@Giveaschitt
That was in reference to the "if you don't want to teach your kids to use a knife and fork, don't have kids" comment - quote didn't work!
That was me. I'm very well aware of how rough some kids have it at home, thankyou. I've seen and heard everything from one extreme to the other, I'm sadly no longer shocked to hear the worst kind of comments and actions from people who call themselves parents.
But there will be many children who can't use a knife and fork who have perfectly ok and loving parents, not particularly neglectful, but who just can't see the importance of good table manners and who prefer to cook meals that can be eaten with fingers like a burger or something. That's up to them.
My point is that school is about educating children, not making up for ALL deficiencies in parenting. How far would you want to go? Give lessons to kids on how to brush their teeth properly? Or tie their shoe laces? Show them how to wash themselves so that they don't smell?
I think there's probably a case for a better way of ensuring that parents have the necessary skills to parent properly, I grant you. But we just can't put EVERY LAST THING on being a good member of society onto schools. We just can't. Every year more and more responsibility is piled on to teachers, and every year more and more parents do things like turn up late to school because they don't see the importance of turning up on time to drop off or collect their child, or they have no judgement at all and ring up school well after home time for the most ridiculous thing, wasting staff time eg "er, hi, my child is very upset because they've left their hat in school. Could you go and check that it's in the classroom please, and I'll come and collect it?" Hasn't even crossed their mind that the child can get it in the morning, or that staff are very busy even after children have gone home and don't have time for multiple phone calls like that from fusspot parents.
Not everything is a school's responsibility.