Posts by Craig Ranapia
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Up Front: That's Inappropriate!, in reply to Lilith __,
“Covering arms is a mark of respect in many religions institutions and sacred spaces, so too it should be in the workplace.”
That’s a seriously crap line of reasoning from someone who is supposed to be a “career consultant.” What “religions institution” are you talking about? I’m a Catholic and was raised never to go to mass barefoot or wearing a hat. If I was a Muslim or Jew, being bare-headed at prayers in a mosque or synagogue would be profoundly offensive.
Of course, there are plenty of workplaces where there are perfectly sound, and explicit, health and safety reasons why you’d keep your arms covered. (For example, working in a restaurant kitchen around food, boiling liquids and open flames; or a factory where you're handling chemicals.) It never hurts to ask.
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Up Front: That's Inappropriate!, in reply to Emma Hart,
Most schools have trousers as an alternative uniform for girls. I'm talking about getting rid of the skirt completely and forcing the all girls to wear trousers all the time.
If you want to give girls a life lesson, it's never too soon to learn about the kind of weirdo who thinks lady trousers are next to Godlessness, muff-diving and being an armpit Rapunzel.
(Dear God: Next time around, can I be a cockroach? The whole human being thing isn't working for me.)
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Up Front: That's Inappropriate!, in reply to Emma Hart,
This and his hideous column on Nayan Woods' death would seem to indicate that he's reached a level of curmudgeonliness where he genuinely hates young people.
The fact-free man-splaining of Emma and Duncan Woods, who behaved with extraordinary grace and dignity in the face of a tragedy I can't get my head around, was beyond "inappropriate". While I loved Emma's lethal take-down of Michael Laws, she shouldn't have had to do the fact-check on the SST's behalf.
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Up Front: That's Inappropriate!, in reply to Danielle,
The appeal to dubious authority is a logical fallacy that shouldn’t pass muster in any decently run high school debate team.
I’ve also got to note the irony that I’ve heard Judy Callingham – Edwards’ partner in life and business – talk with considerable eloquence, and some anger, about how hard her generation of media women had to fight against casual and pervasive newsroom sexism. You know, things like the concept that objecting to a running commentary on your clothes and make-up and tits doesn’t make you a “humourless man-hating feminist” (and probably a dyke to boot).
I hope I’d be told to fuck off if I walked into a professional meeting at Callingham & Edwards, then suggested I’d be more interested in receiving media training from someone who looked a tad less “slutty”. OTOH, Ms. Callingham might swoon at the prospect of enormous amounts of costly media training required to make such a troglodyte fit to go out in public. :)
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Up Front: That's Inappropriate!, in reply to Jackie Clark,
Breaking the uniform code is not a reason to make comment on a child’s appearance.
Indeed – I don’t think anyone is suggesting a school doesn’t have the right to set and enforce uniform standards. (You might think said standard is as ri-donk-u-lously dated as changing into formal dress for dinner at eight sharp, but that’s another argument.)
But, as I’ve said more than once elsewhere, Ms. King is supposed to be the adult in this scenario. (I’d also note that teacher unions have been ringing alarm bells about verbal abuse and intimidation of their members by parents and students for years; and three years ago the Government required all schools to have anti-bullying strategies in place to be monitored by the ERO.)
I have enormous respect for people like you, Jackie – not least because I couldn’t do it for a more than a week without turning into the love child of Mrs Sweary and Mr. Stabby. Alleged adults shit me off more than enough, thanks. I make no apologies for expecting a hell of a lot from teachers: What they do matters, and most of them step up admirably.
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Up Front: That's Inappropriate!, in reply to Robyn Gallagher,
There are, actually, other ways of dealing with such issues that don’t involve adults making dramatic sexual comments about teenage girls.
As I said in my PAR piece this week (on another bullying teacher), the Education Ministry’s own Is My Child A Bully? tip sheet has some useful hints:
Your child may be having social or emotional problems they find hard to handle. Some children may feel pressured to take part in bullying to be accepted or so they don’t get bullied themselves.
{…} * Talk to your child about better ways to handle situations where they may act aggressively. For example, ask for help if they get frustrated, walking away to cool down, respect others and being tolerant of people who are different.
Praise appropriate behaviour
When you see your teen or child getting on well with others, or keeping calm when they don’t like something, let them know how well they are doing. You might have to look really closely at first but recognising and praising good behaviour is important.
Talk to the school
Talk to your child’s teacher about the problem and ask them for advice. When you and the school work together, you are much more likely to be able to resolve the problem.
If you know about bullying, tell the school, even if your child is not involved. This shows your child that you and others are serious about stopping bullying.
Schools are expected to treat bullying as the serious matter it is. The National Administration Guidelines (NAGs) state that schools must “provide a safe physical and emotional environment for students”. The New Zealand Curriculum and Wellbeing and Belonging (in Te Whariki) both include managing self and relating to others as key competencies.
(Emphasis added. Italics not in original. CR)
It seems to me that dealing with truculent, obtuse students is 90% of a dean’s job; if Ms. King can’t handle it without the kind of vulgar language that would land a student or parent in very deep shit if s/he directed it at a teacher, then you’ve got to wonder where the professional support is.
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Ms King’s language was injudicious, but it is worth noting she did not call Amethyst a slut. She told her she looked like one. There is a difference.
If she is guilty of anything, it is probably of caring. Her words sound like those of a teacher stretched to the end of her tether trying to get through to a pupil who does not want to listen.
That's not only a concern troll, but should be causing heart murmurs at Fairfax HQ. I don't think the Employment Court would be willing to split that particular hair if a senior manager told a female cadet she wasn't actually the kind of ho who could suck a bowling ball through a straw, she just looked like one. Meeting the rolling maul of deadlines required to put a newspaper to bed six days a week, fifty-two week a year, is damn stressful too. But you expect you senior management to be professional adults. Don't you?
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Hard News: Do you like what we've done…, in reply to nzlemming,
I've been told that squinting is sexy. Reason #1,465,821 why my partner has transcended mere awesome and is on a whole other plain of some kind of wonderful.
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To be entirely self-interested, nice to see that the Public Address Radio podcasts are a little easier to find. Though not enough for my rapacious and needy ego…
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To be entirely self-interested, nice to see that the Public Address Radio podcasts are a little easier to find. Though not enough for my rapacious and needy ego...
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