Chest thumping or a sense of ….

Something I believed I cured myself of, this was the need to chest thump and do the company salute, and be anally loyal to a corporate ethos. Like a recovering chest thumper, I have to resist the urge to be derisive to those engaged in the activity. Unlike some who have overcome the urge to chest thump, I don't get any pangs or need to have a sneaky chest thump when I think nobody is looking.

So, what is this chest thumping you speak of, you may ask?

Do you know someone who is so convinced that the working world they are in, with its values is the only way to be? Here in education, we do like our abundance of badges, stars, grades, kite marks, citations of excellence etc. In fact it seems to dominate conversations with schools, colleges and others alike.

As soon as their organization, their team, the school cat, etc, gets a new badge of honour. They enter a public session of chest thumping, its not pretty, in fact its dull.

If you mention that you may have been inflicted with the magical grade one (outstanding), some become misty eyed and you can almost see an angelic host rendering a heavenly chorus within their minds.

Yet, once they are in this treadmill, they are stuck. There are only two routes, maintain the momentum (and move faster, faster, faster) or stop and drop.

Once you are at the top, both are hell and it takes time for the victim of the chest thumping addiction to understand what they have been duped into. There are many ways of being good/outstanding at what you do, but as the many badges/grades are subject to ever changing political whim, are they actually worth anything.



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