DOREEN Sanders says: "Teachers are there to educate, not to teach manners and respect". (BEN, December 12, 1998).

Well Doreen, in your own words: "What a load of rot". Education should prepare children to become good adults, and good adults ought to have good manners. Sadly, not all adults have. That's why children must be taught at school.

As for "getting involved with children", it may surprise Doreen to learn that I have many young friends, who pop round most evenings after school, or in the holidays to see if "Brian's playing out." They help in the garden in summer and at this time of year they send us Christmas cards. I'm privileged to have such friends.

Doreen tells me to stop moaning. Well, maybe I should. Maybe I should accept the muggings of old folk, the burglaries, the overcrowded hospitals, etc, and of course, the badly behaved children - who become the muggers, car thieves and burglars of tomorrow - as just facts of life. Maybe, like her, I should become an ostrich.

I care about the elderly, the vulnerable and the sick. If my letters make them feel that someone cares, then I don't mind Doreen's sarcasm.

I love children. That's why I "moan" when I see them being let down. Most teachers do their best, I know this, but as the BEN Opinion, November 30, 1998 said: "The system has tied the hands of the teachers, when it comes to disciplining pupils, and in so many families, parental direction is absent". How very true.

I have lots of nice things to say about the world, Doreen. Read A Silver Lining or Our Perfect Summer's Day, just two poems that have appeared in the BEN. There are many others that kind people tell me are nice.

Brian Derbyshire

Ribchester Close, Bolton

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