teaching is just buggered up isn't it?

[Twiglett]

with the mollycoddled brats who are brought up with no sense of respect for education or basic manners and the my-child-centred parents who believe that nobody is allowed to say boo to their kids

sad, very sad

Yes, I remember when I worked in large comp parents expecting you to find their childs belongings. Ha!

seekjer spot on. Boys benefit from the calming influence of girls. But girls get walked over by the boys and since most disruption is by boys, the girls suffer.

Missymousies first post last night made me feel so sad.
The idea of community is going by the by and this is a real shame. People seem to live such busy lives though they just don't have time for anyone else.
However I don't think all is lost. I wouldn't be considering taking my PGCE if I did .

Reading this makes me realise how lucky we are with ds1 and dd's primary school. It is a LOVELY LOVELY school. Very mixed intake, but the ethos is a very caring one, and if a younger child is upset, there will always be year 5 or 6 boys or girls looking after them - even toddler siblings if they fall over, an older child will come and pick them up, take them to a parent. In activities, the older children look after the younger ones - ds1 is in orchestra (he is Y2) and the Y6 children make sure he's ok, in the right place etc. Ds1 and dd (Y2 and reception) both sing in KS1 choir. When the teacher is away, a Y6 child takes the rehearsal.

I've NEVER seen any bullying, disrespect to the teachers, unpleasantness. The headmaster never raises his voice - he is very quietly spoken and has absolute discipline and attention. When they want the children to listen they clap a rhythm which the children clap back. Sometimes if the children are very unattentive they might need to clap 2 or even 3 rhythms...

I think once a school HAS this ethos, and culture it is relatively easy to maintain. Establishing it in the first place is a different matter. And I don't know how you would begin to implement it, but once it's there it makes for a very very happy school. I do want to stress the very very mixed intake of this school - it isn't in a 'very good' area - it takes the whole spectrum of children because of where it is positioned. But I do realise how lucky we are with it.

It is a very sad world we live in today, I sometimes wish I could transport my kids back in time to have the type of childhood I had.

Beginning to feel really depressed and down now. The only problem is, when I look at the kids around, I find it hard to believe that they really morph into me-centered little horrors the moment they enter a school. (If I did I would be tempted to join Juule on the home-schooling side). They are just too pleasant. And I have been out on school outings etc with these kids, they're not like that. In many ways, children are having a much more civilised experience of school than I did in the 70's.

In all the years dc's have been at school, I have heard of one chair-throwing/biting incident and that was a child who was horrendously disturbed by having seen his mother murdered, so this doesn't tell us a lot about modern parenting.

Oh dear, perhaps I should go and speak to some real children this afternoon; Mumsnet can be a bit overwhelming at times.

I might add that there are drawbacks to bringing up children so polite that they never talk back at an adult. The former headteacher at dd's school basically instructed them to tell lies to the Offsted inspector before the inspection: as far as I know, no child blew the whistle, but it did not noticeably increase their respect for adults. They just learnt to do as they were told with a cynical smile. I can see them all growing up into dishonest politicians. But perfectly polite, of course...

It worries me that teachers seem to have to spend time and waste their time reasoning and cajoling pupils (or are they 'clents' nowadays?) to listen to them.

It boils down to manners and respect for your superiors. Too much emphasis nowadays on a matey culture where everyone in authority must be seen as an equal and a pal and everyone having 'rights'. It's gone too far and no-one is allowed authorative control.