tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6138624.post111483122563255495..comments2023-03-17T14:45:50.282+00:00Comments on Exploring the Purpose of Things: Target-SettingRichard Veryardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04499123397533975655noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6138624.post-54277672989452096512007-07-01T08:27:00.000+01:002007-07-01T08:27:00.000+01:00Dear POSIWID,I'm not convinced that target setting...Dear POSIWID,<BR/><BR/>I'm not convinced that target setting has anything to do with education in its true sense. Targets are driving many teachers round the bend and mean little to pupils. I think they've also become endemic in society generally but no one seems to be challenging their use or their worth. I wrote this poem:<BR/><BR/>Targets, Bloody Targets by Rob Barratt<BR/><BR/><BR/>Did you meet your targets?<BR/>Did they make you SMART?<BR/>Or did they mutate into something you hate<BR/>A dartboard for your dart<BR/><BR/>Who decided targets work?<BR/>Why play these silly games?<BR/>When did objectives become ineffective?<BR/>Whatever happened to aims?<BR/><BR/>Targets are for archery<BR/>Or a massive corporation<BR/>But when they are set and then are not met<BR/>They become an abomination<BR/><BR/>How did we live before them?<BR/>And without them get this far?<BR/>How could we believe we could ever achieve,<BR/>And who IS the target tsar?<BR/><BR/>What targets did Da Vinci have <BR/>Or Michelangelo?<BR/>What targets do you give to an Inuit<BR/>Who’s hunting in the snow?<BR/><BR/>What targets for a drummer <BR/>As he plays a paradiddle?<BR/>Are violinists’ targets based<BR/>On figures they can fiddle?<BR/><BR/><BR/><BR/><BR/>Targets are wondrous, magical things,<BR/>They have a life of their own,<BR/>But you have to feel guilt and blood will be spilt <BR/>If you’re not in the target zone<BR/><BR/>But now I’ve hit my target,<BR/>‘Cos I’m using my ability<BR/>To write a poem based on <BR/>This pointless word’s futility<BR/><BR/>This tiresome word has now become<BR/>Redundant psycho-babble<BR/>And the only time it’s useful is<BR/>When you are playing Scrabble<BR/><BR/>Next time you’re given targets<BR/>Just say that you’re above it,<BR/>Fulfil your ambition and don’t feel contrition<BR/>By telling them where they can shove it<BR/><BR/>(sung to the tune of “I don’t believe in if anymore”)<BR/>No, I don’t believe in targets any more<BR/>They’re an illusion<BR/>They’re an illusion<BR/><BR/>(Spoken)<BR/>Targets, targets, everywhere,<BR/>And all the boards did shrink<BR/>Targets, bloody targets<BR/>I think that targets stink!! <BR/><BR/><BR/>Yours, Rob Barratt (Bodmin)Rob Barratthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10227416499742230456noreply@blogger.com