SIR – It was interesting reading the web-posts (T&A, June 11) about attacks on staff in schools and the general lack of discipline.
In my schooldays, attacks on teachers were unheard of. Even the most disruptive of pupils had a healthy respect for authority.
I well remember my first encounter with chastisement, in infant school in the 1950s. I was fooling around when “Miss” frog-marched me out before the class, one of the legs of my short trousers was pulled up and my buttock was spanked with terrific vim – bad enough, but the worst part was wriggling back to my seat under the mocking eyes of a grinning class.
Over the school years, punishments were many and varied. One may find a blackboard eraser on the back of one’s ‘napper’ for not paying attention, and ear-twisting was another old standby.
Over the years, the do-gooders have had their way and the disruptive elements of society have been doing as they please, with authority being quite powerless.
If this state of affairs carries on, society will continue on its inexorable journey to the dogs.
Terry Tordoff, Calderstone Avenue, Buttershaw, Bradford
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