'Sorry for being a dickhead'

Some of the best things about teaching in East End is the ways of people expressing themselves where at the time it's deeply inappropriate and needs to be checked but also has an underlying tenderness. One of the best examples of this today was as a student walked from a lesson and apologised to a teacher.

'Sorry for being a dickhead sir, I'll do better'.

Let's ignore the swearing for a second. The kids was apologising (and also acknowledging) that he had done wrong and was promising to sort himself out. The swear word was coarse and unpleasant-its also derived from a lack or articulacy and a representation of where he was from. So I was hearted by the teacher's response.

'Thankyou for apologsing...just don't be a dickhead tomorrow'.

Cheeky, funny...there's a shared understanding.

Let's put that in comparison to a meeting I was having with a parent and a head of year about a child's ongoing desire to fight with everyone in the year group.

'Well Angry needs to tell a teacher if he's being picked on'

'That's not the East End way Mr Scouse....he needs to fight back'.

Both are coarse, both are vulgar. One's cheeky and humorous, the other feeds into a culture of fecklessness and a disregard for authority.

Both need to be stamped out if the kids going to really succeed anywhere.