Great Britain: Yobs' mums face sin-bins (Teachers will be allowed to detain students AND parents)

The Sun (U.K.) ^ | February 27, 2006 | DAVID WOODING

[Stoat]

EXCLUSIVE

Yobs' mums face sin-bins

Sweeping powers ... Ruth Kelly
 

By DAVID WOODING

Whitehall Editor

 PARENTS face weekend detentions with their kids under a tough crackdown on classroom rowdies.

Unruly pupils will have to attend catch-up lessons while their mums and dads get a lecture on how to control them.

The move is among sweeping powers to tackle problem children in the Education Bill unveiled tomorrow.

Teachers will be given the legal right to detain kids on any day they choose, with or without parents’ consent.

Education Secretary Ruth Kelly wants heads to set up Saturday sin-bins for bullies, yobs and truants.

Offenders will be forced to turn up in full school uniform, with a parent, for two hours’ tuition. Ms Kelly said it would give staff more authority and raise standards.

She said: “It only takes a handful of poorly behaved pupils to make life difficult for staff and disrupt the education of others. The message to the minority is clear — disrupt the class and you will disrupt your weekend.”

Parenting orders, backed by the threat of a £500 fine, will be slapped on families of kids who skip detention.

Headteachers are also set to get more control over the fate of excluded pupils. They will be able to summon parents of kids barred for bad behaviour for an interview before they are re-admitted.

Another measure allows teachers to seize mobile phones, iPods and games consoles if they are used in class.

And their powers to punish kids will extend to those who misbehave on the way to and from school. The tough rules are sure to win widespread support among unions, Tory MPs, and even Labour rebels.Weekend detention was pioneered by Stockwell Park High School, South London, with astonishing results. Truancy rates have slumped while exam results have soared in four years.

Since the 2002 launch, the number of pupils getting five or more good GCSEs has risen from 26 to 58 per cent. Half-days lost through truancy fell eight per cent.

• DEFIANT Ruth Kelly has ruled out more concessions to more than 100 Labour rebels against school reforms.

  She is “confident” of getting the Bill through. It gives private firms, faith groups and parents the power to set up and run state schools.

  Sources expect the Government to win with a majority of about 12, by relying on Tory support.

[Stoat]

I have always said that parents should be held accountable for the actions of their children. A few Saturdays in detention will solve a lot of problems.

Agreed.  When layabout 'parents' find themselves missing their favorite Saturday TV soap operas and shopping channel programs and are forced to actually think about what they have wrought, the message may well take hold.  Missing their beer-with-breakfast routine will absolutely drive them around the bend.

As for the staff having to work on Saturdays, let them have off, while the rest of us read the riot act to these "people". I'd be willing to volunteer some Saturdays to teach these people some basic social skills.

It's so sad that such a thing even needs to be considered on your part, but you're absolutely right in that basic social skills are completely lacking among these feral spawn.  My understanding is that 'etiquette classes' are very rare and very expensive these days.  It seems to me that a huge market for commonplace, reasonably priced schools of this sort has opened up because many parents simply have no clue as far as how to teach young Johnny or Jill to conduct themselves as a gent or a lady.  Instead of donating your valuable time, perhaps you and like-minded folks could organize something as a business venture?  Just as courts commonly send unruly people to 'anger management' classes or to alcoholism programs, why not give schools the power to send unruly children to an etiquette school? (of course in the USA it would never happen because it would undercut the basic tenets of the teacher's unions, but it's a great idea anyhow, methinks)

The Etiquette School

The Etiquette School Social Etiquette Training and Business Etiquette Training. Dining Etiquette, Etiquette Courses

Business meeting etiquette seminars and training, workplace respect, dining etiquette

One problem: What to do with the PARENTS who act up while in detention?

I know a big, burly Bulgarian cop who works in my city.  He rolls his eyes at the forces of political correctness and tells stories of how things were done back home.  He is a no-nonsense sort of guy and a fantastic, ultra-professional law officer that any community would benefit from.  He takes absolutely NO B.S. from people and he would whip such 'parents' into shape real fast if they were to step out of line.

[stopem]

Boils down to "spare the rod" and HomeSchooling. That is an answer for most these days.

[Amelia]

Hear this NEA??? The unions in the UK actually want what is best for students. Unlike here in the US where it is a teachers' union, much too political, and could care less for the interests of students.

What makes you think the NEA wouldn't support this? Teachers here, whether unionized or not, would very much appreciate better discipline in schools.

It's the ACLU, the parents & the courts who would undercut such a plan here.

[jch10]

In my 30 years of teaching, the NRA had a long track record of not supporting the best interests of education. The NEA was the protector of lazy, incompetent teachers and lobbied for political agendas that were non-productive for education as a whole.

I agree that the courts, ACLU, and parents would raise a hue and cry but requiring parents' response on Saturday would be loved by teachers.

[jch10]

Sorry. I didn't mean the NRA....the NEA....

[Amelia]

I agree that there's a lot not to like about the NEA.