Teacher's diary
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Over the course of two weeks in April 2004, the British satirical magazine Private Eye published a journal, Teacher's Diary, written by a maths teacher at what he called (quoting Tony Blair's spokesman, Alastair Campbell) "a bog standard comprehensive".
The diary revealed a massive undercurrent of pupil misbehaviour and incompetence in schools, including girls who are sexually active before they can do simple sums, students who cry that they have rights if any attempt is made to punish them, and a pervasive attitude of indifference.
The diary, in a special pull-out section of the magazine, drew widespread messages of support and confirmation of the problem, which were printed in the following issue; the messages came not only from teachers, but from pupils too.
Eventually, the teacher (who was anonymous in print) disclosed his identity and school, and was interviewed by the Daily Telegraph.
External links
- The Full Diary (http://web.archive.org/web/20040718031921/www.private-eye.co.uk/content/showitem.cfm/issue.1110/section.teacher)