End of Days
School finished on Friday, which frankly comes as something of a relief.
There are only so many days you can occupy a class of angry teenagers with 'Christmassy' activities before it all goes to shit.
On reflection, packing up proper teaching and real lessons 2 weeks before the end of term may have been a mistake. I couldn't be arsed to teach anything proper though, and those classrooms won't decorate themselves with deformed paper chains and really, REALLY bad homemade Christmas cards.
Christmas is a special needs school is like some glorious blend of sweet, moving wonder and shameless, tatty, circus-like horror. Everything we do ends up so innately crappy.
I might scan some of their Christmas cards in, just so you can see what I mean.
Which brings me to the Christmas concert.
I am deeply conflicted about this. The children love doing it, but then, they would- wouldn't they?
But it just seems so Wrong.
Like those X-Factor auditions with the entrants of a certain 'special' quality. Yes- you can laugh at their inability to sing, but you know it's wrong. You have to ask yourself "Is this fair? Why are the producers allowing this to happen? Should we condone putting people with Downs Syndrome on television, just so we can all have a jolly good laugh at their singing?"
The principle is much the same.
Our concerts are very sweet BUT they are just a horrible car-crash, train-wreck, horror-show.
Our pupils cannot sing. And they cannot act.
But they have special-needs-enthusiasm.
Which means they love it all so much, and get so excited and enthusiastic that they'll do anything if it means someone might clap for them.
They are, not to put too fine a point on it...shameless.
But part of me feels so wrong for allowing them to parade their misfitness in this semi-ironic way whilst all he staff and parents smirk then say "awwwwww- isn't it sweet that they're so disabled" in a bid to make themselves feel less bastard-like.
Though in fairness, it is almost impossible not to smirk a bit.
