Beating the Dickens Out of Britain’s Students
Well, not quite. But Alan Johnson, the United Kingdom’s Education secretary, is overseeing today the implementation of The Education and Inspections Act 2006, a law that allows teachers to use “reasonable force” to take hold of unruly classrooms:
The Education and Inspections Act 2006, which came into force on April 1st, explicitly grants teachers the right to use “reasonable force” to break up fights or remove disruptive pupils from the classroom.
Powers extend outside of school hours, meaning teachers can restrain pupils seen misbehaving on public transport or on the way to school.
And there’s the much-needed addition to a school’s responsibility. Not only can teachers exert proper authority over pupils during the school day, but they can also carry their authority into the real world. You know, that place the students are going to end up when they’re done with school.
Implementation of this Act will prove problematic and many teachers will undoubtedly whine about increased responsibilities. Even so, it’s a step in the right direction - it broadens accountability for students and provides for extra-curricular education in a highly-relevant setting. The answer to the question, “When am I gonna have to know this?” is simply, “For starters, on your way to school.”
An amendment to the Violent Crime Reduction Act also gives teachers the right to search pupils for weapons.
It’s about time.
Teaching unions also welcomed the new powers, adding they would help combat cyber bullying.
Let’s hope the cooperating unions have the will to make use of these statutes.
The state of British education is shaky, though. While this story shows that some Britons want to take back their schools, I read yesterday [hat tip: littlegreenfootballs] that British schools are increasingly dropping the Crusades and the Holocaust from history lessons to avoid offending the sensibilities of Muslims. The Daily Mail reports that:
Schools are dropping the Holocaust from history lessons to avoid offending Muslim pupils, a Government backed study has revealed. It found some teachers are reluctant to cover the atrocity for fear of upsetting students whose beliefs include Holocaust denial.
Maybe now teachers can wrestle the kids into their seats long enough to tell them about some of the most salient events in human history.
UPDATE (for the Americans) at 4/2/07, 12.43pm:
In the politics.co.uk article, Johnson references the “Am I bovvered?” culture. This phrase comes from the wildly popular BBC comedy called “The Catherine Tate Show,” in which a school-aged girl uses this phrase to show that she just doesn’t care (hint: “bovvered” is a butchered version of “bothered”). “Am I bovvered?” has become a catchphrase that sums up the indifferent attitudes of British youth.
UPDATE #2 at 4/2/07, 1:31pm:
Joanne Jacobs nails the pith regarding the exclusion of Holocaust education: “Think about what that means.”
