Mother-teenager situation Self-determination 5 страница
General remarks
There are some very pleasing comments in this report. Claudia is certainly improving in some areas of work. However there are a few rather negative remarks which spoil an otherwise excellent report. I have no doubt that Claudia is capable of succeeding in all subjects, but clearly she needs to put more effort into areas of weakness.
Barbara Williams
(Class Teacher)
Date: 17th May
Task 11.Read the text and say if you approve or disapprove of the measures taken in Britain to combat truancy? Do you think the punishment is far too harsh or lenient?
JAILING OF TRUANTS’ MOTHER SENDS RIGHT MESSAGE, MINISTER INSISTS
A landmark decision by magistrates to send a mother to prison for allowing her children to play truant was welcomed by the Government. Patricia Amos, from Banbury, in Oxfordshire, was sentenced to 60 days’ imprisonment for failing to ensure that her daughters Emma, 15, and Jackie, 13, attended the local comprehensive regularly. Ms Amos’s family claimed that the sentence was unduly harsh but Estelle Morris, the Education Secretary, said that it sent the right message to other parents who might be tempted to condone absences.
It is the first time that the courts have used new custodial powers directed at the families of truants. Surveys have shown that more than 80 per cent of the 50,000 pupils who miss lessons each day so with the complicity of their parents.
Ms Amos, 43, a single mother who has five children by three different fathers, was jailed for allowing her daughters to stay away from Banbury School for extended periods. Her eldest daughter, Kerry Cowman, 25, said that her mother had pleaded to be released from Holloway prison, in North London, where she was serving her sentence. She said that the two girls had told her that they started missing school to comfort their mother after the death of her mother, who lived with them. Jackie said: “When my nan died I didn’t want to leave my mother alone. It wasn’t right my mum has been punished for something I did.” Ms Cowan said that it was a harsh lesson for the girls to learn. “There must be another way of teaching kids a lesson without locking their mother up,” she said.
(The Times, September 12, 2001)
Task 12.You are going to read a text from the book The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 ¾ by Sue Townsend*. Read the text and do the tasks.
Friday June 5th
Miss Sproxton spotted my red socks in assembly! The old bag reported me to pop-eyed Scruton. He had me in his office and gave me a lecture on the dangers of being a nonconformist. Then he sent me home to change into regulation black socks.
Saturday June 6th
Oh Joy! Rapture! Pandora is organising a sock protest! She came round to my house today! Yes! She actually stood on our front porch and told me that she admired the stand I was taking! I would have asked her in, but the house is in a squalid state so I didn't. She is going round the school with petition on Monday morning. She said I was a freedom fighter for the rights of the individual. She wants me to go round to her house tomorrow morning. A committee is being set up, and I am the principal speaker! She wanted to see the red socks but I told her they were in the wash.
Sunday June 7th
Pandora and the committee were waiting for me in the big lounge of her house. Pandora is Chairperson, Nigel is Secretary and Pandora's friend Clair Neilson is Treasurer. Craig Thomas and his brother Brett are just ordinary supporters. I am not allowed to hold high office because I am the victim.
Pandora's parents were in the wooden kitchen doing The Sunday Times Crossword. They seem to get on quite well together.
They brought a tray of coffee and health biscuits into the lounge for us. Pandora introduced me to her parents. They said they admired the stand that I was taking. They were both members of the Labour Party and they went on about the Tolpuddle Martyrs*. They asked me if the fact that I had chosen to protest in red socks had any significance. I lied and said I had chosen red because it was a symbol of revolution, then I blushed revolutionary red. I am turning into quite a liar recently.
Pandora's mother said I could call her Tania. Surely that is a Russian name? Her father said I could call him Ivan. He is very nice, he gave me a book to read; it is called The Ragged Trousered Philanthropist*. I haven’tlooked through it yet but I'm quite interested in stamp collecting so I will read it.
Washed red socks, put them on radiator to dry ready for the morning.
Monday June 8th
Woke up, dressed, put red socks on before underpants or vest. Father stood at the door and wished me luck. Felt like a hero. Met Pandora and rest of committee at corner of our road; all of us were wearing red socks. Pandora's were lurex. She has certainly got guts! We sang “We shall not be moved” all the way to school. I felt a bit scared when we went through the gates but Pandora rallied us with shouts of encouragement.
Pop-eyed Scruton had been tipped off because hewas waiting in the fourth-year cloakroom. He was standing very still with his arms folded, staring with poached egg eyes. He didn’t speak, he just nodded upstairs. All the red socks trooped upstairs. My heart was beating dead loud. He went silently into his office and sat at his desk and started tapping his teeth with a school pen. We just stood there.
He smiled in a horrible way, then rang the bell on his desk. His secretary came in, he said, ‘Sit down and take a letter, Mrs. Claricoates.’ The letter was to our parents, it said:
Dear Mr and Mrs ...,
It is my sad duty to inform you that your son/daughter has deliberately flaunted one of the rules of this school. I take an extremely serious view of this contravention. I am therefore suspending your son/daughter for a period of one week. Young people today often lack sufficient moral guidance in the home, therefore I feel that it is my duty to take a firm stand in my school. If you wish to discuss the matter further with me do not hesitate to ring my secretary for an appointment.
Yours faithfully,
R G Scruton
Headmaster
Pandora started to say something about her O levels* suffering but Scruton roared at her to shut up! Even Mrs Claricoates jumped. Scruton said that we could wait until the letters had been typed, duplicated and signed and then we had better ‘hot foot it out of school’. We waited outside Scruton’s office. Pandora was crying (because she was angry and frustrated, she said). I put my arm round her a bit. Mrs Claricoates gave us our letters. She smiled very kindly; it can't be very easy working for a despot.
We went round to Pandora's house but it was locked, so I said everyone could come round to my house. It was quite tidy for once, apart from the dog hairs. My father raged about the letter. He is supposed to be a Conservative but he is not being very conservative at the moment.
I can't help wishing that I had worn black socks on Friday.
Tuesday June 9th
My father saw Scruton today and told him that if he didn't allow me back to school in whatever colour socks I like he would protest to his MP. Mr Scruton asked my father who his MP was. My father didn't know.
Monday June 15th
The Red Sock Committee has voted to give way to Scruton for the time being. We wear red socks underneath our black socks. This makes our shoes tight but we don’t mind because a principle is involved.
Reading Notes
• Adrian Mole – the main character in a series of books by the English writer Sue Townsend. He is a teenage boy and the books are in the form of his diary, in which he describes his life, thoughts and problems. They became very popular because they describe in a humorous way the attitudes and worries typical of boys of that age. The books are The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole – Aged 13 ¾ (1982), The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole (1984), and The Wilderness Years (1993) and The Cappucino Years (1999), in which Adrian has become an adult. The original film was also made into a stage musical.
• the Tolpuddle Martyrs – the name given to six farm workers from the village of Tolpuddle in Dorset, England, when they were found guilty in 1834 of illegal trade union activity. They were punished by being sent to Australia for seven years. There were many protests about this, and in 1836 the decision was changed and they were brought back to England as free men.
• The Ragged Trousered Philanthropist – a novel by Robert Tressall (1870-1911) about the harsh lives of working people in the early 20th century. It was published after his death, in 1918, and is still highly regarded for its comments on industrial relations.
[A]. Match the names and descriptions of the people. (Some of the descriptions can be matched to more than one name.)
Miss Sproxton
Pandora a teacher at the school
Scruton the headmaster of the school
Mrs Claricoates Pandora’s parents
Tania friends of Pandora
Ivan a girl Adrian likes very much
Nigel the headmaster’s secretary
Clair Neilson
Craig and Brett