The second iceberg-like distortion that has developed to be a part of education is poor student behaviour. Again it is a one tenth/ nine tenth situation.

Student behaviour seen or perceived by the public is that demonstrated by the students who are keen and eager to learn. These are the students who do their best at all times, working diligently and independently. These are the students who earn awards, who are top performers and a credit to their families and schools.

Within every school and below the surface (kept out of the line of visibility) are those (growing) numbers of students who in all honesty do not give a toss about where they are and what they doing. These are students requiring increasing disciplinary management programs. They are students either passive or active in terms of aberrant and dysfunctional behaviour in schools, who are not there by desire but by the necessity of regulations that they attend school until reaching the legislated leaving age.

They take up huge amounts of time Their teachers often vainly attempt to modify their behaviour, motivating them toward learning. All too often it is to no avail because the joy of these students is to upset others and disrupt learning opportunities of peers.

These days teachers spend 80 or 90% of the time disciplining and managing students. That leaves only a small amount of time available for meaningful teaching.

The ability of teachers to discipline students and to manage behaviour has eroded over time with control measures diminishing. At the same time the rights of students have come to the fore. Students rule schoolsAnd that is to the detriment of diminishment of education and far too many instances.

On officially and “under the table” teachers complain the same firstly about the way they are treated and about the hardships of teaching. I discussed this with each other and talk about it online. Student inertia is a part of primary and secondary schools both public and private.

The second iceberg is a reality of education and unfortunately this iceberg is not melting. If anything, it is growing and expanding and becoming more and more insidious as an educational manifestation.

This student context is a prime reason for why the joy of teaching quickly fades and explains why so many teachers leaving the profession.