Maria: Did you prefer to have more or fewer rules at school?

Rory: I think like most kids, I'd have preferred to have fewer to follow. It was hard to keep track of all the different policies and procedures they came out with. I mean, even the teachers couldn't keep up.

Maria: Have you ever had a really strict teacher?

Rory: I think all of them came down pretty hard on their classes. And given that there were 27 of us per class, there wasn't any other way to do it. They always had to be on our cases or there would have been anarchy.

Maria: Do you like following the rules?

Rory: Well, I think I like them now more than I did in the past, since I can understand the ins and outs of things related to them. But I really only stick to the ones that make sense. There are some that are almost completely nonsensical.

Maria: Were there any rules for students at your school?

Rory: Oh, loads. Like I said, we were basically buried under paperwork for them. And I think students continued to be, well, buried under them to this day, sadly.

Maria: Will you follow more rules in the future?

Rory: I mean, I certainly hope not. It's bad enough that there are a million guidelines and procedures for everything now. Never mind what might lie ahead.

Maria: So, dear listener, rules. Here we talk about rules at school, at work, just following the rules, but usually about studies. So when you were a student at school, or if you go to school now, what rules do you have there? Or maybe university, university rules. We say follow the rules, and also we say more rules or fewer rules. So careful, we don't say less rules, less people. No, no, no. Fewer people. In real life, even educated native speakers say less rules, less people, but in the exam, it's grammatically correct. So we still follow the traditional rules of grammar. So fewer rules. Less money, less energy, but fewer people, fewer rules. And you can say "I'd prefer fewer rules to follow."

Rory: Or "I'd have preferred."

Maria: Ooh.

Rory: What, what what is that?

Maria: "I would have preferred." Is band nine.

Rory: Perfect aspect.

Maria: Yeah, because when I was at school, I had many rules to follow, but "I would have preferred" because we are talking about the past, which is over. It was hard to keep track of different policies. So at school, we have different rules, regulations and policies, not politics, but policies. So it was difficult to remember all the policies or to keep track of different policies and procedures, dear listener. Rory, could you give us an example of a school policy?

Rory: Oh, I don't know. Don't bully other students, for example, or what happens when you misbehave in class or you're rude.

Maria: Yeah, usually, it's about guidelines, is another word, about safety, about learning, anti-bullying behavior. For example, don't beat other people. And you can say that we had a lot of policies and procedures, so it was difficult to keep up. To keep up, to remember everything, to be up to date with different rules. So we have synonyms already, dear listener. Policies, procedures, regulations, guidelines.

Rory: All of them we have to follow and keep up with. To follow the rules, you obey them. If you keep up with them, then you understand what is current and what is not.

Maria: And if you don't follow the rules, you break the rules. Some questions could be about teachers, like a strict teacher usually follows all the rules. And you can say "I've never had any strict teachers," or "I had a couple of strict teachers." And Rory used a phrasal verb. So some of them came down pretty hard on their students. Rory, what did you mean?

Rory: Oh, that just means that they enforced the rules very harshly.

Maria: These teachers insisted that everyone should follow the rules. And for example, students had to be on time all the time. So you say enforce a rule. We can also say impose. So teachers imposed different rules. So they kind of they gave different rules, they introduced different rules. You can also say, now we have to follow rules or stick to different rules, and play by the rules. So we play by the rules, we follow rules. You can also say obey the rules, follow the rules. And also, dear listener, this is super important for your essays as well. A very common situation is when we write about rules, so all these verbs. Rory likes following the rules. Rory likes playing, playing by the rules.

Rory: Do I?

Maria: But Rory sticks to the rules that make sense. So you can say that "yes, I usually follow the rules, but I stick to the ones that make sense." So they make sense, they are sensible, so I follow one. And there are some rules which are completely nonsensical.

Rory: Nonsensical.

Maria: What are nonsensical rules? Could you give us an example? We don't understand.

Rory: I don't know. Whenever someone says, "Oh, you have to work hard," that's a rule. And I'm like, well, what does that look like? What does what does hard work even mean to some people? That's a bit of a silly rule. It doesn't really say anything. It's maybe more of a value.

Maria: Yeah, nonsensical rules are about some old laws, regulations, something bizarre, very strange, something about, I don't know, ducks and chickens could be about legal regulations. Oh, for example, some schools have a policy against students wearing nail polish. Some school rules, so you can't have nail polish. Or, for example, open toed shoes. So in some schools, they prohibit open toed shoes, shoes that show your toes. So you have to wear closed shoes. Yeah, you can say, "Oh, we had loads of rules. So we were basically buried under paperwork." So so many rules, we were buried under paperwork. Paperwork, all these papers with rules. So we are full of them. And you can say that, "Yeah, in real life, there are a million guidelines and procedures for things." So rules are everywhere, seriously. Yeah, Rory, and could you give us an example of the most stupid rule you had to follow? Maybe at uni or when you taught at primary school? Something you really disliked.

Rory: Oh, we had a great one where all the teachers were talking about being accountable. And so they would say, "If you say you're going to do something, then you should absolutely 100% do it." And none of these people did what they said they would. And it was just like, okay, that seems like a really stupid rule to have if you're not capable of enforcing it. And of course, there were some students that were just completely allowed to get away with not doing what they said they would as well. So that was interesting. And that is why, well, that is one of the many reasons why I am no longer a primary school teacher, because I'm not working with people who are like that.

Maria: And Rory, do you have in Scotland, or maybe just in the world, do we have such a rule like a five-second rule? So if you're eating a sandwich, and you drop some food on the floor and you just pick it up within three seconds, and you can eat it. So no problem. It's a five-second rule.

Rory: That's what people say, but I don't think anyone actually does that, because that's crazy.

Maria: Oh, I do it. We do it. As children, we did it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So you dropped some food on the floor, even in the street.

Rory: Such a change in the tone there, you were like, "I do it." I mean, I did it in the past.

Maria: I did it. Yeah. But sometimes I actually do it at home, though. I don't do it in the street.

Rory: That's disgusting.

Maria: Dear listener, I'm wondering, do you have this five-second rule? It's about dropping stuff and then eating it. So if you drop stuff and it's there for more than five seconds, you can't eat it. But if you just pick it up right away, it's okay to eat it.

Rory: Do you want to hear a really crazy rule?

Maria: Oh, yeah.

Rory: There is a primary school teacher in my hometown who faked having cancer for over two years, and so she didn't have cancer. She told her students and her colleagues she had cancer, and she faked it, and she came in with a wheelchair and a fake leg. She said that she had her leg removed due to cancer. It was crazy. Anyway, the organization that's responsible for the standard of teaching in my country, they said you are not fit to be a teacher, so you cannot teach anymore. And then afterwards, they said, but you can reapply in two years time. That is a stupid rule. Why is anyone allowed to reapply after two years after that? That is insane. Why is that rule there?

Maria: And how did they find out that she didn't have any cancer?

Rory: Because she faked her own death. And she couldn't do that properly. So people discovered that she was still alive and didn't have cancer, but she told people she, she pretended to be her parents and told her boss that she died.

Maria: Wow.

Rory: How crazy is this? I was reading this story in the newspaper on Monday and I was like, oh my god, what, what?

Maria: Dear listener, you see? Crazy stories, huh?

Rory: If you think that you're having a bad day, okay? Just remind yourself that at least you did not pretend to have a fatal illness and fake your own death.

Maria: Yeah, listener, and we should wrap it up with a very stupid joke. So brace yourselves.

Rory: The stupid joke is the General Teaching Council of Scotland, who have this rule where she can reapply in two years time. That's amazing, don't you think? We should give people a second chance.

Maria: It's insane. So, dear listener, the rules about singing in the bathroom. Do you sing in the bathroom?

Rory: No.

Maria: While taking a shower? The first rule of singing in the bathroom is the toilet brush must never be used as a microphone. Okay, dear listener. Thank you very much for listening. We love you. We hug you. Bye!

Rory: Bye.

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