Teaching Amidst Chaos
Teaching abroad still continues to humble me. The kids and adults I’ve worked with are both dedicated and industrious. Even the ones who struggle with the basics work hard and this determination is reflected throughout every class I teach. I’ve received a lot of questions in the past week regarding the riots that happened in the UK. Needless to say I was just as shocked as my pupils have been with everything. It still seems hard to imagine that London, Birmingham, Manchester and many other major cities became little more then thieves'playgrounds.
I think perhaps the worst thing about the riots was seeing the strain the emergency services were clearly under. Not for the first time, I felt deeply sympathetic toward all the police officers out on the streets. They looked frightened, undermanned and lacking in any significant riot gear. Being attacked by mindless thugs is probably scary at the best of times, but when you’re being attacked by thousands of the swine it must be terrifying. My students kept asking me why Britain didn’t have more police on the streets that night. To me the answer seems simple enough – the police never expected that kind of trouble.
The other service that deserves a lot of credit but rarely receives anything but criticism was the NHS. With all the injuries and several deaths, the hospitals must have been inundated with casualties. I even read that one poor chap in Ealing lost his life after he was attacked trying to put out a fire and two police officers are still lying in hospital with severe injuries following a hit and run incident by some of the looters. Doctors and nurses get a lot of flak considering their over worked and under paid, yet they strive on anyway.
My students like many people from around the world are still in slight awe of our national health service. It may have its problems and NHS nurse jobs may still be challenging to fill, but it is one of the most envied services the world over. I’ve been teaching my kids the history of how the service was first begun after the Second World War and how it has faced problems and challenges greater then the ones it faces now. They are right to be envious of the service and we are wrong to be so lacking in respect for it.
Now more then ever the emergency services need people to go and work for them. Several of my pupils who are qualified nurses and doctors have already stated a desire to go and study and work within the NHS when their English has got to the required level of fluency. This is what has made me so humble teaching abroad. The UK is the envy of many nations in Europe and beyond, yet we seem so intent on focusing on the negatives that we fail to appreciate the positives. I am proud of my country and I am exceedingly in awe of how the police and the NHS conducted themselves during the recent riots. There aren’t many emergency service personnel in the world who can conduct themselves in such a patient and protective manner.
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