G H Platt, (Your Views, September 10) is right to put the onus on the parents, as regards the behaviour of their children. Sadly though, a lot of these parents know very little about responsibility or good manners. How then can we expect them to teach their children?

Many of these parents were "educated" in the same schools - often by the same teachers - as their children are today. Unless we want this cycle to continue, it is vital that all children learn the lessons of good citizenship in school, as a compulsory part of their education. This subject is every bit as important as the three Rs, and cannot be left to chance any longer.

How very true when G H Platt says: "Children get the blame for so many things today, but in many cases they have a big problem - the parents".

We cannot blame children who have not been taught, and the only way to be sure they are taught, is to teach them in school. Isn't this what schools are for?

Brian Derbyshire

Ribchester Grove

Bolton

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.