QUICK DISCLAIMER: All views & OPINIONS expressed in Matt's Column are his own and the topics are that of his own choice. These are not articles.
Television presenter Ray Mears has stated that Schools need more discipline to help them regain “lost manners” from our children.
MR Mears, the survival expert, told the Daily Express:
“I hate to sound like a grumpy, old man but we need to return to the kind of values we had in this country in the 1950s. “Our manners have definitely gone downhill,” Mears, 47, told Radio Times magazine. “I really do think we need to bring discipline back into schools.”
Nick Seaton who is chairman of the Campaign for Real Education backed up Ray Mears’s views by saying that the teaching of good manners by parents and teachers had been “sacrificed on this alter of egalitarianism which teaches children no respect for others, just rights for themselves”.
I also add my backing to Ray Mears’s views, for a start how nice is it to see a television personality expressing views of this sort and nature? Somewhat a rarity... yet welcoming and refreshing! Manners are none existent in schools today as well in most cases there is a somewhat strong sense that bad behaviour is lacking also! Manners seem to be something these days which get dismissed if you haven’t got any... maybe it’s down to a result of the 21st century lifestyle? Fast paced living and constant clock watching... the occasional “Thank You” just seems to go amiss; instead we demand, want instant action and expect everything without the need for pleasant conversation.
I feel sorry for teachers, they always seem to get criticised for not doing this and that... yet to me it seems that all this must come back to the parents. I see a teacher as somebody that gives your child an education, teaches them basic manners & life skills which they can take forward. I mention manners, but the reality is that children can be taught many manners but if they aren’t consistently used in the rest of their daily lives other than school then children are going to struggle taking them on board and using them themselves. Parents MUST take responsibility and bring them up to be a decent member of society and expand with what they learn in the classrooms and put it into their home life. Then again, Teachers these days seem to spend all their time ticking boxes and filling in paperwork... therefore makes the teaching seem more like a business than them actually building up a trusting relationship with children, in that case maybe the teaching guidelines need changing? Maybe Parents and Teachers should communicate more about their children and how they are progressing, anything which can ensure a child isn’t getting boundaries put into the classroom but then when they are in their home environment are forgetting everything and doing as they please.
Manners just seem to portray somebody as an honest, grounded and well brought up person. These days those what I would consider basics are just none existent and I think it is such a shame that these traditional ways of life and how you present yourself just aren’t part of the school's priority... again due to guidelines and ofstead! I may be controversial in saying this or then again you may all agree, but I think a child shall get more in the long term of his/her life if he/she had good manners, portrayed themselves well and were just generally brought up to be decent people rather than spending hours learning Algebra or other none mainstream education. You simply need manners and know how to show yourself well in society a hell of a lot more than you need to know how to add a few X’s and Y’s together. Future job interviews and opportunities rely on you coming across as a decent person; it is all about first impressions!
As teaching seems to have grown into quite a robotic form I think all parents should just take over and ensure that their child grows up to be a respectful human being... after all they are reflecting you! It shouldn’t all be left to teachers to teach your child how to say Please and Thank You... yet if the child doesn’t know how to then I guess guidelines would just have to take a back seat! Communication between Teacher and Child is very important in this and I can only but hope the traditional use of manners isn’t something which is lacking in the youth in just years to come.
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