GP Taylor: Let our children learn in school of hard knocks School cricket
will never be risk-free. I am always grateful that I grew up in an age when
childhood was not as complicated as it is today.
There was no Xbox or 24-hour TV. I played in the street and at the park.
From the age of eight, I was feral. Leaving the house in the morning I would
venture to the beach, cliffs and castle. It was then back for dinner and then
off again until tea. Often I would return home with cuts and scrapes as evidence
of my adventures. It wasn’t ginger beer and sandwiches and was a million miles
away from the middle class antics of the Famous Five, but it was fun. School was
very much the same. There was the cane which acted as a deterrent and the elbow
of many a teacher as he passed by. We took whatever happened to us as part of
life. On the first day of introduction to rugby, I was kicked in the face and
got two black eyes. The ball wasn’t even near me. In science I even managed to
blow up an experiment and burnt my clothes. When I got home I got a telling off
from my parents. There was never a question of accusing the teacher of
negligence and certainly never accusing them of assault when they sorted you out
in the classroom. It was all part of life and it didn’t leave any scars. How
things have changed. Parents seem no longer to support the teachers in
disciplining their children. The teacher is always guilty until proved innocent
and parent power is out of control. If a child falls over at school, the parents
look for a claim. Helped by unscrupulous lawyers, this claim culture now costs
schools in excess of £7.2m over a three-year period. So bad are the effects of
parents suing schools that some think that education of our children is under
threat. Teachers are now living in fear of having a court case against them even
for the most trivial of incidents. Recently one child was given a payout of
£2,475 when they collided with a post whilst blindfolded. Heaven forbid that the
good old-fashioned game of Blind Man’s Buff should become a money-making
exercise. When are parents going to realise that sometimes there are things
called accidents and they often happen? Life has its dangers and children should
rightly be taught some activities are perilous. However, the law has to be
changed so that parents can only claim compensation from schools only in the
most serious of cases. If you allow your child to play cricket, there is a good
chance that at some point your precious prince or princess will come into sharp
contact with a bat or ball. I know this to be true as I bear the scars. It is
not something that should be claimable through the court by an ambulance-chasing
lawyer. In Northamptonshire, a child was paid £20.000 after he was struck on the
head by a cricket ball. Cricket is a dangerous game at times. If you are worried
about your child getting hurt don’t let them play. If you do, please don’t go
chasing the school for cash if something goes wrong. Obviously, if there has
been wilful neglect and a child is seriously hurt, then the court and
compensation is the way forward, but a cricket ball? No amount of 20-page risk
assessments could stop that happening. The obsession with parents’ claims,
fuelled by greedy lawyers, is seriously going to harm what can happen in
schools. Physical education will be the first thing to go. Leading to more fat
kids. Already, subjects are being dropped from curriculums because of lack of
cash. Schools cannot afford the insurance premiums when a child was paid £11,500
after a trampoline accident and another was paid £6,600 when they failed to jump
a vaulting horse. For heaven’s sake, accidents happen. Teachers already have to
complete mountains of paperwork for every activity they plan. One teacher
recently joked that filling out the paperwork takes her three times longer than
some of the activities that she plans. I gave a talk about books to a number of
schools in a theatre. One of the schools cancelled at the last minute as the
journey of 800 yards was deemed to be too dangerous to attempt as the hazards on
route could not be properly assessed. Crocodiles of children in high-viz jackets
will soon become a common sight. What next? Little Johnny in Kevlar body armour?
The education of our children is being infringed upon by an overwhelming fear of
out-of-control litigation. The society in which we live is becoming obsessed
with claiming for everything. It has become a divine right that someone must pay
and someone is to blame for every accident that happens. This insidious action
has to stop and we all have to realise that accidents sometimes happen and there
is no one to blame.
GP Taylor is a writer and broadcaster and can be followed
@GPTaylorauthor
Read more at: http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/opinion/gp-taylor-let-our-children-learn-in-school-of-hard-knocks-1-8488171
The only slight problem with the article is that it
doesn't really take into account that the word 'feral' today has morphed into
meaning 'out of all control'.
The whole discipline structure, combined with any sense of
self control, have largely disappeared.
It is a different world. I profoundly regret its passing
and with a degree of shame, I must admit that I became far more protective of my
own children than my parents ever were with me.
I would disappear for full days, fishing rod in hand,
before my parents had even got up. All I did was leave a short note of
explanation.
That was in a rural setting.
30+ years on and in the city, I wanted to know where my own
sons were every minute of every day.
As for cricket - oh, dear!
Sigh.