Joe knows every verse of Goldsmith's Deserted Village by heart. He recites snippets of it in the staffroom to remind those who care to listen of the respect in which teachers were once held in Ireland.
Mary, who just had her car pelted with eggs, has no time for Joe's reminiscences. "Only two weeks ago I brought that 4D crowd on their annual school trip and today I cannot walk out the gate for fear of being called names or having eggs all over my clothes."
Pat blames the media. "Did you hear the students phoning Liveline?, Joe Duffy treated them as if they were all budding Charlie Birds."
Joe peers out the staffroom window. "Would you believe who is leading the chants outside the school gate?" he asks in rising anger. "Murphy from third year who was suspended last week. The `boss' should do something about him."
As the principal moves out among the chanting students, a chorus of "boos" and catcalls rises to a crescendo.
"In all my years as a teacher I have never witnessed such disrespect," offers an increasingly dejected Joe.
As the staffroom fills up with teachers whose pupils just upped and walked out to join the protest, there is a growing feeling that the status of the teacher is about to reach a new low. Assailed by ever-decreasing parental support and an increasing militancy among students there is a feeling of dejection and frustration in the staffroom.
Tom, the guidance counsellor, offers a philosophical view. "We have been wondering for years how our young people would cope with the ills of modern society and a technological revolution that makes it easier than ever to exchange information without being in personal contact. Now we know: they are compensating for all of this by becoming intensely tribal."
Today is not a day for philosophising. There are too many mixed emotions in the staffroom. For the first time there is also fear. A growing fear that the teacher's authority in the classroom is in the process of being challenged as never before. If that happens, there will a dramatic increase in the numbers of teachers applying for early retirement, and younger teachers seeking pastures new in alternative careers.
