Monsters not the |
fault of parents |
| Rosalind Coward (Review, last |
| week) is wrong to blame parents |
| for their little angels turning |
| into monsters. |
| Children today are no different |
| from the little thugs I went |
| to school with in the Forties. |
| The fault lies with the schools |
| but is not necessarily their fault. |
| A child in the Forties was |
| schooled under a harder disci- |
| pline than today. Misdemean- |
| ors would result in swift |
| retribution in the form of caning, |
| extra work or detention. |
| Society has taken those |
| options away from schools and |
| now expresses surprise and hor- |
| ror at the result. |
| We have gone too far with |
| Liberalization. Now it is the |
| teachers and the public who are |
| in fear. There must be a middle |
| solution. |
| I have had a lot of experience |
| with foreign children and this |
| basic thuggery does seem to be a |
| peculiarly British problem. It is |
| how we kept the Empire for as |
| long as we did. |
| Ian Harrison, |
| Eastbourne, |
| Sussex. |
|
