Hi there FOXY...

I know the movie to which you refer. It was made in the late sixties and set in a school in the east end of London, with a mixed class full of rebellious teens. The teacher used his persuasive personality to win them over, and ultimately they all became good and useful citizens. A nice movie with a happy ending however it would have very little relevance to most high schools of western Sydney today I'm afraid ?

A couple of years before I retired I was fortunate enough to attend a programme run by VICPOL but held in NSW, it was titled; 'Police - Schools Resource Officer's' Programme. It was broadly designed, to enable police to build bridges of communication, and greater levels of understanding between police and youth, with many of these youths attending both Victorian and NSW, High Schools.

The course was very interesting, and many of the techniques we were taught looked very good and it seemed worthwhile to at least try, in order to build greater levels of trust between youths and police.

Despite the best intentions of all concerned, when trialled outside in the community, it fell flat on it's face, with most youths treating it all with absolute derision ?

Those in charge of this 'social experiment' weren't very happy, not only because it totally crashed, but because of the immense cost in terms of personnel resources, and wasted money spent, both on training and later on, deployment. It was decided by 'the Gods' never such a 'similar' experiment was to be tried again ?

Idealism and reality are two entirely different matters. While manners and standards of behaviour are nice to have, just keeping some of these young people out of gaol is considered a major achievement, by some High School Principal's !

Foxy,

There is nothing polite in what you do when you copy and paste whole paragraphs of established authors' original work and present it as your own. It is unethical and immoral.

All educational authorities everywhere regard plagiarism as unethical. Here from NSW,

http://www.schoolatoz.nsw.edu.au/homework-and-study/homework-tips/copycats-beware

It is hypocritical to be lecturing all and sundry about 'manners' when you flout one of the most basic rules set for pupils in primary school and you are entirely unrepentant to boot.

Dear O Sung Wu,

The following link explains some of the problems
you've raised and what should be done:

http://www.behavioradvisor.com/Primer.html

Training in managing student behaviour should be
a must for all teachers - especially how to handle
discipline.

Dear otb,

You are so incredibly well informed.

I cannot argue with you for you have all
the answers.

I should simply sit at your feet and soak up
all your wisdom.

Thank You for pointing out to me my errors.

I shall endeavour not to repeat them.

Mea culpa!

Hi FOXY...

I've read your link, thank you for that. And there's no doubt Tom McINTIRE has a rare gift of handling troublesome students who feel they 'have' to go to school rather than they need to attend school in order to learn. Obviously his methods are tried and true, but somehow I can't avoid wondering how much a teacher's personality has to play, in controlling students in class ?

Obviously Tom has a very animated style about him, as evidenced by his lively even spirited techniques in explaining his procedures for coping with errant kids in class. All of which would probably translate quite well into his teaching methodology too ?

I wonder though, if a strong assertive male figure, can often intimidate kids into behaving well. Whereas a gentle and caring female teacher, perhaps can't ? I don't know FOXY, I've never taught teenagers in a school environment ? While it's true I spent a few years teaching in our Academy, they were more or less a captured audience and their behaviour was generally exemplary ? I guess it had to be, they were seeking a career in the police, any misbehaviour wouldn't have been tolerated at all ! It's for this reason I do feel quite sorry for young people who wish to pursue a career as teachers, a very noble vocation for sure, but sometimes thankless.

Thank you again FOXY for Tom McINTYRE'S link, I found it very interesting indeed.

Dear O Sung Wu,

Thank You for your last post and for fully
understanding the points that I am trying
to make here. Part of my ethos is not to give
up on kids. Especially the difficult, troublesome
ones. I've seen many films of teachers and
troublesome kids. There was a golden oldie
that was re-released in 2005 (I believe it was a
classic from the 1950s) that I saw recently -
called "Blackboard Jungle." It showed that the
problem of difficult kids has been with us for
a long time.

Thanks again for understanding.