The 1960s movement to expand teaching repertoires from adult-dominated classroom techniques to child-centred was difficult for many. Expert at teaching strategies in which chalk-talk activities controlled the school day, they tended to stay at that end of the continuum. Some maintained a so-called traditionalist stance reminiscent of Scholarship days when the accumulation of content and getting a correct answer held sway. There was a premium, many maintained, on the value of “years of experience”, which came to be defined in a number of ways. They formed the solid core of many large schools, and were teachers upon whom everyone relied for the maintenance of school routines and pupil control. Some proudly resisted change and held firmly to their stance. Whatever else, they were respected.
SCHOOLMARMS’ UPSET
[Tune : "Gendarmes' Duet"]
They say our methods are outmoded -
That we have missed the New School bus -
And we admit the dice are loaded
Against a winning throw for us;
But we go on force-feeding knowledge,
Quite undeterred by any qualms -
We ram it in, we ram it in, we ram it in, we ram it in,
We show them we’re the old schoolmarms;
We ram it in, we ram it is, we ram it in, we ram it in,
We show them we’re the Old School – marms !
To practise with-it education
You look on TEACHING with distaste;
For it’s a LEARNING SITUATION
In which the little dears are PLACED.
With all the teaching we are doing
We must be doing untold harms -
We ram it in, etc.
We should be helping them discover
What they conceive a need to know;
The gentle guide now, not the shover
To where they have no wish to go.
But when your ways are fixed and settled
The very thought of change alarms -
We ram it in, etc.
Although as out-of-date we’re branded
We struggle on against the tide;
We are upholders of the standard
And we will not let standards slide.
We wield the old-style teaching weapons
And we will not lay down our arms -
We ram it in, etc.
And when it comes, that big reaction
Against the sloppy, vague and lax,
It be seen by every faction
That schools are riding on our backs;
We do the solid work that’s hidden
Beneath the surface frills and charms -
We ram it in, we ram it in, we ram it in, we ram it in,
We show them we’re the old schoolmarms;
We ram it in, we ram it in, we ram it in, we ram it in,
We’re proud to be the Old School – marms.
We ram it in, etc.
Many an old schoolmarm moved out of view and her absence was lamented.
LAMENT FOR LOST SCHOOLMARM
[Tune: "Ma, I Miss Your Apple Pie"]
Marm, I miss your tables chart,
Chanting “Five and two”;
Marm, we never learn “by heart”,
And we’ve lost heart, BOO-HOO!
Oh, Marm, I miss the “cat on mat”
I once read to you…..
I now read to Susan under a tree -
She makes the same blues, an’ can’t correct me -
Oh, Marm, I miss your red “Repeat”
And, by the way, I miss you too!
