Funny that all that physical type punishment didn't work.

Funny, because I can remember the 50s, & 60s, when it was safe for a teenager girl to catch a train home, at midnight, walk a mile, [remember them?] down the poorly lit surburban streets, & not only feel, but be, perfectly safe doing so.

May be it doesn't work, but it sure as hell, looks like it did, back then.

We hear, & see, plenty of answers which don't work in practice, but continue to refuse to apply the ones that did work, bl@@dy well, for years, & still work today, in places like Singapore.

Pied Piper and Houellebecq:

You asked me what made me "so cross" in my first post?....you see there you have it,...you really didn`t make any effort to understand exactly what I was saying! The answer to a lot of the problem in the first place is to avoid or reduce the incidence of children becoming "Wards of the State" thus this problem is alleviated to a certain extent!

There has to be a return to meting out punishment to suit the "crime". At the present time our judicial system is somewhat wanting in handing out penalties, and we are seeing the victims of crime being ignored whilst the real criminals laugh behind their hands as they cop a minor fine or get off scot-free with a simple warning and are then let loose to carry on to achieve greater heights in the crime stakes. It is a joke all round and it appears that to people like "Houellebecq" this modern or recent trend of criminality is the "norm" as illustrated by his vivid description of disgusting events occurring during his school days!

I was born before the WW2 and as a child listened to bombs dropping and played around Ack-Ack Installations ( note: played not vandalized as is the acceptable norm today!)
I may appear to be a goody two shoes in your eyes, but myself,( and I can safely speak for my other schoolmates) treated our teachers with respect and to this day all have been held in the highest regard and NEVER ever would we dream of even swearing at a teacher, ....so you can see that you yourself have illustrated quite openly that the children of your vintage have degenerated somewhat in attitudes and behaviour, and I should add that should we have behaved in the way that you described in your school,(which is still totally unacceptable) we would have received a damned good caning across the backside, and quite rightfully too! There was no running home and telling or complaining to the parents or another punishment would be applied for complaining about a well deserved "tanning".

Naaah. You're not listening.

There's schools and there's schools, you obviously went to one with nice kids.

The kids at my school got punished, often violently, but the behaviour persisted. My point isn't that it is ok, my point is that you hear about these instances more now, but you didn't when they were happening back then, and you certainly didn't see it on TV. You relate them to your school upbringing and think there has been a change, I relate them to mine, which was also in the past, and I don't see a major change.

Maybe there has been a change, but corporal punishment was prevalent, and PC thought not so much when I was at school. Most kids expected to get whacked again when they got home like you say.

The world has changed since you were a lad(ette) yes (not so much for me, as I'm young and beautiful and.. well... sprightly really), but I don't think you're gonna change it back with a few canings. It didn't work back then.

Look for another reason and solution.

Although, in economic terms, it can be quite lucrative. In the US you have privately owned gaols (I love spelling it that way, I'm sure you'd understand, wink) and they make the crims do work and make a profit. Then all you need is zero tolerance on crime, and all ya 'marginalised' and 'poor' and 'disadvantaged' as the PC brigade like to call 'em (wink) can be put to good use in the prison system. Man those yanks are inventive!

Man SJF better make sure the husbands of the world don't make a law about nagging or those wife-slaves she talks of will really have something to worry about!

Crackcup: "The rapidly increasing criminal activities are becoming more violent"

You have evidence of this, as in stats from the ABS of something? It would be a shame if we invested a whole pile of time belting kids into submission if these "rapidly increasing criminal activities" were really just "rapidly increasing media beat ups".

Crackcup: "I am disgusted and sickened by the increasing attitude of violence"

If I saw an "increasing attitude of violence" I be worried too, Crackup. However, the only thing I have seen recently arguing for a more violence society is your post.

"The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for
authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place
of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their
households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They
contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties
at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers.

ATTRIBUTION: Attributed to SOCRATES by Plato, according to William L.
Patty and Louise S. Johnson, Personality and Adjustment, p. 277
(1953)."

"The world is passing through troublous times. The young people of
today think of nothing but themselves. They have no reverence for
parents or old age. They are impatient of all restraint. They talk as
if they knew everything, and what passes for wisdom with us is
foolishness with them. As for the girls, they are forward, immodest
and unladylike in speech, behavior and dress."

From a sermon preached by Peter the Hermit in 1274 CE.

Obviously, the answer is to thrash children frequently. That will cause them to respect authority and to eschew violence.

Sorry crack up but your posts are over the top.
Yes each generation thinks theirs was better, but today full reporting makes it look much worse than it once did.
Why we would not even get to hear about some things yesterday that happened but did not get reported in the media.
Yes we have a problem, but it is complex and unlikely to be AS BAD AS THAT.
C J Morgan reminds us its nothing new.