Ultimate deterrent
Sir : Whilst any teacher welcomes the trend towards greater kindness and permissiveness in the classroom, one wishes that the Lady Plowdens of this world would occasionally be more practical.
Last week a friend at my wife's previous school was viciously scratched by a pupil, who was not punished. She is now looking for a job outside teaching. The week before one of my colleagues, a young girl, was struck violently a number of times and reduced to tears by a young teenager. He was suspended. About a month ago another friend—a talented and enthusiastic teacher—found herself a job in a bank as a result of unpleasant incidents including biting, spitting, scratching and ex- tremely imaginative swearing.
Lady Plowden may suppose we are all, quite simply, bad teachers. Perhaps. But we note that this behaviour does not occur in Eton, where she sent her sons and where, as she must have known, they use the cane. Are we so wrong to fear that local authority policy on corporal punishment may be resulting in a situation where teachers are left unprotected against unruly. pupils? Any alternative to the cane as a last resort would be very welcome, but unfortunately Lady Plowden has not yet provided it.
I must, for obvious reasons, ask you not to publish my name and address.
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