We’ll try to improve as parents if schools get rid of woke educational beliefs
HERE’S a question. If your kid comes homes from school and tells you he got a bollocking from the head teacher for some misdemeanour, how do you react?
There are a few options.
Back in the old days, when I was at school, I’d immediately get another bollocking from Mum and Dad.
A worse one than the original bollocking, frankly.
If I complained about being treated a bit harshly at school, the response from my parents was always the same: “Serves you right, behave yourself next time.”
It was the same for all my mates, too.
Parents never questioned the authority of the teachers or the school.
These days it’s a bit different.
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There’s at least half a chance Mum or Dad would march up to the school screaming blue murder at the teachers. “How dare you bully my little poppet!”
Or ring up to complain. Or — the least bad modern option — simply sympathise with the child and tell him how horrid the teachers are.
Times have changed — and not for the better.
I was thinking about this when reading an interview on The Sun’s website with the excellent Barry Smith, known as the country’s strictest teacher.
Barry said one of the problems with kids these days is parents are not bringing them up correctly.
I’m sure that’s right, for a whole gamut of reasons involving family breakdowns and the modern, ludicrous insistence that kids should be treated as adults.
Smith said parents don’t teach their kids common courtesies such as saying “good morning”
And he made no apology for being strict.
He said: “We live in a society that thinks stricter is negative. Teachers are abused on a daily basis. They are ignored, they are belittled.”
Yes, he is right.
And these days teachers have virtually no recourse when that abuse takes place. Raise a hand to the kid and they’ll be sacked before the bell sounds for break.
Exclusions are frowned upon and schools get in trouble if they use that tool too often.
Ring the parents at home?
CHILDREN NEED TO LEARN
Too often the response will be that they don’t give a toss, or they’ll get another fusillade of abuse, this time from Dad.
So, sure, teachers do not have sufficient protection.
And the parents are very often not instilling in those kids the correct behaviour.
But he is only half right
Because an awful lot of the problems in our schools are down to modern teaching methods, the way in which we view children these days . . . and teachers themselves.
Where Barry is absolutely right is in his support for strictness.
When I was in school, we had strict teachers and we had lax teachers who tried to be our mates.
With lax teachers we ar*ed around all lesson.
And slightly despised the teachers for grovelling around us.
With the strict teachers we stood when he or she entered the room and shut up and behaved ourselves for the duration.
STRICTNESS WORKS
Homework was always on time because we were terrified of the consequences.
Strictness works.
And it works because children are not yet adults, no matter how often we kid ourselves.
They need to learn, which is why we send them to school.
And they need to understand obedience and discipline.
But those are terribly old-fashioned values.
Too often these days teachers try to be friends with the kids, and when they’re not doing that they are acting as entertainers.
God forbid a child should ever be bored, or ever transgressed.
And so the children find it hard to respect the teachers, because the teachers are not figures of authority.
And the parents at home don’t have much respect for them either, for the same reason.
So here’s the deal, Barry. We’ll try to improve as parents.
But you get to grips with removing all those fashionable educational beliefs which have reduced the authority of teachers in the eyes of the kids. Good luck, mate.
That’s Scot to suck
A WEIRD, massive whirlpool has been found off the coast of Scotland.
Experts think it might be caused by treated water from a landfill site.
I think it’s almost certain that it’s actually a watery portal into the Gates of Hell.
Enter into it and you will find Satan and his infernal demons – all wearing kilts and waving SNP flags.
You read it here first.
Biden a busted flush
AT last, America is waking up.
There was a vote in Minneapolis about abolishing the police.
This is something maniacal lefties have been demanding since the death of . They expected to win, too.
But nope – Minneapolis residents knew disbanding the police would result in carnage.
They voted massively against. It’s a huge blow to the obnoxious far-left congresswoman Ilhan Omar, who backed the proposal.
Meanwhile, they’re waking up in Virginia too.
Glenn Youngkin has just become governor – the first Republican to win state office there since 2009.
Polls suggest the Republicans would win in a landslide if there were a Presidential election now.
Never has an administration become as hugely unpopular in such a short space of time as Joe Biden’s Democrats.
The American public were conned.
Hunting ban
SOME good news at last!
The National Trust has just voted to ban all trail hunting from its many grounds.
Trail hunting is what foxhunters tell you they are doing when they’re actually trying to kill foxes.
What we need is a law banning it entirely.
But this is a step in the right direction.
And credit to the League Against Cruel Sports and wildlife campaigners such as Dominic Dyer for fighting so hard to change the minds of NT members.
Piers in unique
I SEE Richard Madeley is being lined up to replace Piers Morgan on Good Morning Britain.
No disrespect, but it’s not quite the same, is it?
GMB bosses must rue the day they let Morgan go.
He singlehandedly rescued a floundering show.
Since he left, the programme has lost two thirds of its audience.
The reason? Those bosses might not like it but more often than not Piers Morgan’s views were the views of the silent majority.
And the silent majority has since switched off GMB.
Soar like an eagle
WHEN I tell people I’m attending the Social Democratic Party conference this weekend, they make jokes. Really hilarious jokes.
Usually along the lines of: “Where’s it being held? A telephone box?”
Ho ho ho. It’s true we’ve got only a few thousand members at the moment.
But one day soon we will soar, like a giant purple eagle, borne aloft on the thermals of public support. Er, probably.
Most people I talk to agree with our policies.
The only problem is they don’t know who the hell we are.
One day they will . . . and there will be no more laughing!
Sleaze got to be out
FOR once, Angela Rayner is dead right. A remarkable thing. Doesn’t happen very often.
The Labour deputy leader has accused the Conservatives of “wallowing in sleaze”.
This is because they tried to block the suspension of a senior Tory MP who had been found guilty of breaking lobbying rules over two private companies.
Owen Paterson was investigated by a House of Commons committee.
They discovered he used his position as an MP to advance the causes of two companies that paid him lots of money.
That’s disgusting.
Never mind a suspension. We should be having a by-election.
Neutral position
TOP tips for world leaders: Next time you’re going to hold a summit to lecture us all about climate change, do it by video call.
Then people won’t think you’re a bunch of grandstanding t***ers.
Well, OK, they might still think that.
But there will be less evidence for them to draw that conclusion.
And top tips for BBC reporters: Next time there’s a summit like this, or any climate change story, try to report on it from a neutral position. Like it says you’re meant to in your producer guidelines.
Then people might be slightly more willing to pay the licence fee.
Greenhouse gases
A NEW Zealand scientist may have found a way to stop cows farting so much.
Great news, obvs.
They are investigating using viruses to kill the microbes which produce methane in the cow’s gut.
Hmm. Feeding viruses to animals in the food chain. What could possibly go wrong?
We’re all being told now we must eat less meat. Fair enough.
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Those methane emissions from cows and other animals contribute about 15 per cent towards our greenhouse gases, apparently.
But if we all switch from T-bone steak to lentils and beans . . . won’t there be a new increase in methane emissions?