Readers' Letters: French may have answer to school violence

As one who experienced six frightening months in a Lanarkshire comprehensive school in the mid-1980s before, fortunately, being moved to the independent sector, I have been following with concern the current debate with regard to disorder and violence in too many state schools.

Should Scottish education secretary Jenny Gilruth take inspiration from France when it comes to sorting out school violence? (Picture: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

My experiences of such behaviour included witnessing mass orchestrated playground brawls and there being a feeling of constant danger, caused by out-of-control and “agin the government” pupils. My parents would not believe that the situation was as bad as I claimed until I got hit on the head by a broken Irn-Bru bottle and required stiches – but my experiences damaged my health and made miserable my early teens. I believe that, to an extent, the SNP’s insurgent approach to government in general is perhaps a factor in giving too many pupils and their families a sense that they too should disrupt and behave as they please.

As one who works in Higher Education, I can only imagine what it must be like to try to impart knowledge when facing disruptive and aggressive pupils. A fundamental requirement must be to ensure order and safety in classrooms. My recommendation is that the French approach should be piloted, whereby discipline is not the responsibility of class teachers, but is instead the job of “surveillants”, who can be called upon by teachers to remove unruly pupils. Given that many disruptors are likely to be attention-seekers, removing them elsewhere to allow lessons to progress would be an initial discouragement of bad behaviour. The surveillants are able to investigate underlying causes of behavioural problems, involving social services as necessary. While not a perfect solution, I believe that it would assist in rebalancing school environments in favour of order, safety and learning.

(Prof) Bruce Peter, Edinburgh

Protect Europe

Ukraine is fighting a conflict that is in support of democracy rather than autocracy. At this time should our government and indeed society not be horrified that there is a focus on tax cuts in the forthcoming budget rather than funnelling available “surplus” cash to supporting Ukraine in their struggle. There should be no doubt that if Vladimir Putin and his cabal succeed in their war with Ukraine there will be no end to their ambition to create a greater Russia that will not only totally change the Baltic area but impact on Europe as we know it at present.

Indeed, we need go back no further in history than 1939 to have a graphic example of failure to understand that there is no answer to illegal aggression other than to support those who are fighting to prevent annihilation.

We have to get real on where the right priority is today. Failure to do the right thing today will result in greater problems in the future.

T Lewis, Coylton, Ayrshire

Good boy

While Brendan Rodgers’ “good girl” comment to interviewer Jane Lewis was patronising in the extreme, I’m struggling to understand how it can be called sexist.

Throughout the earlier decades of my 40-year career as a journalist, interviewees of an older generation – both male and female – would regularly aim phrases like “good lad” in my direction. I always viewed these as rather feeble attempts to establish superiority within a professional relationship. In common with most of the seasoned journalists I have known (again, both male and female), I treated such comments as useful personality markers that can help guide how best to get the most out of an interviewee in the future.

Jane Lewis has been a highly regarded journalist for many years and, I’m sure, does not need any advice on how to deal with disrespect or provocation from an interviewee. Journalists have to ask difficult questions and therefore won’t always get a warm response. Given that she has rejected attempts to cast her as the victim of a sexist outrage, I would hope that she is now shown the respect of being left to get on with her job.

Ian Martin, Edinburgh

Language please

In no way would I wish to gloss over the racially insensitive dialogue that has resulted in Mary Poppins being re-rated to PG from U, but I did wonder if the words “teuchter” and “Sassenach” would now be hunted down in other films and be similarly reclassified.

James Palmer (Sassenach descended from teuchters), Sedbergh, Cumbria

Talk is cheap

MP Lee Anderson was suspended from the Tory party after refusing to apologise for claiming “Islamists” had achieved “control” over London. If only he had provided his evidence for his claim it could have been discussed on its merits in public like any claim in a society that believes in freedom of speech.

Doug Clark, Currie, Edinburgh

Climate row

Dr Stephen Moreton, living in Cheshire, is apparently an exiled Scot with a large green chip on his shoulder and a hankering for Independence and rejoining the EU (Letters, 24 February). He objected to my saying that climate change is "in the distant future". He then says renewables are cheaper (they are not) and that the UK will achieve energy independence, which it never will. If the danger of a changing climate is here now can he suggest how the UK, with 1 per cent of global emissions, can save the planet when the majority of countries are “phasing up” their usage of fossil fuels and certainly not “phasing out” or even “phasing down”?

I am sure Dr Moreton can calculate the hundreds of thousands of tons of greenhouse gases created by wars in the manufacture of weapons and rebuilding the shattered infrastructure.

On receiving his calculations everyone could then decide whether eating less meat, buying a heat pump, shutting off the gas supply, enduring the pain of public transport, no longer taking foreign holidays and remortgaging their homes to buy an electric car will make any difference to global temperatures.

Clark Cross, Linlithgow, West Lothian

Blown it

This past weekend saw some inconvenient truths for those who promote wind power. At 11.35pm on Saturday night UK windfarms spread across both land and sea with a theoretical capacity of 23,076 MW (megawatts) were generating a miniscule 160 MW as calm weather engulfed the country and solar power was at zero. In total, wind power was at less than 1 per cent of capacity for 4 hours and less than 10 per cent for 36 hours.

One hundred per cent clean energy by 2050? That leaves plenty of time to redefine “clean” or “energy” or both.

Geoff Moore, Alness, Highland

Rein it in

The Scotsman quotes Labour’s normally convincing Lisa Nandy arguing against SNP’s Stephen Flynn that “The speaker is in charge, is the guardian of our processes and procedures, and makes the decisions” (26 February). But a previous Clerk to the House once told me that sometimes he would have to say to the (Glaswegian) Speaker of his day, “Ye cannae dae that!” – in an accent that others close by would not pick up!

It’s the agreed Standing Orders that keep us right and democratic, isn’t it? And why the current Speaker – however “well-intentioned” – was quick to realise he had overstepped the mark and acted unjustly.

(Rev) Jack Kellet, Innerleithen. Scottish Borders

Wasted words

Is it any wonder people feel MPs and MSPs live in a bubble from which no sense emits. SNP MSP Stephen Flynn is getting all exercised over the deaths of people in a foreign country where whatever he or any of his cohorts say will not make a blind bit of difference.

And all the while his SNP pals in Scotland are presiding over excess deaths in his own country because the NHS is floundering after 15 years of their clammy hands pulling all the wrong levers here in Scotland.

Stan Hogarth, Strathaven, South, Lanarkshire

On way out

If last week's Jedburgh by-election is anything to go by Brian Monteith shouldn't worry to much about a Tory-free Scotland because the conservative candidate absolutely humped the SNP representative with a 58 per cent vote share compared to his 17 per cent. Based on a 33 per cent turnout that means only one in every 16 voters in Jedburgh could be bothered supporting the party that claims a majority of Scots are desperate for independence. A Humza-free Scotland might improve the party's chances at the general election.

Allan Sutherland, Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire

Please God

Scaffolding currently surrounds the tower of St Michael’s Kirk in Linlithgow, with part of the maintenance programme for the tower being given over to the 1964-designed and built so-called “enarching crown”.

Sixty years ago, what went up was supposed to be a modern representation of the original stone enarching crown. In the fashion of the emperor’s new clothes, everybody clapped their hands and said how wonderful this new item was.

I didn’t see any new clothes – just an excrescence on a noble tower.

What chance that the maintenance programme surrounding it be halted, and that with luck, this ghastly crown might, like Humpty Dumpty, simply fall down?

St Michael’s Kirk would then be visually vastly improved.

Gordon Casely, Crathes, Kincardineshire

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