Published on 12, July, 2020
I'm just watching this Yo Samdy Sam video and already noticing (in spite of her posh, private school education - privilege alert!) that many of the teachers' observations are almost exaclty the same as on my own. Almost eerily, in fact, although I went to a very rough comprehensive in the North East of England. My reports were, on the face of it, rather good, but there are some little asides which indicate constant high levels of anxiety combined with my supposed "giftedness" (I was actually terrified into appearing "gifted", I now think). When I look back, I'm getting more of a feeling of, "My goodness - what did they do to me?" Very interesting, I think, And I'll probably reflect some more on this as I watch the rest. My "giftedness" didn't exactly carry over into most of the workplaces I got myself trapped in and I then experienced decades of anxiety and fairly poor mental health. So... and if you care to share, how was it for you? www.youtube.com/watch
And wow, lovely community! Thank you so much for all of your contributions to this thread. I was fascinated and troubled when I watched Sam's video and I'm now feeling even moreso! This all reads like interview extracts from a piece of qualitative research on the failings of the education system, with strong "emergent themes" around lack of acceptance and accommodation, erosion of trust, bullying and social exclusion and a system which is centred on perceived societal/cultural needs and norms with barely anything that's person-centred. Controlling, coersive and liable to lead to issues with anxiety and/or depression! Thriving wasn't possible for me but I'm actually feeling thankful for surviving!