Cough, splutter. Bloody dust.
And we’re back slightly early. It all resumed with the conference last weekend, which was fairly similar to last year’s conference right down to the option events for the old lags to attend. Time for something new. This year’s big ideas are to impose the philosophy on the InterBac programme beyond its native bounds, and to dole out more homework. The former will soon be forgotten where it doesn’t really belong, and the latter seems to be little more than the sinofication [sic!] of the programme. It reminds me of the old mantra, “Reading is important. Students must do more reading. Writing is important. Students must do more writing. Etc., etc… Everything is important. Students must do more everything.” The day is long enough, and our students have TOEFL, SATs, piano practice, and numerous other after-school activities to squeeze into their overfull days. Sometimes homework is necessary, but I’d rather not give it for the sake of giving it. We’ve been back at school this wee...