A horse is a horse
Of course, of course
And no one can talk to a horse of course —
That is of course unless the horse
Is the famous Mister Ed.
Go right to the source and ask the horse —
He'll give you the answer that you'll endorse
He's always on a steady course
Talk to Mister Ed!
People yakity-yak a streak
And waste your time of day,
But Mister Ed will never speak
Unless he has something to say!
A horse is a horse
Of course, of course
And this one will talk 'till his voice is hoarse
You never heard of a talking horse?
Well listen to this:
"I am Mister ED!"
The Daily Telegraph reports "Parents face £1,000 fine in truancy crackdown". Call me old fashioned, but in my day, children went to school to learn and teachers to teach. And, if a kid skipped off school he was playing truant. Nowadays, it appears that the government has changed the language. kids who are getting excluded from school are being accused of truancy. If teachers are not in control of their classes, then it begs the question whether they are in the wrong profession? Of course, unruly behaviour should not be tolerated and it is down to the teachers to instill control and discipline. I feel that teachers who fail to do this are failing those difficult children. It is too easy to throw these children out of school. I believe that it should only be in rare and exceptional cases that a child faces exclusion from school. Schools should be encouraged to consume their own smoke, rather than pollute the atmosphere outside.
The State education system excludes these difficult children from schools, because the government has made it too easy for them to do so. Then the government seeks to subject these children to house arrest, and if their parents don't act as prison officers and allow the children to roam the streets of a so-called liberal democratic country that claims it believes in freedom, then they can face fines of up to £1,000. I suspect that the majority of these parents will either be working for minimum wages or on state benefits and hardly be in a position to pay such disproportionate fines. "Ed Balls, the Children's Secretary, said he wanted parents to take responsibility for their children's behaviour". Like, for example, Tony Blair took responsibility for his behaviour of going into an illegal war with Iraq?
I don't think it is just the children and their parents who are to blame, I believe that teachers and the government have to share the blame.
Parents are not allowed to force their children to go to school. We had trouble with one of ours, so we took her to school by car. She walked straight in the front and out again from the side entrance. When I verbally reprimanded her I was told by the school do-gooders that I was infringing her "human rights" and that we shouldn't be forcing her to do things she didn't want to do. They also made it clear that we could get into serious trouble if we used any physical force.
ReplyDeleteJust how are we supposed to make her go to school if we are not allowed to use a bit of old fashioned discipline? That particular avenue has been taken away from us by the government. Even the police are not allowed to lay a finger on a mis-behaving youth in case they scream "Human Rights!"
So what exactly DO this friggin' arse government want? F**ked if I know.
Just found this comment on the Telegraph's story, this chap says more or less what I have said.
ReplyDelete"Of those people here who accept the government's belief that it's all the parents' fault, I ask this-
Suppose you're a good parent with a "problem child". An unruly teenager, a young adult with lots of physical strength and no respect for authority despite your best efforts. You're not allowed to significantly discipline the teenager for fear of being accused of "abuse". You and your wife/husband both work full time.
Precisely what method will you use to keep the child at home all day? Chain them up? Hire security guards?
Posted by Ian on September 4, 2007 3:30 PM
Its so true
ReplyDeleteNot being able to slap children publically or privately is causing such rebellion as to be legion
When I was a kid at school the ultimate threat was the cane
I went to private school
Not only that the headmaster would phone your parents and they would give you a good hiding and you wouldn't dare ever to do it again
How times have changed
Henry they can't lock every one up for smacking their kids. Those prisons are full to the brim.
ReplyDeleteYou went to private school. How many children had gangster dads?