To be fair I can se both sides to this. Roger, my concern would be that the state/councils are riddled with utter buffoons that think that pressing home a 'really important' case of inappropriate teacher bevaviour (such as the example given) is what they are there for. Sadly the police have taken up the same role. I would say Roger is right in that we are in this predicament precisely because people did not say 'shove your idiotic rules' a decade ago and now it has bcome so institutionalised (perhaps not in law) that the consequences of dissent are genuinley severe for the person who challenges the unchallengeable wisdom of these fools. A friend of mine told me about his home inspection when he applied to adopt a child (which is a very lengthy and painful process I hear). He was give a list home 'home modifications' that would have cost many thousands of pounds (were it not for the fact that he was a builder) and which for the life of him, he could not understand. The inspector seemed to have it in his head that the house needed to be adapted for a physically able child in the same way one would expect for a physically handicaped child wtih special needs. The stairs were too dangerous (never mind that stair gates exist), angles were wrong...banisters needed changing...doors moving...I shit you not. The last I heard was him being in a state of shock, not wanting to give up on adopting but not wanting to sign up to this ridiculous, humiliating and unneccessary nonsense. I think we would all agree the children are far better off under state care where there are no sharp edges and a perpetual smell of bleach than in this unprepared idiots deathtrap of a home...
I would say that Roger is right in that the media must not be underestimated. They are generally on the side of common sense and will normally champion a person being shafted unfairly. one just has to play the right cards. Councils etc quickly back off when the 'people revolt'.
Do we really think that denying a child physical contact from a teacher is a good thing? (apart from being smacked and generally physically readjusted
)I remember teachers taking my hand, being compassionate as well as severe. This was a reflection of the real world. Thankfully I had loving parents but some children dont. Heaven knows the damage that a complete lack of physical contact at school does to those that are crying out for it. It does not take much, but kind words and smiles are not the same. I was mightily pleased to see that the village school my kids just started at are very personal and DO touch the children and had a sense of normality about it. My son was very much reassured by the warmth this imparted when he joined. Maybe other teachers were in full view, I dont know.
I am very much an advocate of innocent until proven guilty. Teachers, carers etc who abuse their responsibility should be metered out the most severe of punishments, rather than spreading this out thinly, in advance, over all the pupils. unfortunately teh same idiotic state that cares for our children so much seems to be incapable of properly dealing with the unpleasant types they purport to be protecting us from and woe betide any citizen that 'takes their (the state's) law into their own hands'. In the UK we seem to have forgotten that 'common law' is OURS, applied on OUR behalf by the state. WE own it and the state is beholdent to US, not the other way round. Sadly this wonderful relationship has been distorted in the last 15 years and we are becoming incresingly accountable to our state masters and many dont seem to have realised just what is happening. however, many citizens have also forgotten their obligations and look to the Government 'to do something' in the same way fish swim about near the surface at feeding time. They are a product of the state deciding back in the 60s that they would assume the role of all knowing master and organiser and play both sides; displaying irritation when the Govt tells them what to do, yet complaining that the Govt is responsible for their house burning down when they granted an import license to the fireworks company who provided the fireworks, which they stored on top of their cooker, along with their firelighters and matches
