THUGS IN THE SCHOOLROOM

Press, Volume XCIII, Issue 27860, 7 January 1956, Page 12

THUGS IN THE SCHOOLROOM

Teacher In Britain Writes Of Hazards (Special Correspondent N.Z.P.A.) LONDON, January 5. An anonymous woman school teacher, writing in the “Daily Mirror,” claims that she and hundreds of her colleagues throughout Britain are scared of the adolescent thugs whom they are forced to teach in their schoolrooms. They are scared of the teddy boy rule the pupils are trying to clamp on the schoolroom and of threats to teachers outside it. “The situation in my own school is getting out of hand.” says the teacher. “I teach in a northern city boys’ secondary modern school, not in a slum area, but which has some genuinely criminal types. “In this little ‘blackboard jungle’ a recent search brought to light one spiked knuckleduster, one length of bicycle chain (strictly for assault), and several reports of tortures inflicted on junior boys. “In the school lavatories, lighted cigarettes were held close to these by senior boys. Unless the luckless youngsters sang, the cigarettes were stubbed out on their foreheads. “In this school, boys make alarming threats to their masters. Each night, after school at least, one teacher with a frightened, pounding heart, will hurry down the dimly-lit streets leading from the school —with a sigh of relief on reaching the crowded bus stop. “In my school, certain 14 and 15-year-olds, reprimanded by a teacher, will stand, fists raised ready in front of the class. For a slightly built schoolmaster this can be a frightening thing. “Many of these top-formers are nearly 6ft tall and sturdy with it. In such cases the teacher faces a dilemma, and one he must solve quickly: can he afford to attempt to punish the boy? “If he fails and the boy knocks him down in front of the class (with a small teacher and a big thug this is an odds on possibility), the teacher not only gets injured j —he loses his prestige with the class for ever. “If the boy comes off worst, it is more than probable that the teacher will be threatened with assault ‘by a big brother’ outside the school, or else the boy’s parents will give a garbled version to the education office or to a local councillor. “This is an additional hazard the teacher must face. It is so easy these days to prosecute him for the slightest blow aimed in reproof at a child. And even if the case is thrown out of Court, the slur of the . prosecution sticks to the master’s name for the rest of his days, she says. “Both ways the luckless teacher is trapped.”