Discipline and respect

Writing as a vice dean of a university, a father of three and a grandfather of five, I wish to state that Ilan Evyatar is right in highlighting the issue of attracting good teachers by improving their own education and selection (“An urgent need for reform,” Observations, December 9). There is, however, the danger of disparaging the many excellent teachers we already have, demoralizing them and thus aggravating the problem.

Although improving the educational levels of new teachers might be desirable, an expert with a degree doesn’t necessarily make a skilled and enthusiastic teacher. I am not at all convinced that research universities can do a better job than teaching-centered colleges. Apart from high salaries and better conditions, the prestige of the profession needs to be transformed by giving teachers back their status.

Today, teachers are too often the punching bags in a blackboard jungle, the targets of spoiled and undisciplined brats, violent parents and an unsupportive bureaucracy. Evyatar is right that money isn’t enough (although vital); quality is the key, and it will never be achieved in the current neo-liberal atmosphere of a “democratic” education and the free-for-all, anything-goes behavior in schools.

Although very unpolitically correct, I am convinced that discipline and respect must be brought back before real progress will be made. I would start with strict dress codes, a ban on smartphones in class (unless part of the lesson) and rigidly enforced behavioral rules. Do-gooder parents (many themselves the products of low-quality education) should be given term reports but kept out of decision-making and disciplinary matters.

Above all, schools must be given back the legal authority to enforce their rules and punish offenders effectively. Perhaps then, teachers will be able to teach, and pupils will be able to get down to the business of effective study instead of running riot and learning to fail. ANTHONY LUDER Rosh Pina