Children and schools are always on show—and people do notice     043

Have you been listening to schools lately, I mean the actual physical sound they make? It is always quite revealing. I am talking about what happens when primary or high school students leave the school for an activity or an excursion. Now in my work I often travel to the Southern Highlands, stopping at Pheasants Nest service centre. From time to time I meet up with busloads of school children, who are taking a break, on their way usually to Canberra and the snowfields. Sometimes I hear the schoolchildren before I see them.

It only takes seconds to evaluate what these children are like, and indirectly, what this might suggest about their school. You see the noise level has to be appropriate, not too loud and not too soft, and with no individual voices screaming and raging. On one such occasion I thought to myself that the children sound like they are swinging from the roof and sure enough that was fairly close to what was happening. A group of children was climbing up onto the roof, and nearly half of the whole group was running around screaming. And what were the teachers doing? Well, nothing. Perhaps they thought it best for the children to let off steam so there would be less trouble later on.

The point here is that everyone notices the behaviour of students when they are out in public. I have to say that the vast majority of school students I meet at Pheasants Nest do seem to be on their very best behaviour. One school was so exemplary that I remarked upon it to one of the customer attendants in the service centre. She had indeed noticed it too and I am sorry I didn’t report all this to the school’s principal. It would have been the type of letter which principals like to receive.

Now what does all this mean for you, and your children?  Well, you have to make decisions about the schools you want your children to attend. My advice to you is to start noticing school students when they are out in public.

Build up an understanding of what is normal behaviour, and what is better than normal behaviour. Think about these things because when choosing schools you need all the data can obtain. One of the best times to observe is when you are at a large event attended by a number of different schools. So pay attention.

Now the same thing happens with individual children. All students know that some children in the class seem to be given more opportunities and more special out-of-classroom tasks than other students. Of course teachers try to be fair about this but the reality is that some children are more suited to some tasks. In the same way, some students become leaders, prefects and even school captains. Some students go on to win scholarships and positions in valuable traineeship programs after Year 12.

Part of the reason this happens is character. Children show character by their actions and even in the manner they speak. In a strange way character just seems to shine out of them. They themselves are oblivious to this, and are just speaking and behaving in what is to them is a perfectly normal manner, but it isn’t normal. It’s very noticeable to teachers and others who deal with students, and of course recruiters and other human resource management people. And it can be noticeable within a surprisingly short time. As you might expect this important character difference in some children is usually rewarded in ways which delight parents.

So why do some children have high levels of character?  The answer to this is fairly obvious, but it is certainly confirmed when I meet the parents of those children. You see not only are children in schools and show, but also teachers and parents. Truly, then, it is show time!

All content copyright—Mark Thackray—Australian Educational Services