I hope you agree that I always try to be factual in the opinions I put forward on this Blog but today I shall respond to a situation with a 'gut reaction'.I look at the attitudes put forward by 'ordinary people' and I note that the majority tend to want 'the punishment to fit the crime'. In this, nothing has changed over the last forty years or so.
I contend however, that there is a genuine distinction which can be made between then and now. In days of yore, there was a practical base to this, of course, but there was also a moral portion which wanted 'right' to triumph and this feeling ran very deep.
Today, I see school parents prepared to make phoney excuses for children; those who write notes to defend misbehaviour; the ones who take the word of their mendacious offspring over school staff who have actually witnessed misbehaviour - thus effectively calling them liars!
I know of parents who have lied to shield children from the consequences of their actions and of one who said to a staff member "Well, I am not going to grass him up."
These same parents will want, indeed demand discipline, but not when it applies to their own.
So, have things changed? - OH YES!
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