A sign of the times

Maybe I'm getting old. Or maybe I'm just irritable. Or even plain impatient.

I speak of the mentality of the kids I teach. Particularly the one older pupil that I give private lessons to. I guess the kids at school are young enough to ask questions that annoy me. But my private student doesn't seem to use common sense or his initiative at all.

Yesterday's lesson was a prime example: I set him an exercise, and he wrote something that was wrong and crossed it out to correct himself. He turned to me and asked if it mattered that he had crossed out an answer on the page. Bear in mind that these lessons are essentially informal, in that I pretty much decide on the spot what areas are going to be covered in the hour that I'm paid to take charge of this boy. Now also consider that this boy comes along to my flat, uses my paper (because he 'forgets' to bring an exercise book/pad of paper of his own every week), and my pens to write with, and he asks if it matters that there's a crossing out on the page. I'm all for neat work, but come on! There is a rather large grey area when it comes to how one gauges neatness.

So the kid isn't big on making his own decisions. Not exactly a big deal, you may think. But then there's the frustration of him being reluctant to actually think for himself during this hour that he is with me.

I set him something to gauge what he knows and doesn't know, and explain that he just has to give it a go so that I don't tell him something that he already knows - what's the point of that? But because I term some things differently to the text book he uses at school, he assumes he's never done it. And for the record, I usually do the first one as an example to show him, so he can see what he has to do.

So I leave him to it while I go potter about with coffee/coke/juice etc. I come back, he tells me he's finished, and he's not even attempted it half the time, prompting a conversation (in French) along the lines of:

Him: I'm not sure I'll get it right.
Me: You pay me to tell you if you've got it right or not. And if not, I'll explain it to you so that you know in future.
Him: But I'm not sure.
Me: Try. You learn more like that, than from being told what to do with you having made no effort.

And so he gives it a go. And eight times out of ten, he's bang on the mark.

So is it shyness? Laziness? A genuine fear of being wrong? Or maybe he's trying too hard and making it more complicated than it actually is? Whatever it is, I'm struggling to find a way to get him to work things out for himself. Why make it simply a lesson in English when I can teach him lifelong skills (namely multitasking) at the same time? Thinking and working are generally considered to go together anyway, aren't they?

It takes two to tango

The other night I watched Crash for what must be the fifth or sixth time since I bought it on DVD. I also saw it at the cinema when I was living in France two years ago as a late showing as it had won the Oscar for Best Picture.

What surprises me about the film is I find myself sympathising with different characters each time I watch it. There is something that makes me despise the subject content of the film, but at the same time, it is something that has been addressed with sensitivity and attention to both sides of the story. Look at the plotline on the part of Anthony/Peter. Anthony portrays himself as the typically opressed black man, expecting to be discriminated against because of his skin colour. Peter takes a more optimistic view, suggesting that Anthony is being oversensitive. When we are first introduced to these two characters, I'm inclined to sympathise with Peter rather than Anthony. Anthony is simply feeling sorry for himself and because of the history of black people, he simply lives up to the stereotypes associated with his race. Especially when he and Peter then carjack Sandra Bullock and Brendan Fraser's characters.

At this point the shoe is on the other foot. We are not sympathising at all with Anthony, and much less with Peter than before, until Sandra Bullock's near-monologue ranting about how as a white woman fearful of two black youths she feels the need to remain silent for fear of being labelled a racist should she cross the street or look the other way. This, in essence, totally backs up everything that Anthony has already said - particularly when Jean (Sandra Bullock) insists on the locks being changed yet again because the locksmith is not white. But he's not black either. And this really confuses me.

Where is the line drawn? When are the barriers constructed thanks to stereotypes going to be broken down? It is these persisting stereotypes that means the issue of racism persists. But one stereotypical image of racism is very very wrong: that which depicts a racist being white. A racist can just as easily be black. Just look at Anthony in 'Crash' and you'll see what I mean.

Broken suitcase, Broken faith

It's amazing how one little incident can put you off something for a while. After managing to hump my heavy suitcase on and off trains without so much as a relatively big knock, you'd think that big strong baggage handlers would manage to take care of it.

But, for the first time ever, I reclaimed a suitcase damaged to the extent that to use it again with an airline I will have to sign a liability disclaimer. Upon reporting the damage on my arrival in Nice last Friday, I was told that I have seven days to get someone in a suitcase-selling shop to sign and give me a certificate that my current suitcase is irreparable, and to buy a new one, then send the airline a bunch of paperwork, including said certificate.

Now, buying a new one is not a problem. I walk into the shop; I decide which one I want; I tell the man/woman; I pay for it; I take it home.

But how and where on earth do I get a certificate of irreparability? It's the most ridiculous thing I've heard in a while - I mean if it wasn't damaged, surely the man at the airport who I complained to would have been able to tell me "You're wrong there love, there's nowt wrong with it"?? The fact that he didn't (and he did inspect the damage) kind of presupposes that I'm not lying, does it not?

So now I'm in a quandary as to whether to bother pursuing a claim. The airline does point out that it's liability is limited and that I might be better off pursuing it through my own travel insurance instead. But for the sake of a suitcase, I'm not going to do that. What narks me is the principle that I can't take all my possessions on board with me, but by checking them in they're not safe. Granted, this has happened to hundreds of thousands of people over the past however-many-years-of-commercial-air-travel, but until it actually happens to you, it's hard to really imagine how much it actually pisses you off.

Needless to say, I'll be avoiding this airline at every opportunity in future.