Teachers

1:35pm Wednesday 7th May 2008

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TOM Cooper (HAS, May 3) says that teachers should not be the moral guardians of the nation, but how they act within school influences the values a pupil learns just as much as those instilled by parents.

When I was at school there were teachers who deserved respect, others only contempt. Teachers often used the cane or ruler if pupils showed disrespect towards them, but they did nothing when pupils started racially, abusing and physical assaulting others.

This not only sent out the message that racism and bullying was acceptable, but the victims left school with low self-esteem and psychological problems, while a number of school bullies ended up in prison for doing after leaving school what they had found to be acceptable within school.

Over the years teachers have lost the power to discipline pupils, but as the problem has got worse the response from the school is often "there's no bullying here". What does the NUT do about it? Instead of demanding changes be made, the right to punish be restored, they instead chose to talk pseudo-leftie rubbish about the British Army recruiting in schools. Need I say more?

CT Riley, Spennymoor, Co Durham.