London Calling

[MikeH]

If someone posts them here I'll comment on them.

[BlackCat]

Here's some ad money from me

A teacher, Francis Gilbert, wrote five years ago in his book Yob Nation: ‘The public feels it no longer has the right to interfere.’

Discussing the difficulties of imposing sanctions for misbehaviour or idleness at school, he described the case of a girl pupil he scolded for missing all her homework deadlines.

The youngster’s mother, a social worker, telephoned him and said: ‘Threatening to throw my daughter off the A-level course because she hasn’t done some work is tantamount to psychological abuse, and there is legislation which prevents these sorts of threats.

‘I believe you are trying to harm my child’s mental well-being, and may well take steps . . . if you are not careful.’


I never enjoyed school, but, like most children until very recent times, did the work because I knew I would be punished if I did not. It would never have occurred to my parents not to uphold my teachers’ authority. This might have been unfair to some pupils, but it was the way schools functioned for centuries, until the advent of crazy ‘pupil rights’.

I recently received a letter from a teacher who worked in a county’s pupil referral unit, describing appalling difficulties in enforcing discipline. Her only weapon, she said, was the right to mark a disciplinary cross against a child’s name for misbehaviour.

Having repeatedly and vainly asked a 15-year-old to stop using obscene language, she said: ‘Fred, if you use language like that again, I’ll give you a cross.’

He replied: ‘Give me an effing cross, then!’ Eventually, she said: ‘Fred, you have three crosses now. You must miss your next break.’

He answered: ‘I’m not missing my break, I’m going for an effing ***!’ When she appealed to her manager, he said: ‘Well, the boy’s got a lot going on at home at the moment. Don’t be too hard on him.’

[MikeH]

I reserve the right to summarily dismiss anything printed in that hate filled rag.

[onodera]

OK, I thought he was from Slovakia. My bad. In this case I will stop the Danube at Vienna.

Slovenia is 99% west of Vienna. Try again.

[MikeH]

Ok right, I think the problem isn't power taken away from teachers, it's parents siding with their kids rather than presenting a common front of authority against teachers.

[Cort Haus]

.

[MikeH]

[Dinner]

Are they really that weak on violent crime in the UK? Around here attacking someone gets you charged with assault and if you injure someone so badly they have to go to the hospital then it is usually felony assault. You get convicted of three felonies in your life time and that's it, life in prison. Even if it is only their second felony conviction then jail time is doubled.

[Hauldren Collider]

The three felonies thing is just a California rule, I thought.

[Dinner]

It started here but I had thought other states adopted the three strikes law. I'll have to look it up.

[MikeH]

And your prison rates are INSANE.

Assault here covers verbal assault and threatening behaviour. Actual physical violence is covered by battery. Various severe cases are under Aggravated Assault and Battery.

3 strikes and you're out is retarded for many reasons. Someone gets in 3 bar fights and they get life in prison, at what total cost to the tax payer?

[Dinner]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_strikes_law

It appears it started in Texas, not California, and it is now the law in a dozen or more states.

[MikeH]

Equivalent of Felony Assault is ABH which can get you 5 years depending on severity. This has some crossover with the Manslaughter sentencing, gives judges some freedom.

[onodera]

3 strikes and you're out is retarded for many reasons. Someone gets in 3 bar fights and they get life in prison, at what total cost to the tax payer?

Prisoners should earn their daily bread by hard labour.

[MikeH]

They can't earn more than it costs to house and guard them securely.