The blackboard jungle

A study has found that almost 50% of pupils' allegations of improper conduct against teachers are "malicious, unsubstantiated or unfounded".  I think we need to get back to the idea that teachers are in loco parentis with full parental authority.  Much of the problem in fact lies with the parents, who are too willing to automatically take the side of their little darlings.  I can remember a time when if you went home and told your Mum or Dad that the teacher had given you a clip round the ear, you'd get another one from them - the inference being that the teacher wouldn't do something like that without proper reason, so you must have been in the wrong.  It's a sad reflection of the current situation in schools that a friend who is a teacher of many years' experience tells me that their school has identified about a dozen pupils who must never be left alone with a single teacher for fear that they will automatically allege some impropriety or other, with all the attendant bureaucracy and unpleasantness.