School right to enforce the rules for behaviour
Jacqueline Bisset, actress, Don Was, music producer, Bobby Davro, comedian, Zak Starkey, rock musician, Michael Johnson, former athlete Shane Warne, cricketer, Goran Ivanisevic, former tennis player, Stella McCartney, fashion designer Niall Horan, singer AS an ex-teacher and a representative of the people of Almondbury I applaud the attempt by King James’ School to make it clear to their pupils the standard of behaviour expected.
To some it may seem very prescriptive but it seems to me that the school is trying to make it absolutely clear what pupils should not do.
Most problems in the classroom are caused by low level disruptive behaviour.
Although the media may depict schools as centres for violence and debauchery, in actual fact most of the problems a typical teacher faces are on a small scale. They can cause a class to lose focus and not be able to learn. One pupil can, by one remark, ruin a lesson.
King James’ principal Ian Rimmer’s rules show examples of what a teacher faces day to day in the classroom and around the school.
It is an attempt, as far as I can see, to have pupils show the respect to teachers and each other that will create an atmosphere that will enhance learning. There is only one rule I would question and that is the one about a pupil looking directly at staff when talking to them.
In some cultures this could be considered rude and due consideration must be made of any situation that could be seen, wrongly, as a sign of disrespect.
Does Morgan Burton really think that talking rudely or behaving badly in the classroom is a right of free expression or free speech?
From personal experience, if you believe that to be true then you deny another basic human right: the right to be educated.
Consequently Ian Rimmer has my full support in his effort to make King James’ a school where excellent behaviour is encouraged because, like him, I think it is a fundamental requirement to help achieve academic success. THE problem with Brexit is the EU. After all, if the EU made sense and worked well we wouldn’t want to leave. So it’s no surprise negotiations are a mess. But by being the one to run for the exit first, Britain makes itself look like the problem.
Brexit has exposed the EU’s restrictive borders, restrictive trade policies, colossal financial costs and absurd negotiating games. They look like problems triggered by Brexit, but Brexit merely exposes what is already there.
A country that wants to trade with the EU faces the same nonsense we face now in our trade negotiations. A country wanting to implement basic sensible border policy with the EU faces what we face now. Wealthy countries in the bloc face the divorce bill we face now, but spread over time.
It’s interesting to consider whether we can even afford the European Union. The simple answer is no. Britain faces an existential crisis as it is.