A moment of pure joy

I think I've mentioned before how on tuesdays my debaters start appearing outside my room before I've even finished teaching. Today was no different. Taylor came in and sat at the edge of the lesson, watching me finish the class, trying not to piss herself laughing at the year 7s ("But Miss! I can't write a whole sentence! It's too loooong!!")

Then the rest trickle in.They start chatting to each other about the leader's debate.
"Miss, did you watch it?"
"Of course she did you idiot, she's a politics teacher"

(I watched the leader's debate in a pub in Cornwall over Easter with an apathetic, apolitical registered voter. By the end, she actually cheered when the instant poll showed Nick Clegg the winner. Anyhow - point being - I'd said to her "I hope my debaters are watching this", which made her piss herself. That'll show her!)

"Miss how did you know before everyone else about Nick Clegg?"
"You're such a fool, I JUST SAID she's a politics teacher!"

They ask me what I thought about the debate, and who I think will win the general election, and one sits down at the computer and brings up the BBC swingometer to show the rest, which causes all sorts of problems for the year 9s and the one year 10 I don't teach, neither of whom have had the exciting experience of Miss' excellent electoral system lessons. The rest (2 of whom I taught last year, 3 in my current GCSE class) start to explain FPTP, the scottish system of PR, and in five minutes or so they've started linking it in to everything else that's going on in the sleazy world of politics. 

"But if it aint one MP per place, per consistency, oh shut up I can't say it, per area you know, if they all come from that list, how do you get rid of them? Like if they buy a moat on expenses or lie or whatever?"
"Dunno, maybe you have to have another system for that, it don't mean PR's totally rubbish does it"

I just sat and watched, as my kids taught each other about concepts that are probably beyond most registered voters, and analysed whether they'd work better or worse than the status quo, given the world we live in. It was totally awesome.

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