It's easy to criticise.

Well, all too sadly, yes it is! And just because it is so easy it doesn't mean for a second that we shouldn't do it. Consider for a moment! What is the manner in which you are motivated to undertake the work for which you are paid? 'Motivation?' I can already sense some of you thinking, 'It's the need that I have to feed my family, it's as black and white as that!'



Good old fashioned values from Powerhouse Museum Collection's photostream

And this is a fair point. It 'worked' for the Victorians and it has continued to work, from back through the eons of Feudal Britain, right up until the present day. Yet we're supposed to be living under the auspices of a democratically elected government, aren't we? So I would say to you that if this (feeding and clothing the family) is your perceived purpose and reason for being at work then there is a fair chance that you are motivated through, at best, anxiety; frequently concerned that there isn't someone out there who can do your job cheaper than you, faster than you, better than you!



Real democracy in action. Thanks to National Media Museum's photostream

If you're not then I wish you well and would strongly advise you to stick with it! Genuine job satisfaction is not quite as common as you might have been led to believe. 'Twas a recent visit to the school of my grandson that caused me to ponder the issues raised. He'd been peripherally involved- that is witness to- an incident of bullying at his school. Not party to, I was more than a little relieved to discover. The Deputy Head Teacher was at great pains to explain to 'all present' that, 'bullying would not be tolerated at this school!'

Many of the parents in attendance were left in no doubt; this was a man of his word, but I detected the whiff of a thinly disguised reservation from the few. My grandson's class teacher was more candid, revealing, off the record, that bullying, 'like the weeds in your lawn' will never completely go away. My grandson was quick to concur.

Without dwelling overly much upon the school, she was clearly either less guarded about the facts or else considerably more in touch with her pupils. Had I known her as more than just my grandson's teacher I suspect that she might have revealed that bullying at this particular school was by no means confined to merely the pupils. Scratch the surface and…

We only need to search back a year or so to unearth the then Education Minister welcoming thousands of newly qualified teachers into their sparkling new posts with his (I'm sure it was a he) opinion that the profession was jam-packed with 'failing teachers'. What a warming thought, as many of them- yet to conduct their very first lesson- were already bracing themselves for the impending visit of Ofsted; a panel of glad-to-be-ex-exteachers and other nefarious would-otherwise-have-been-bailiffs, eager to fabricate failings in yet another school.

It's often the same amongst the children; the big bully at the top begets smaller, don't-rock-the-boat, bullies. 'Trickle down,' I think a once immense bully who really is best forgotten might have called it.



Mmmm... Thank you to quixotic54's photostream

And the Faeries? Let's just hope and pray that they continue to show no interest in the hierarchical machinations of our society.