow he was awarded the rank of Major or Colonel when he retired. Then this puffed-up Martinet decides he needs to do something with his life, so he uses some mysterious favours to get chosen as headmaster at a boy's school.

So how does this guy justify it? He doesn't care. He's got one eye on his second retirement, and the other on damage control. Anybody that might have personal problems gets shuffled off before they can affect his precious reputation.

Edit: I do have some admiration for the UK, but lets face it; there's a lot of fine literature that prominently features a really horrible Headmaster. Hard to believe that its all imagined by the authors.

 

[InfiniteSingularity]

School is not your life. That's my viewpoint. School is merely a small aspect of your life. Everything else should take priority to a certain extent.

Leave the school. Don't let a dick like that run your life

To me it sounds like he's coming into this new teaching gig in an attempt to boost exam results rather than improve the quality of education. This seems to be happening in schools all over the country, but this dude seems to be especially douchey about it.

Most schools are like this. It's fucked. Education is fucked.

 

[RobCoxxy]

Aside from the obvious weirdness of replacing trained teachers with businessmen(?!?!?!) to say a life-affecting tragedy doesn't affect your life is fucking stupid.

Report the crazy to OFSTED or something.

 

[SonicKoala]

As some people have already pointed out, this isn't necessarily a viewpoint which is easily justifiable. In fact, I'd argue that it's the total opposite - although I can't name any off the top of my head, I have no doubt that there are a number of studies out there which show that cognitive function can be seriously disrupted by traumatic emotional experiences, including the loss of loved ones. So yeah, there isn't even any logic behind this guy's viewpoint - he's just a total dick.

 

[tthor]

So, I have currently gone into another year at my school. The year before we got a new Head Master, and he has made a lot of changes. He's changed the school uniform (i'm British btw), put everyone into a class system and has put a business park over the road (or at least going to). He has also made most of the veteran teachers and senior staff redundant, and replaced them with business people. Anyway, all of that doesn't matter but what does matter is what he said in our opening assembly.

"If you have lost a relative, it is not an excuse to do bad in school. I once said to my nephews after they lost their mother "just because this happened, is not your excuse to start failing in school"

The main reason I'm offended is because I lost my father when I was 6, it affected most of my school work and social life. He is basically saying that if you have had a life affecting tragedy, that doesnt mean you dont have to do your work.

So escapees, what do you think could justify this, or make it unjustifiable.

[EDIT] He has also just sent out a person who had just lost two of her brothers in a terrible car accident because she was being ill mannered and wanted to have attention. Theres some more reasons for you to call him an asshole

[return of the edit!] For people who have been asking about the context, it was at a start of year assembly where he boasts about last years exam results and tell us all to behave well and not be naughty.

huh...
might you happen to have this man's address so I could track him down and punch him?
..actually, i lives all the way in another country... i think i'll just sign him up for every newsletter and spam snail-mail i can find..

 

[AWAR]

Let's kill his parents and see how productive he gets then.

 

[tthor]

Slightly more but at the same time less on topic: Wow if I lost a family member and the headmaster told me to get the fuck over it I would probably break his arm. Seriously, criminal charges be damned, he deserves every bit and more. What do you mean it's harder to administrate with a broken arm? Get the fuck over it.

Idk about other people, but as far as I'm concerned, I didn't see anything/ he attacked you first

 

[Moraki]

its good point of view but he said it in worst way he could have said in a better way a lot better

 

[wfpdk]

why not just go and ask him how he justifies a statement like that? he must have office hours or at least a phone.
and i would bring an audio recording device to that conversation.

 

[HandfulofWolf]

Don't colour me bad, but here is why:

Like mentioned before the family members or loved ones are gone and acting out is not going to help anyone. You need to continue with your studies because later in life when you go for a job/uni/college interview and your grades aren't up to snuff nobody will care that it's all because someone close to you died all those years ago. Because these people will not be able to empathise with you either.


I don't support this view point, but it is partly true.

 

[Phisi]

I do see where he is coming from... BUT HE IS A COMPLETE DICKHEAD!!! Okay I understand that if you have faced tragedy you should try to continue your school work as it would be hard for you to catch up but... WHY THE HELL DID HE SAY THAT ARRGGHHHHHH!!!!! SO yeah it is beneficial but we is obviously a wanker so I can justify it but I think he should have kept his mouth shut. Oh and there's the thing of keeping the school's rating up but that does not come at the expense of a student's wellbeing.

 

[Unia]

I recognize the type far too well. Bet he also agrees with "tiger-mothers" and the like. Life is a competition to him and everybody has to run just to keep up with times. People are resources to be exploited, all relationships are means of networking and getting ahead.

Devoted students = good marks = improved school image = profit

In other words, he's likely a sociopath. Emotions are something that happens to other people. Sorry to hear about your school OP.

 

[Jumpingbean3]

Just a thought but...what was the context in relation to that line? Have there been many deaths in the families of students, or at the very least, a recent death that he was referring to? Seems kind of an odd thing to state out of no-where...

At the start of the year, he made a big speech to all the school (the year groups were separate due to space) and whilst he was talking about manners, behavior and all that stuff he said this. The worst thing is he had just sent out a girl who had just lost both of her brothers in a car accident out, saying she had terrible manners and will never have a good life when she was gone. Also, he said to everyone in the room that they are lesser humans because youre young, thats why you cant vote or drive. Also, at the end he asked us if we found any of his points unreasonable, which we would've got suspended if we actually did (noone did btw)

Was the girl in question actually being rude or just kinda out of it?

Either way knowing this and the fact he replaced most of the staff with businessmen I get the feeling this guy used to be a corporate businessman himself he's just so characteristically insensitive. When he says you are lesser humans what he really means is you don't have disposable income.

She was being rude, I think. But thats not the point, the point is that he used her to install fear in us, and he has no intention to help her in any way. BTW, some of the people he replaced were our so called "pastoral managers", who helped with kids problems like bullying and other emotinal problems.

"Pastoral?" As in, pertaining to rural life or did he mean something else?

 

[teisjm]

Your loved ones would've wanted you to continue doing your thing as best as you could.
Theres the justification.
It doesn't make him any less of an asshole IMO.
My girlfriend recently lost her father, and she had to quit her job, because her boss (who himself has lost a wife to cancer) insisted on her coming back to work after a week or soemthing, and she was completely broken by her fathers death.

Optimally, you could contuie working, but excpecting that kind of emotional detachment from anyone is cold and cruel.

 

[The Last Nomad]

Its justifiable (but maybe a little harsh) to say that at an assembly if perhaps there were a few students using the death of a grandmother 8 years ago as a reason not to do some homework, and if he put it gently as possible but to actually enforce it to students who recently lost close relatives, and combined with the other bits of info about him he just seems like an asshole. Very different to the principal I had in primary school, who once absolutely flipped one day when he found out some of the girls in the class had made fun of a girl in the class who had lost her dad (And I don't think it was too near his death and I have no idea about the details of what was said or anything like that, but he did bring up the fact that she had lost her dad when he was roaring at the kids in the room, so I assume it had something to do with it).

 

[James Crook]

To me, the only you could justify it is by saying that your lost one wouldn't want you to fuck your life over because of that.
However, the way he said makes him a complete dick.

 

[ToastiestZombie]

Tell him that the government disagrees with him because exam results get marked up all the time due to grief etc. So they clearly think it is an excuse to do poorly.

And what do you mean by "class system"?

Think Harry Potter, but much less boring and cool. The younger kids have to wear different colour ties. We went from a system where there was individual tutor groups of about 30 people who did most lessons together, now its kind of like a clusterfuck.

 

[Use_Imagination_here]

Sadly humans still haven't achieved a state of complete enlightment and detachment.

Untill that happens, this will still make no sense.

If you broke your arm and leg, wouldn't that be a really good excuse not to work out?

 

[Garrsus]

no, thats unforgivable, he is being a pretentious prick, if he has a go at you or your friends for it, stand up for them/yourself. show him how much of a prick he is being. it sounds crazy but im fairly sure that if someone does something like that and tries to hard to enforce it you could probably report him, grieving is natural. your joking yourself if you think otherwise.

 

[Rancid0ffspring]

Grr... I hate to be THAT guy that justifies it, but here goes.

Crying over your loss isn't going to fix anything. The best thing you can do is to move on. Life goes on.

I think that's the underlying point.

You probably have several "Here here"'s by now but I agree with you.

OP... no offense, what you have experienced at a young age is tragic and I do not envy you in any way... same with anyone else who has encountered such a tragedy at any point in their lives.

Point that I believe he has tried to get across (POORLY) is as follows

Don't fuck up your education then say "Woe is me I had it hard because of XXXX went wrong in my life"

I don't approve with his method but I certainly do agree with the point he was getting across.

Sorry if that portrays me as a monstrous c**t

It doesn't. I just don't understand why people have decided to equate "that guy was wrong to say that" with stating that "it's OK to fail miserably because of bereavement". No-one is promoting the latter view, so can we stop acting like anyone is?

Soooo... other than getting people to say "That guy is a douche", I may have missed something, what's the point of this discussion?