JONATHAN JANSEN: The importance of being present - and less earnest
'How can anyone with even a threadbare conscience abandon children whose futures depend on them being present?'
You get home from work at night and your intimate partner or friend cannot wait to talk; your children want to tell you about what happened at school that day; and even the dog is jumping up and down for attention. You are unaware of their disappointment because your head is somewhere else. There were things that happened at work that preoccupy you, perhaps the damning audit report. Already you are planning what to do the next day. You fumble with your cellphone. Then one of the family brings you back to Earth: “You know, you are here, but you are not here.”It is perfectly possible to be physically present and yet absent at the same time. And yet in schools, we cannot even assume that teachers and principals are physically present. Like night and day On average, five teachers a day are absent from disadvantaged schools for reasons both legitimate or not. The fact that you are paid to show up is no guarantee that you will. This is what has always puzzled me. How can anyone with even ...
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