But - parents can’t be expected to provide character training and socialisation if the way we live separates them from their children, denies them responsibility, denies them the emotional rewards of a child’s hugs and kisses, and simply asks them to provide a punitive structure that intensifies the pathologies the child exhibits as a result of being thrust into institutional environments far too young. If the child is going to be appropriated by the state, then the state will have to figure out how to cope with the monsters its own actions have created. Thinking about David Gray’s remarks below, the best hypothesis might be that as the state moves to appropriate the child, it simultaneously infantilises the adult. We need parents to be adults who can take responsibility for themselves and their children. We are hardly going about it the right way. GS

http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=4484927

Teachers Call for Parenting Classes for New Mothers
By Tim Ross, PA Education Correspondent

All new mothers should attend parenting classes so they can learn to teach their children the difference between right and wrong, head teachers said today.

Primary schools struggle to educate a generation of four-year-olds who swear, spit, scratch and kick if they do not get their own way, the National Association of Head Teachers’ annual conference was told.

David Gray, head teacher at Babbacombe Primary School in Torbay, Devon, said the problem was wider than just schools.

Speaking at the conference in Telford, Shropshire, he said: “People in modern Britain seem to have a complete inability to accept responsibility for one’s actions.

“This runs from the top of society right to the bottom.

“There is also a ridiculous confusion about who is actually in charge of our children,” he said.

“Parents often want it both ways. They don’t want the school to be hard on their precious offspring but they are quite happy to leave their entire personal, social, health and sex education to teachers.”

Delegates voted unanimously in favour of Mr Gray’s motion warning that it is impossible to include violent and disruptive pupils in mainstream classes without proper funding.

He went on: “The experienced teacher will be able to inform you of how much time one disruptive pupil can take him or her away from teaching the other pupils in the class.

“A teacher with a class of 30 has an average of two minutes to devote to each child.

“But they might have to spend 75% of their time dealing with just one disruptive child.”

Mr Gray continued: “How much better it would be if the LEA provided weekly sessions which mothers and babies from all social levels would be expected to attend.

“Experts such as a doctor, nurse or a teachers could be at hand to discuss any concerns that the parents may have.

“Health or SEN issues could be identified much sooner rather than later.

“The parents could be taught the importance of a regular routine for their baby, the importance of teaching the child the difference between ’yes’ and ’no’ and the necessity of playing with and talking to one’s baby.”

The next government must propose “more coherent policies” on inclusion of difficult children, rather than “the present shambles”, he said.

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