We can’t blame Covid for everything.
As I start to think about the end of next term and my finishing full time teaching I am inevitably drawn to reflect a little bit on how things have changed. I stumbled upon a couple of short films made by students in 2012 and 2014 respectively. One was the story of a group of students learning to drum and the other a full on Zombie apocalypse set within the school. (See the trailer here featuring a large bearded man shooting said Zombies – great fun!)
These were made by kids of their own volition in their spare time. They were being imaginative and creative. Counter this with me walking into a day room and looking at a bank of children all staring at their phones, barely talking and certainly not using their imaginations.
Somewhere we are losing the joy of youth in terms of creativity and energy. Some would blame the isolation of COVID and/or the increased reliance on online communication which has been fostered and embedded by on line gaming and relentless social media feeds. I tend towards the latter. Algorithms are literally sapping the social and creative skills from the young as we sit and watch. I’m talking about 9-11 yr olds who latch onto their new devices like an electronic nipple that only nurtures them with anxieties and hatred until they are full of hopelessness and insecurities and the well of resilience that should be there is a dried up wadi where nothing grows. I increasingly feel like the bloke in Invasion of the Bodysnatchers pointing and screaming as no one else can see the coming death of humanity. Ahh well…
My last few months will increasingly be about encouraging the kids to express themselves in any way whatsoever. It may get messy!
The sounds this week firstly reflect my continued love of that West Coast sound with the new one from Sam Burton featuring the ubiquitous hand of Jonathan Wilson on production (he really is a sign of quality) – it’s a joy, and then a new one to me Buck Meek (probably not been paying attention) and finally some Dunwells an inexplicably seemingly obscure combo – they should be massive! As ever take what you want or need.
