CHILDREN OUT OF CONTROL
Last night, on television, they showed a programme called "Classroom Chaos", in which a supply teacher, who had not taught for 15 years, covertly filmed her classes, which were totally out of control, where teenagers behaved abominably, where anarchy reigned rather than her.
At first, my reaction was to be disgusted at the behaviour of the pupils, but on reflection, I thought of other programmes, such as "Supernanny", "Little Angels", "Superbrat", and other similar types of this particular genre. What all those other programmes had in common was that without exception, they showed that with a reasonable injection of discipline and control, the behaviour of wayward kids can be altered out of all recognition, and chaos replaced by compliance, rudeness giving way to respect.
People in general, and kids in particular, need a strong set of rules within which to operate. They need to know what is acceptable behaviour, and what is not. This is not rocket science, it is plain common sense, and any teacher who cannot provide such guidance and leadership is incompetent.
Can you imagine any other trade or profession where someone who had been away from the job for 15 years would be allowed to resume where they had left off? A lawyer maybe, or a train, plane or bus driver? Would you place your trust in a doctor who had not been in practise for 15 years?
Governments can only supply the money, and in recent years, there has been no shortage of that, but it is the people on the ground who must translate those more than adequate physical resources into a good education. Patently, this is not happening sufficiently, and too many children are leaving school without any qualification, or even illiterate.
Dave Cathy
