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The kids are not all right
Tuesday 7th April 2009, 1:00PM BST.
Little angels?
Who’d be a teacher these days? asks blogger Andrew Owen.
Well, apparently, there’s plenty of us who would.
As the credit crunch, er, crunches, and the job market shrinks, the teacher training websites have been inundated with inquiries.
The rewards on offer look good – the pay is attractive and so are the holidays. And there is the knowledge that you are doing a worthwhile and valuable job.
In fact, there’s just the one catch: The children.
Apparently, Britain’s youngsters are disrespectful, insulting and even physically aggressive in the classroom.
Poor behaviour is now seen as a routine interference, and the toll it is taking on our teachers’ health can be seen in doctors’ surgeries all over the land.
And it’s not just the older children – according to a survey by the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, one primary school reported a child of six who wrecked a staff room, and another had a child of the same age who attacked staff and pupils with a teacher’s scissors.
Perhaps I’ve been reading the Daily Mail for too long, but I definitely get the feeling that fings ain’t wot they used to be.
You can see it in shops and supermarkets: mouthy, badly-behaved children and parents who don’t seem to have the faintest idea how to control them. It’s no wonder a minority – and let’s make it clear at this point that it is a minority – simply do not know how to behave.
In short: there doesn’t seem to be any discipline any more.
Some parents don’t seem to care, and – apparently – the rules have changed to such an extent that teachers are not allowed to impose any sanctions on poor behaviour.
Then again, you can’t tar them all with the same brush. I was out shopping the other day when a little boy of about seven walked up to me.
Oddly enough, he didn’t try to stab me with a Stanley knife or offer to sell me drugs.
Instead he asked, very politely, if I would get a packet of sweets off the shelf for him because he couldn’t reach. Fair warmed the cockles of my jaded old heart, it did.
And there you have it: on one hand horror stories of Britain’s mutant-TV-and-video-game-addicted generation of tiny thugs, and on the other one young man who, frankly, was a credit to his mum and dad.
If only he hadn’t spoiled it somewhat by shoving the sweets inside his jumper and legging it out of the shop.
(Actually, that last bit isn’t true, but it would have made for a brilliant pay-off line, wouldn’t it?)
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You do not get bad children. You get bad parents who bring children up poorly. Its time to blame the parents of this country and provide incentives for better parenting and punishments for people who do not bring a child up correctly with care, attention and love. Sticking a child in front of a TV or PC is not the answer.
Adults caught speeding do not blame it on a bad car, the same can be applied with children. Badly behaved children are the fault of the adults who bring them up.
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You are so right Y Mab Darogan! …… A dead fish however always stinks first from the Head and until you get rid of this corrupt and inept Government and the Politically Correct bunch who pay homage to it the Status Quo will remain……..
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…
I too am constantly hearing people complaining about school standards but the reality is that Schools do not have the tools to discipline our children and the children know it! If a child is reprimanded by a teacher they regularly respond with allegations of abuse (sexual, physical or emotional) – often ruining a teachers reputation and too regularly ending their career.
I dont doubt that the quality of teaching has decreased (although not to the point the Media would like you to believe). This is not helped by the mass exodus of disillusioned, experienced staff and our inability to recruit male teaching staff – which can largely be put down to fear of allegations by vindictive pupils.
So who is to blame? Put simply, it is the Media…
It is the Media who have hyped up the child abuse debate to the point that Sun reading vigilante chavs are screaming for blood.
It is the Media who claim to be championing our rights by telling us that our local school is not good enough for our child.
It is the Media that tells us that all teachers are a bunch of overpaid lefties with too many holidays.
It is the media that constantly moan (with little evidence) that standards are falling. This despite telling us so in a ‘dumbed down’ style worthy of a 9 year old.
Everything that I detest about what we have become as a country seems to have one root cause and that is today’s Media!
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Yes Y Mab is right (for once) – in what he says about our lack of parenting skills.
T Bill…Blaming a situation that has developed over decades on a single government (who you obviously dislike) and throwing in random inappropriate metaphors make you sound totally clueless!
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you cant always blame the parents for there childrens behaviour.
Take me for example. I was a right one during secondary school. I started acting up shortly after i recenetly lost some off my family members in a house fire. If theres anyone to blame its the people who are acting up they choose to do the things they do and nothing can stop them. I remember all the things that social workers and parents did for me. In the end i had a choice to make continue on with my wicked ways or become a better person. Now after 3 IT Courses at TCAT i have an job as an IT Admin. You are who you are.
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Serotonin …….. We must it would seem bow to your convictions and superior intelligence! ………
But Serotonin are you seriously suggesting that the media is to blame for a Parent unable to chastise their own child for wrongdoing on pain of penal servitude! ……..
Serotonin are you seriously suggesting that the Media is to blame for a Teachers inability to discipline a disruptive and unruly pupil on pain of Lawsuit and being ostracized! ……
Serotonin are seriously suggesting that the Media is to blame for the Limp Wristed sentencing by Judges and Judiciary resulting in Thugs leaving the Courts smirking! ……….
Seritonin are seriously suggesting that the Media is to blame for the prohibiting of the display of a National icon just a time when Nationalistic Fervour is so desperately needed! ………
Serotonin are seriously suggesting that the Media is to blame for a drastic decline in our standard of living under a decade of the worst administration in living memory! …….
Serotonin are you Serious?
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does it all go back tothe discipline? so kids are unruly because they know they won’t get the cane. I think not. How about inspiring our kids so that they ‘get’ the importance onf education, make it fun, etc so that actually they do not need to be threatened – they actually behave and engage because they want to. Parents, schools and society in general needs to be involved in that – and yes, ensuring your child has the ‘right’ outlook does begin at home, from birth, and is something that needs to be a focus every hour of every day.
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It’s all very well trying to blame the parents but a lot of kids act up and digress from breaking windows with footballs to much more serious crimes becaase they’re bored. When I was young there were council run playschemes who offered organised after school and holiday activities. Also, there were not so many two parent families where both parents were forced to work full time just to put some decent food on the table. There were plenty of wide open spaces kids could go play games in without disturbing anybode or being at risk of being abducted by someone who’d already been arrested twice for similar crimes. There’s has in the last 10 years been a significant break down in the structure of the family and without this basis a child has a much harder time trying to make sense of the world as they grow up. I’m not slating one parent families or anything like that, I come from one. My mother chose not to go our to work all day and leave us to fend for ourselves but in return we didn’t then have much.
Disipline does also play a part. It is human nature to conduct yourself in accordance with the consequences of your actions and your fear of them. There is no fear of consequence in children anymore hence they are moving to behave ever more terribly.
Media can only go so far. Everyone knows that anything you read in the media should be taken with a pinch of salt. They’re selling at the end of the day. Stories about how well behaved children are wrongly do not make sensational headlines.
All of us, parents, teachers, local authorities, media, government, everyone has a responsibility to direct and guide children toward a more responsible yet fulfiling way of life. It’s up to us adults to work together (and not against each other as so often seems to be the case)and show them that life is not necessarily a battleground all the time. There’s too much blame culture going on and that needs to stop before any reparations can be made to the upbringing of children in this country.
It can be turned around if we try hard enough
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Are we allowed to call him TC? I thought only close friends could do that, and even then only on the provision that it’s with dignity.
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Well argued T Bill.
The bottom line is decent behaviour and discipline does begin at home. This is dependant on the guidance of your parent and/or guardian who would hopefully set a good example, with a grounded sense of values.
The majority if children are decent, polite individuals who try their best and are a credit to their parents. Unfortunately, as always, we seem to concentrate on the minority, who, no matter what one does, will always be outside our perceived “normal” behaviour because of a lack of guidance/discipline by their peers.
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Well argued?…
Reading his reply I cant help thinking that T Bill is a classic example of our educational problems..
Firstly I should point out that I was in agreement with Y Mab’s comments about bad parenting. Perhaps some pf you should read my posts before jumping on the ‘flame Serotonin’ bandwagon.
And in reply to most of T Bills questions(?) the answer is yes, I do believe the media is responsible and has far too much influence over both public opinion and government policies.
As for the political comments I don’t suppose that you are a member of the BNP by any chance? It would explain a lot and you do appear to have the required intellect!
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its all very well to blame parents for childrens behaviour but its just a cop out,some of us parents are extremeley responsible people but sometimes children just act up.lets as a society work together on this instead of being busy bodies sitting in judgement!!!!!
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Helen I dont suppose you considered that you may be one of a minority?
I would guess its not the behaviour of your children we are discussing?
I think you may have missed the point?
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Serotonin! ……… your post is indicative of a Supreme arrogance and a Monumental Ego! …….. your inability to even consider someone else’s point of view would seem to indicate a flaw in your own upbringing! ……
Your penchant for markedly pointing out what you perceive to be others failings in fact belittles yourself! …………
However on the topic involved we all seem to agree on some points and obviously disagree on others and it matters not one jot what you or I or others think since the powers that be will have their day of infamy and when they next stand in front of The Court of Public Opinion we shall see! ………. and there is not a lot the Media can do about that except report the facts and the chips will fall were they may! ………..
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Oh dear T Bill have I rattled you?
To be honest I dont think I have an inability to understand anyone’s point of view. At least I bother to read what they actually write and If it is complete nonsense I will tell them so. If you deem that to be arrogant I make no apologies!
My issue with your original comments were the right wing xenophobic nonsense that you were spouting. I am no fan of Gordon Brown either but I think blaming decades of declining public standards on a single prime minister who has been in power for a couple years is pretty pathetic.
Having said all that, politicans we can sack, unfortunately unelected journalists with their own political agendas we cannot.
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Shropshire is my favorite English county. I am sorry Salop is suffering from what is, unfortunately, all too common over here in American urban and suburban schools. I just retired from a business position, but why would I want to do any part-time (per diem) substitute teaching? There’s violence abrew from the hands of a small percentage of our school kids, just like what you are reporting.
Tragically, we have guns available, too, as you probably have read. Too many times, Little Johnnie takes Daddy’s gun to school. What were our Founding Fathers smoking when they wrote the Right to Bear Arms into our federal constitution?
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Serotonin, …….. No you have not “Rattled” me … However the word disgust springs more readily to mind! ……….
I would like to point out that my original remarks were not aimed solely at One Gordon Brown but on a decade of corrupt inane stupidity by the present administration coupled with Politically Correct Lunacy that blossomed like a fungus under its tenure! ……
This has engendered an atmosphere of distrust and I will even go as far as to say fear in the minds of parents and tutors! ….. look around you serotonin and tell me if you do not think that Orwell was not too far off the mark?………..
I turn to my own childhood and I can assure you that in a working class environment parents reared their families with love and care and most importantly .. with discipline! … without the fear that you could be incarcerated for paddling a wilful Child’s backside! …..
Your remarks about the media are uncalled for and one would suspect are being used in a troll like manner to evoke reaction! …. it goes without saying that were it not for the media a lot of the idiocy that is instituted or propounded would be enacted without the general public being even aware of it! …..
I most earnestly hope that I have not “Rattled” you serotonin! ………… Peace! ………….
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Lets face it the Country is finished!
Another New Labour term will spark the revolution!
You deserve all you get.
Off to pastures new!
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Regarding previous comments “don’t blame the parents” or “they do it because they are bored”. What an utter load of rubbish!
If children misbehave, correct their ways. If children vandalise, punish them. If children play truant punish them and their parents. Everyone is accountable for their own actions and should accept this responsibility or accept the consequences.
It is now proven, the liberal PC brigade approach of softly, softly doesn’t work. Prevention by deterrents are always better than cures, when the damage has been done.
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its more evidence of the broken society led by clown brown, britain is broken, britan is a mess, like all conservatives we know this is because of the EU and thier high taxes, we need to get people to go back to church and confess their sins, they must say sorry for being socialist and pro europe and such, the kids can be saved but only by cameron and his family orientated low tax regime, we must get clown brown out now, we must save the rancid nation from the liberal elite
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Reading all the comments and being the father of three grown up boys who luckily never caused me any problems I have come to the conclusion that the behaviour is quite a complex issue with many contributing factors:
Parenting
Peers and friends
Environment
Schooling
Media
I do beleive each generation is less disciplined than the one before and that is a real worry! you can see this every where you go and its alarming!
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I have a friend who was raised in a very strict household, he had plenty of rules and was punished for anything he did. It just made him better at getting away with trouble. now i’m a parent i can see it happening with my daughters friend, she is completely off the rails but her parents are extremely strict with her. I think i’m lucky, my child seems to be behaving, but i’m not with her 24/7. Like Capt Chaos said there are lots of contributing factors in how a child turns out, blaming parents is not the answer, it just makes them keen to hide their childrens mistakes rather than deal with them.
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tory boy is well off the mark with his comments, we are ok in the Uk , we have some problems for sure, but you should stop doing us down, our kids are generally very nice people if you talk to them and our society is alright by me
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Y Mab Darogan doesn’t like PCs or TVs. Other commentators don’t like the media as a whole. No one likes the “Politicly Correct” authority. Parents are a mess. Schools are too busy with paperwork. No wonder we’re in such a broken world.
What we should do is listen to the people on this comments page. They speak the most sense, because they are, well, umm, well, errr, citizens of this country. They know that the best way to stop children being violent it to turn our back on human rights and be….err…well, violent. Let’s not teach them anything from this liberal media, nor let them debate online. God forbid they go onto these “waste of time” and dangerous social networks and talk to their peers to form their own opinions. No sir! We must get rid of this feeble Government that has such a bad track record because they….errr….well…ummmm…well they were politically correct anyway. And they invaded Iraq. Which was politically uncorrect. And supported by the anti-PCers. But anyhow, this government that are…well, a bit too Labour for our liking.
We should let the old-school teach using good old school books instead of this trendy rubbish…those same old-school books on which an Empire was built. An empire that was made of…well….err….do I need to go on?
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Kevboy, ….. your piece of satire was most humorous and highly reminiscent of Monty Python! ……….. I liked Monty Python! ……… however your satirical criticism came up a little lame! …. since it was hardly err… hmmm…well, constructive!
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T Bill how you can reply with such vitriolic nonsense, use the word disgust and then finish with the word ‘peace’ is totally beyond me!
Political correctness is in reality a fairly innocuous term which was hijacked by the right wing in the 90′s to criticise any thinking which dared to be left of centre. Trying to use the term political correctness and continually using cheap metaphors such as “stinking fish head” and “fungus” in any argument is pretty pathetic IMO.
Your claim that Labour are SOLELY responsible for the “Big Brother” state is utter nonsense, you only have to look back at the numerous abuses of the Thatcher years, (ie the miners strike) to realise that.
My opinion is that the media in this country has too much uncontrolled influence over UK public opinion, given the influence of their non UK citizen owners this is wrong if not dangerous!
..And this from someone who seriously considered a career in journalism! BTW Who do you think I am going to evoke a reaction from in this prestigious forum… Rupert Murdoch?
The suggestion that I do not understand your working class ways and the need for discipline (thereby inferring that I must be middle class) is the most amusing and inaccurate part of your whole argument. it all just goes to show how you really haven’t considered (or understood?) a single thing that i have written!
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