If you're going to teach in an inner city school, I recommend you find and read a book called 'Never say Nigger' by Robert Kendall. You may want to change your career to something less stressful and dangerous, more meaningful and effective like, ooh... crash test dummy, but it's a true account of the dealing of a teacher in his first post in LA. It was written 38 years ago, but the situation doesn't seem to have changed much. In fact, from what I hear of the schools in the States and over here in some of our less affluent areas, it's got worse.

You cannot excuse these crimes by saying 'it's just children', 'it's a rite of passage thing in the club' or 'we are aware there is a problem and will be taking steps'. I was bullied at school, I've been assaulted and I've been bullied at work. It's not until someone stamps good and hard on the bullies that the behaviour stops. With the present 'politically correct behaviour' and 'human rights' rulings, it is nearly impossible to enforce rules. A colleague was bullied, took it through the greivance procedure, it was upheld and the bully told to give a written apology. The bully refused saying it was 'against his human rights' to have to apologise. The colleague is now totally dispirited because the "sentence" cannot be enforced, despite the positive verdict, and the whole procedure is a farce

If the punishment for these children is so minimal as to be laughable, then it sets a precedent for the future. If they are escaping criminal charges because of their backgrounds or perceived connections, then the system is farcical and sets an even more dangerous precedent.

Good luck with it Mary, I know what it's like to be the wrong side of the system - the innocent side!

LTS