In the early 80’s my Grammar school merged ‘with a local secondary school, and became a comprehensive. The cane was abolished a couple of years later ( and hardly ever used before that ) so the deterrent disappeared, and slowly at first, the school standards of uniform, deportment, academic achievement, and manners disintegrated. By the end of the 80’s we were living in a building of classrooms with a cafeteria, and children chose which bits of the curriculum they attended, whether they did games and PE, and referred in conversation to teachers by our first names or worse! Homework became ‘voluntary’, whilst respect and good manners were now the exceptions. Indeed I found myself giving individual praise to children who behaved well, something we would have taken for granted in grammar school.
Confessions of an Old Teacher6
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