In dealing with the younger generation, I wish to achieve two things. 

• to encourage the development of each individual  to the best of his/her ability. 

• to ensure that they are not a nuisance to other members of the community.

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encourage the development of each individual  to the best of his/her ability

Schools not working

It is pretty obvious, even to someone out of touch with education, that schools are not working.  The rot started when the physical punishment deterrent was removed.  Further rot set in when we all started taking notice of social workers, one section of society that should be removed en bloc to a distant pacific island and left to theorise until they become extinct.

Send them home

Nothing can be achieved without respect for the teacher.  In any class where silence does not reign within five minutes of the start of the lesson, the teacher should walk out and the children be returned home for the parents to cope with.  When the parents, driven mad by offspring they cannot stand, come to the school to beg the teachers to take the brats back, they should be asked to sign an undertaking that physical punishment can be implemented to the unruly.

Sensible lessons

Exam results are not the be all and end all of education. Some do not take to the academic life, or have not the capacity for it. Everyone, however, has a capacity to learn, and everyone has inherent skills. It should be the task of educators to discover what those skills are, bring them out and encourage the child to develop them so he/she can be an asset to society in whatever way best suits them.  There should also be emphasis on 'lessons for life' - how to survive in society, how to budget, bring up children, shop sensibly and cook decently.

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ensure that they are not a nuisance to other members of the community.

Implement the juvenile curfew laws

Children must not be allowed to roam the streets at night unsupervised. There are already curfew laws on the statute book but they are not being implemented, because Government passed over responsibility (and cost) for this to local councils, who do not have the funds (or so they are always telling us). 

Clear 'em off the streets

Any underage child on the streets alone after 9pm, or any teenage child abroad without a written permit, should be picked up by the police and taken into custody until morning. They can be cared for in proper holding centres where they are fed, washed and given a good clean bed for the night. In the meantime the police can visit the parents and inform them that the child can be picked up in the morning, on payment of a £50 fine (no exceptions or reductions, though rich parents might be charged more).

      Parents who do not pick up their offspring or refuse to pay can be brought before a magistrate to explain their behaviour, or their inability to pay. They will only be let off the fine once, after that money will be deducted from their income at source.

Penalties for juvenile offenders

If the child is persistently truanting, even under the new system, or is persistently committing crimes or assaults, we should consider re-opening the mines and sending the offenders underground to work a ten hour shift. This would remove them from the public sight, protect persons and property, and convince them of the inadvisability of further offending when their six months' stint is up.

Those who do not wish to go underground could be sent up chimneys instead.

Greatest crime

Q.E.D.

Drogon feels convinced that the above measures will solve the problem of the greatest menace facing society today. However, if there is anything you feel he has missed, or have suggestions of your own, please let us know.