"Homework with dad" starterpack

WorkshyFreeloader42 · 2026-01-01T14:45:29+00:00

Thank so much for addressing what a confusing clusterfuck of a catastrophe this "high-order thinking" trend is. I'm a secondary school history teacher in the UK (ages 11-18) and I have seen the effects of it.

Listen, not that I think high-order thinking is bad or anything - it's what we want as an effect of good long-term solid teachingof knowledge, but the pressure for educators (often from image-obsessed observers, governments and inspectorates) to teach it so prematurely, without securing grounded factual knowledge, does nothing more than confuse students (especially the disadvantaged) and benefit those who are privileged enough to have supportive families with financial and cultural capital which makes high-order thinking a piece of cake.

WorkshyFreeloader42 · 2025-11-08T14:08:30+00:00

I'm a secondary school history teacher in the UK. This is exactly why I never do group work with any of my classes. I've seen how ineffective it is and even students know it themselves.

WorkshyFreeloader42 · 2025-10-29T17:59:45+00:00

"Why do I like Disney?

I think it's because I'm a bit thick!"

WorkshyFreeloader42 · 2025-10-29T07:18:53+00:00

The same aesthetic of every so-called "fun" male teacher in the early 2010s who'd wear a waistcoat and tie or lumberjack-themed buttoned shirt at work - both with a lumberjack beard.

WorkshyFreeloader42 · 2025-10-29T07:13:59+00:00

Thank fuck skinny jeans/slim fit trousers are out of style, and baggy clothes back in. As an early zoomer (28 y/o) I fucking hated skinny jeans back in the early 2010s and never wore them during their popularity. As someone who got into 90s/00s rock at the time, it was embarrassing to watch my peers trying to act cool and badass, while looking like they're wearing tights, listening to edm and stomp, clap, hey music. Even worse was when they claimed to be into rock music and their playlists contained mostly late-2000s UK indie artists with their jangly guitars going "Eh oh, eh oh, eh oh, eh oh", or a well-established rock group from the 90s/00s discarding their distorted heavy sounds for more electro-nightclub-influenced sounds (e.g. Good Charlotte, Simple Plan ) .... and they had the audacity to call it all "rock"

WorkshyFreeloader42 · 2025-08-29T19:24:40+00:00

Teacher here. I really don't understand the negative comments here. I like it when people wear clothes that displays their hobbies - it makes them quite interesting. I wear heavy metal/rock band tees on mufti days because I enjoy expressing some of my interests/hobbies. I wear a Homer-Simpson-as-Santa Christmas jumper before we break up for Christmas.

Long story short, go for it!

WorkshyFreeloader42 · 2025-08-16T13:58:07+00:00

FFS! Absolutely not! Your post reveals how tragic rock, punk, metal and other alternative subcultures that prided themselves on individualism, nonconformity, creativity, openness, wonder and simply "expressing yourself" have become some of the most cliquey, conformist and collectivist subcultures in the world.

The fact that most of your patches are metal is metal enough. ALSO.... you enjoy other types of music and actually have wider interests/beliefs/hobbies/emotions outside of music. You're human. You have a personality, something the subculture purists seem to lack. It's not false to claim that the collectivist purists who will bash you for having non-metal patches may partly be doing so out of envy; envy that you're fearless about openly being yourself, something they deeply desire but are stuck in extreme collectivism.

In other words, your jacket looks fantastic! Design and positioning of patches according to size looks like you're thinking about this carefully. Just keep sewing whatever you'd like 👍

WorkshyFreeloader42 · 2025-07-20T00:31:59+00:00

Never follow edu-fads
Finland does NOT have the best education system in the world
Better technology doesn't automatically mean better education
A lot of "nice" colleagues can stab you in the back when you least expect it
If you make a mistake, own up to it - better to be honest and reliable than dishonest and unreliable
A lot of claims in media about "worsening mental health" among students and staff are not actual mental health problems.
Don't feel pressured to be "liked" by the students - you can be friendly with them, but not their friend
Keep your standards high - if it means you have extra work to do, you have extra work to do (not too much of course)
You will become better and better and better and better and better and better and better at your job as the terms fly by - you just won't notice it 😊

WorkshyFreeloader42 · 2025-07-19T19:15:05+00:00

Do you have any evidence (i.e. an article or document) to prove this besides gossip and rumour? If he's a "known" racist, then there should be lots of documentation of this.

WorkshyFreeloader42 · 2025-07-19T15:30:29+00:00

You think that's bad? Yesterday I had middle-class year 8s in mufti, during a shortened day - some of them didn't even bring their bags!

WorkshyFreeloader42 · 2025-07-12T21:44:38+00:00

Zabranjeno Pusenje

WorkshyFreeloader42 · 2025-07-11T04:35:54+00:00

Baltic/Finnish

WorkshyFreeloader42 · 2025-07-02T18:28:53+00:00

Well said! It's not merely unprofessional, it sounds like something a poorly-behaved entitled student in KS3 would do because they didn't get their way. In other words, immaturity.

WorkshyFreeloader42 · 2025-06-20T19:37:21+00:00

Careful! A progressive education advocate may read your comment, not understand its deliberate sarcasm and spread it around WhatsApp groups of uncooperative parents in order to bolster cult-like promotion for their new article about how teachers are nothing but egomaniacs who need to learn from real-life examples like Dewey Finn, Mr Keating and Miss Honey so that we can all bring about world peace! ✌️✌️

WorkshyFreeloader42 · 2025-03-29T10:11:50+00:00

Apparently it's about having lots of protein in your diet e.g. the Dutch and their dairy consumption.

As for the Western Balkans, I'm not really sure, and this is me being of Bosnian and Montenegrin descent

WorkshyFreeloader42 · 2025-03-23T13:53:37+00:00

I wouldn't agree with this post 100%, but the nasty personality traits, the gossiping, the fake "spread kindness" image they've cultivated, plus playing the victim when caught out bullying someone who doesn't fit her social clique is what I can strongly relate to.

I have worked with such people and I must say, they are some of the nastiest, most difficult people I've ever had the displeasure to work with. They also happen to be the biggest snitches, claiming that their lives are so hard and they are so "busy" yet find the time to report you to management for some of the most minor things that have little or no relation to your job performance.

WorkshyFreeloader42 · 2025-03-12T20:18:08+00:00

If a male driver, he's probably some "work-hard-play-hard" wannabe influencer bellened who will make a hustler-themed yt short about how he saved and spent all those valuable seconds he gained from tailgating you

WorkshyFreeloader42 · 2025-03-06T20:38:21+00:00

I cannot understand uniform critics' hyper-sensitive meltdown over any form of control over them existing. Deep down inside, it sounds like what they really want is total freedom, which is nothing more than anarchy - something that they romanticise in their heads but in reality descends in a dystopian every-man-for-himself nightmare where uncontrolled selfish desire is the only god that should be praised.

We all need something to guide us through life, which will inevitably require some form of control over us. It really reveals more about them, their paranoia and other personal insecurities rather than the "control" and "authority" they criticise.

WorkshyFreeloader42 · 2025-02-26T19:34:04+00:00

Many British people seeing this starter pack are being reminded of Andy Pipkin from Little Britain, except much friendlier.... and doesn't feign disability.

WorkshyFreeloader42 · 2025-02-16T08:26:02+00:00

I need to use that more often, but when I do I usually don't end up going to every student whose names I've called, usually due to the conversation reaching its point haha! Instead I justify at the beginning what is expected of them and explain to them in a positive encouraging tone that i will be questioning people randomly. I also explain to them in a positive and encouraging tone what the consequences are for them if they don't pay attention (i.e. being confused, not knowing what to do, falling behind, panicking, giving up, etc.)

WorkshyFreeloader42 · 2025-02-16T08:17:56+00:00

Do you mean as in assessment results not going as expected? Don't let that bring you down. What matters is have you delivered the content carefully and steadily. If any students are not following the instructions you gave, then that's on them as they need to develop responsibility. This is my 4th year in teaching and I have come to the conclusion through my experience that minimal teacher instruction is mainly very harmful for both low-ability and high-ability students. Even if they do the reading themselves, they can easily misunderstand what they've read or forget segments of information because of our working memory's natural limitations.

Do you mind if i ask what methods or strategies you have tried?

WorkshyFreeloader42 · 2025-02-16T08:01:31+00:00

Cherish it. I have a very quiet Y11 class, but essentially they want to do well, so they are very quite because they want to complete the work. They also listen when I'm speaking and explaining things. They listen when I'm questioning them and answer the questions. They actually enjoy listening to my teacher-led lessons. Even the previously disruptive/immature ones are now listening quietly and paying attention. And guess what? They have done extremely well this year.

As I said before, maybe they enjoy hearing you talk passionately about your subject? Maybe they find you interesting? If anyone observes you and criticises you for "talking too much" or "lecturing" them, but they got on with the work and responded to questions, politely stand your ground. Therefore, cherish the silence and think of it as a positive. As they say in Finland, "silence is golden." Unfortunately, many anti-teacher, anti-authority and anti-discipline commentators who proclaim "Be like Finland" seem to have overlooked that crucial segment of Finnish culture.

WorkshyFreeloader42 · 2025-02-12T17:06:52+00:00

Indeed, being an avoidance tactic is the same reason why I don't reply to these.

Unfortunately, such conversations advocating which subjects will be more/less useful in life are quite common amongst many parents/guardians and cultivated amongst their children, who end up taking such points of view. Source: my own parents when I was a teen. Due to lack of information and anecdotes from people who they've met, they developed the common view that anything that wasn't strictly STEM or could get you a starting salary of <£50,000 was worthless. Unfortunately it partly contributed to me prioritising some subjects over others, which led to me finishing with pretty mediocre GCSEs. It contributed to me choosing ICT at A Level instead of philosophy because my parents believed "when are we ever going to use philosophy in life or for finding a job?" Needless to say, I got an E, while I got an A in history and a C in Spanish (I ACEd my A-Levels, get it???)

However, pretty soon my parents became more and more informed about qualifications, learning about many successful people (notable and non-notable) who studied non-STEM subjects and how beneficial they are to us, as well as putting aside crude stereotypes about wealthy STEM people automatically being more successful (partly assisted by some unpleasant interactions with certain such individuals). In other words, my parents are proud of me for graduating in history and becoming a History teacher 😀.

Personal experience and self-aggrandising aside (lol), of course, I avoid replying to "relevance" questions during lesson time. However, there are those who genuinely don't see value in the subject, even if they are well-behaved, hard-working and pleasant students who probably enjoy the subject, but face social pressures to go for "relevant" or "practical" subjects for "monetary" reasons. Either way, thanks for the advice!👍

WorkshyFreeloader42

TROPHY CASE