School pupils have too much time off

“I Must agree they have only just gone back after the summer hols to me there is no need for it and has for teacher training day what is that for surely the teachers should nt be there if they are not qualified perhaps someone might enlighten me who has school kids .Has for the cane it did nt do me any harm only once for being cheeky to the teacher . bluebell”

“and I do not agree bringing back corporal punishment is the right thing to do......this just makes kids think they can make there way in the world with violence and even worse in todays more freethinking times it may make kids want to get revenge on a teacher, teacher hit me so I hit him kind of thing as we are not in the olden times where kids feared to stick up for themselves-long may that be in the past as well, order by fear is not a good way to do things.”

“glasshalffull I would say it works both ways, when I see a letter like that above where the writer seems to be stereotyping all kids as little monsters when in fact its a small minority can you blame them for acting up? I mean whats the point in being respectful to people whose mind is already made up on you? Respect works both ways you don't give you don't receive, its no coincidence that when I was at school it was the teachers who treated the kids like human beings who got the nice well behaved classes and the ones who treated kids like an annoyance or worse usually got treated with disrespect.”

“You're quite right @cakegirl, the lack of respect towards adults generally is a problem. A school's job is to reinforce values that should be instilled at home. I am not a supporter of corporal punishment in schools but I do agree with you that we have gone too far the other way - even touching a child can lead to allegations of abuse (whether as a parent, a teacher, a policeman or any other adult)
Thank goodness the majority of children are well mannered.”

“sigh another dinosaur trying to drag society back into the past, yes because your generation had no issues at all did they bj connell?”

“ha i forgot to comment on the holiday issue! i think that schools only have one extra week a year now compared to yrs ago, this is the total 5 days that can be added onto existing set school hols, used as teacher training days, i cant remember how many school hols i had, so long ago! but i do think that people as they get older, some, not all i hasten to add, become less tolerant of children and hate it when they are on school hols, my mum is one of those people ;-)”

“glasshalffull, i agree with what your saying, very true, but i do think the lack of respect from children towards adults is more a problem nowadays.
not all i must add, there are some lovely well mannered children as well but with teachers having their hands tied regarding disipline it certainly is causing more behavioural problems. the amount of young primary age children with behavioural problems is massive compared to years ago, the days of parents/teachers/local bobby being able to "give a clip behind the ears" is making it harder i feel. i have primary aged kids who have a few disruptive kids in their class, they get one to one behaviour support and behaviour assessments.... all this costs money and is taking away resources for kids who actually go to school to learn.
my mum would get the belt from her dad when she was younger for poor behaviour, i dont say this the right thing to do now but we are pussyfooting around kids who have too many rights as far as i am concerned..
back to your point about parenting, you are so right, our own kids are not angels but good manners and respect for their elders is instilled into them, they know how to behave .thats what is important .”

“@B J Connell - 'education these days'?? Most state school children have had 13 weeks off a year for goodness knows how long.
As for your mini rant about the cane. You seem to think that behaviour is poorer because the cane isn't in use. You talk of unruly natures and lack of respect. Respect starts at home. Supportive parents are, in my opinion, the biggest factor in a child's upbringing. If the parents don't give a damn, why should the kid? How many times have friends of mine said that if they got into trouble at school it was nothing compared to what they would get at home when their parents found out? Discipline, like respect, starts at home.”