Five-year-olds assert their 'human right' to be violent, says union

[T_i_B]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/03/30/nviol30.xml&sSheet=/portal/2005/03/30/ixportal.html

Children as young as five are asserting their "human right" to do as they please as unruly and violent behaviour spreads to primary schools, the second-biggest teachers' union said yesterday.

Many schools do not have firm policies to deal with indiscipline and fail to support teachers who have to endure a daily diet of insults as they struggle to keep control, according to the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers.

The union says it has noticed a surge in complaints over the past year which it attributes partly to the closure of special schools and the inclusion of children with behavioural problems in mainstream classes. Lack of respect for older people and authority means pupils are less easy to shame into contrition, say teachers.

Complaints about behaviour from primary school teachers were growing, said Mike Wilson, from Newark and Sherwood. "Children as young as five and six are violent and disruptive. There are children who bite, scream and throw furniture and others who continually question staff, quoting their perceived human rights," he said.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. these problems start at home

When I taught school, it always infuriated me when people thought that the teachers should solve all the student's problems. I've been around so many parents who neglected their kids (one I recall showered love on her dog and treated her child worse than anyone would treat a cur), fed them poorly, let TV do the teaching of values, and generally didn't give a hoot about the children they brought into the world. Respect has to be taught-and to be earned. Children's personalities are developed in the pre-school years, as are core values.

[eternalburn]

4. I think diet also holds some blame........

....

Too much sugar is never a good thing and corn syrup is in just about everything nowadays :(

[TalkingDog]

12. Wheat, Gluten and ADD ADHD

I can't cite sites off the top of my head, but a study involving ADD and ADHD children showed that pulling wheat (and gluten) from their diets decreased sympotms.

[rooboy]

5. All the indications I've seen with my child and school friends...

agrees with what you say. Unless the child has a genuine learning disability, the bad behaviour does seem to be related to the parents.

[mhr]

2. I Would Not Last Five Minutes As A Teacher - Condolences To Teachers

Everywhere for what you must endure!

[no_hypocrisy]

3. No joke. I had a 4 year old kick, punch, and bite me. I complained

to the daycare center's director, who called in his mom. She contended that this was a natural reaction of her child -- because he was "aggravated" by my being "white". Aside from the reverse racism, this mother was okay with her son being violent and she was not going to do anything about it.

[Clark2008]

6. 5-year-olds are mean?

I have a 5-year-old. A boy. And he's the sweetest, caring, most loving bundle of energy in the world.
Is he rowdy?
Yeah. He's 5.
Does he want to run around 90 percent of the time?
Yeah.
Does he bite, scream and throw furniture?
Never bites, any screaming is confined to outdoor, imaginitive play and once, in a blue moon, he might kick a chair or something.
Human rights?
I doubt he knows past "Do Unto Others..."
5-year-olds are like big puppies with a vocabulary: love 'em, play with 'em, teach 'em, respect 'em and discipline 'em and they are the happiest of campers.

[cmd]

8. That is almost always true

and you just described a typical five year old. As a kindergarten teacher, now retired for two years, I have seen the untypical five year old all too often. There is probably one in every hundred kids that falls into that catagory. He/she is the one who kicks, bites, screams, will not be disciplined and demands much of the teacher and administrators time. He/she is the one that keeps the other kids from learning because of his/her outbursts and needs. These are not the happy campers. They have deep issues that need individual attentions.

Unfortunately, the classroom is not the place that they can get the help they need. Help is not out there for these kids because people deny that they exist. These children have mental health issues that need to be addressed.

[D-Notice]

7. Right-wing paper

smearing the Human Rights Act... who'd have thought?

Can't the teachers just keep a copy of the HRA in their desks & show 'em to be wrong?

[Briar]

14. Yes - the Right hates the very notion of Human Rights

it's a core characteristic. Only the "deserving" are awarded rights, on a case by case basis and provisionally, by the powerful.

[JerseygirlCT]

9. I absolutely agree that this behavior starts at home

and it's unfair to expect teachers to "fix" that.

I also know that it takes a special kind of person to properly handle a classroom full of young children with grace and humor and a firm but gentle hand.

Teachers need to be supported by their administrations and by parents. They also need to be the right people for the job. I'm currently blessed by a wonderful kindie teacher. But I've also had experience (a little older grade) with a teacher who obviously disliked children. She needs to find a different line of work -- but the principal was nearly powerless and the union all on the teacher's side. A shame for the kids.

Kids at that age will only be and do what they learn.

[lateo]

10. This behavior is nothing that a good ass-kicking won't fix...

[bettyellen]

11. my friend had a six year old threaten to rape her.

[booksenkatz]

13. I don't get this at all

My son is 5 and he is probably the least violent person I've ever known (adult or child). He has never so much as pulled the cat's tail. Can liberalism be inborn??;)

I don't pat myself on the back for my son's remarkable behavior, my husband and I didn't do anything unique or brilliant. He was just born this way. We've never spanked him -- I sometimes wonder if that might have helped create a child for whom violence is just not a part of his world view. (I've tried to explain war to him, he thinks it's totally bizarre.)

And only a few of his classmates are out of control. It would be my opinion that behavior problems are NOT the standard for 5-year-olds.