JUVENILE CRIME AND PARENTS
SIR,—The exception which I took to the view that citizenship might appropriately be taught by a parental Government, using the Ministry of Education as its instrument, depended on the interpretation which might be given to this view. It could reasonably involve the formulation of a set of principles by a Government, with a directive to teachers that those principles must be taught in schools. My criticism is, firstly, that such an effort would have little result in raising the ethical standards of the population. A teacher is of value to the community by reason of his personal integrity, and by his ability to teach certain subjects. If he is unable to convey the values which count most in his own life, external directives will be of little use. Moreover, as a teacher he implants and encourages certain civic virtues, which are inseparable from good behaviour and sound learning in a well-ordered school. Schools have played a stabilising part through many difficult years, by maintaining their own pattern of relationships, and their own standards of value, while those of the outside world were crumbling ; to his dismay the teacher now sees his particular contribution in danger of destruction because he is continuously taken away from his own job to do others, which, though necessary and valuable, are at bottom the responsibility of the whole community. My second criticism is that an external direc- tive in such a matter, by a Government department could involve a violation of the teacher's own conscience ; and further could open the door to the teaching of views which might be in opposition to those of the general body of parents.
As to the remedy for the present situation, I can find none other than an intensification of the care shown by the main body of parents in the oversight of their children when they are out of school. This is made
increasingly difficult by long journeys to distant schools. Already, in many parts of the country, disputes have arisen as to the behaviour of Children on trains and buses, and one town at least is reported to have authorised the bus company to turn badly-behaved children off the buses. Problems of this type involve extraordinary burdens upon public servants ; the decisions surely involve legal issues, and the treatment is not likely to turn a badly-behaved child into a better one, but rather to give scope for further wrong-doing. But it is a problem for the com- munity and not one for teachers alone. My point as to fathers playing with their school-age children was that this is one of the fairly easy ways of repairing weakened family associa- tions. As your correspondent points out, public parks are full of such groups at week-ends. The need, I suggest, is for a great multiplication of playing grounds, close enough to homes to make bus journeys un- necessary, and designed to give scope for boisterous and even destructive behaviour, without damage to near-17y property. I do not think this touches the child of the really bad home, but I think it might well save children from normal but busy homes from the first step into irresponsible behaviour, and thence to associations which lead to crime. In this teachers and parents could co-operate, and so strengthen the hold which together they have over the juvenile population. The teacher's best contribution can be made by supporting family influences by all means in his power, rather than in undertaking responsibilities which are not,
and cannot be, truly his.—Yours faithfully, C. A. MURRAY. Education Department, The University, Reading, Berks.
Previous page
