I'm having a moan again,and my moan this time is about the loss of
traditional values and how that loss has affected our society.
Hardly a day goes by without the loss of those values resulting in
mayhem in one way or another. Let's begin with the young and work our
way up. When I was a kid, my day usually followed a pattern that
included WALKING to school along with a crowd of other schoolchildren,
and when we arrived we were all well behaved in class, because our
teachers, although scrupulously fair, would punish anyone stepping out
of line. We remained like that until the school bell went to signify
the arrival of playtime, and then we would all rush out to play.
This play almost always involved running or football for the boys,
while the girls played gentler games such as skipping ropes. By the end
of playtime we had all used up our energy and were ready once more to
study quietly and thoughtfully. What happens today? Children are driven
to school by one or other of their parents dependent upon the working
pattern of the mum or dad, and therefore arrive at school bursting with unused energy. The teacher is then faced with an overactive classroom, but much worse than that is the fact that he has no way of controlling
the kids, as any attempt to lay a hand on them, even if it is to pull
apart two kids beating the living daylights out of each other, will
result, not in punishment for the warring children, but severe
reprimand for the teacher. When playtime comes along, the kids are not
allowed to play ball games or skipping ropes as in our day on the
grounds of 'Health and Safety', in case they get hurt and the parents
sue the school. The kids then go back into class having been unable to
expend their pent up energy, and then use that energy aggressively in
the classroom. It is much the same story after school. In our day we
would all walk home, complete our homework and then go outside to play.
The streets would come alive with the sound of children singing or
playing, and therefore by evening time we were all tired and ready to
go peacefully to bed where we topped up our energy levels for the next
day's play. Today when school comes out, the kids scan the mass of
4 x 4s outside the school gates until they spot their mum's or dad's,
then they are whisked off home to spend the rest of the time upstairs
sitting on their backsides playing computer games. If they venture out they are not allowed to play ball games, or cowboys and Indians, or indeed anything that uses up energy, in case it causes injury or becomes a nuisance to others.
The result is an ever more frustrated population of kids with nothing
to do. These kids then find other kids in the same dilemma, and secret
gangs are formed, as this is the only way to get rid of pent up energy
and emotion. This continues all the way through their childhood and
into adulthood, and the results are unruly teenagers, ASBOS and gang
warfare. Of course it is the teenagers who get the blame, but I suggest
that it is actually OUR fault for allowing this namby-pamby blame
culture to develop to the point it has now reached. Teachers today have
an almost impossible, and certainly thankless task. What can they do?
They are not allowed to punish the child, and they cannot send the
child home as it is almost certain that both parents will be out at
work in line with today's modern thinking. They therefore have no
option other than to try to appease the little blighters, who very
quickly learn that the teacher has no real authority over them, and
so they do what all kids would do, they push it to the limit.
So I say give the teachers back the authority to control the kids in
the classroom. Allow kids to play games that use up their energy.
And now for the biggy! At least one parent to be in the family home at
all times. I have nothing against both parents working, but I do feel
that to give the kids the best chance of growing up into responsible
adults, that during their childhood, there should always be one of their
parents available to, chastise, advise, comfort, punish or console them.
I could go on, but I only have one safety helmet left and I can feel the
blows raining down on me as I speak,
                                      Tommy