Politics

Everywhere has them, but none so petty as a school.

It's just a fact, there are more female teachers than there are male. When a new teacher shows up for their first day and they are young, quite scrummy and male, I feel for them. Cranky old bats who are in a permanent state of PMS are suddenly charming and delightful and needing assistance with a bookshelf or heavy box. Stand offish fashionista wannabes who had their personalities removed at the age of 16 are suddenly Fun! Frolicky! Socialites! But even funnier than these two breeds of female are the men folk and the carry on they come up with. Suddenly meetings are punctuated with amusing anecdotes about beer, being drunk, the doldrums of marriage. The men folk are lively and jovial whereas previously grunts were their main form of communication.

Resources. As in the stuff a classroom has, both the big and the little stuff. There is an etiquette that is observed by most and flaunted by a few. Needless to say, the flaunters piss off the majority. They're the ones who go and take all the books on a particular subject. They take as much play money as they can. They take all of the blocks, counters, ones, tens, hundreds, calculators, weights, scales, rulers, number boards, readers, book sets, cards and games. And never use them. Then there is the bigger stuff. Like desks and chairs. Heaven forbid if your desks are nicer (and by nicer I mean possessing 3 or more legs), chairs matching, chairs being of the right height, desks being of the right height or your cupboards actually having doors. Such rare commodities are only to be utilised by the select few. Usually the PMSing bats. But the surprise packet this year has been bookshelves. Apparently bookshelves are right up there on everyone's list. There was much toing and froing today, counting, debating and justifying why bookshelves should not need to be given up. At which point I need to point out I was an observer. Being the owner of 2 less than desirable bookshelves I knew I was safe.

But I wonder if I can make the scrummy new teacher come and move one of them for me...