England - 2000 / Inspection in English Schools

1. England - 2000 / Inspectionin English Schools IRENA VLKOVÁ teacher

2. + + I would like to disprove some unfair and frequent accusations from my colleagues and students that I advertise America one-way. So you are going to learn something about the British people for now. + + The result of my recent stay in UK was not only losing some prejudices about typical British temper, a lot of learning stuff which I will study during the holiday, spending all my money and getting a cold, but I have learnt some interesting information about teenagers living there. And I will share it with you. + +

3. I was speaking with British grammar school students in English Brightonand I have learned: Vicky (14 years) / Elisabeth (13 years) - private grammar school students  (school fee $3.000) • Girls can´t wear painted nails (teachers have nail polish remover a delinquent has to use and pay 50 penny for using). • Compulsory school subjects are French, English and Latin languages (by the way my German colleagues had found lots of mistakes in corrected tests). • Boys can´t have too long hair, only up the their shoulders. • Girls can´t wear heels (otherwise they have to pay penalty for demolition the floor). • Students can´t dye their hair (strict prohibition of strips). • Students can wear only one pair of earrings (no piercing). • Boys have to keep the 6inch distance from girls (about 15 cm). • During the weeks students can work at supermarkets but on Sundays their work is forbidden (they must study at home). • Students mustn´t be rude and be late without apologizing • For smoking near the school they are instantly excluded from school. • Girls can´t use make-up (they have to remove it). • They haven´t got young teachers because private schools don´t accept teachers without practice. • They haven´t got traditional school trips like in Czech Republic (only courses and exchange stays). • WeeklySchool Schedule:MON 10 lessonsTUE 7 lessonsWED 9 lessonsTHU 7 lessonsPFRI 9 lessons

4. Julian (15 years) / Jeff (16 years)  statesecondaryschoolstudents • Talented students have “top“ classes (elite). • When they want to go out after school (if they don´t study at home) they can´t go anywhere because all clubs are from the age of 18 (so they can only go to the cinema, the places for sitting and chatting are missing). • During the school year they don´t write any tests. They write only the final test. • Smoking near the school and even in the streets is unimaginable. • There is a strict ban on using cell-phones during the lessons. • They can be late only 4 times a year then they get a worse mark in that subject. • They must wear uniforms (they like it because they needn´t solve who is rich and who isn´t). • In one class there are 30 students (in the school 2 000). • They are taught 5 hours a day. • They only have about 100 computers (one pc for 20 students). • Students are overloaded (They have to do all homework at weekends and it is too much so they don´t go out. They keep studying). • There are 50% male and 50% female teachers (by the way their monthly salary is 8-9 times higher than Czech teachers get). • A parents meeting is once a year. • They don´t have to change their shoes. • Students address teachers with their first names.

5. And now a few remarks from English streets: • In frosty winter British teenagers go out without warm shoes and almost naked (but the reason is not their hardiness because they usually sniffle and cough continually). • German students here are known for making noise. They are noisy everywhere and keep speaking just German language. • The English Child World is dominated by phenomenon POKEMON. • Teenagers in double-deckers go usually upstairs (because of the prohibition of eating in all the bus - the driver can´t see upstairs). • German and English students suffer from mutual xenophobia, frankly hate each other and fight together in streets.