The magic of education that can transform people's lives

As in many communities, there is a unit in Tottenham where students deemed too difficult to control, let alone teach, in the school system are sent. Teaching them is not an easy task and not always a success. But sometimes, through the hard work of the teachers and the realisation of some students that sometimes people are there to help them, the magic works. Last year, one of these moments happened to a small group of tough – I don't care/you don't matter – youngsters, who began to "get it". Not every day in every way, but bit-by-bit progress. People who had had no interest, wanting to come to school; people whose idea of art was spraying shop fronts, walking round Tate Modern talking about Bacon and Duchamp – in a thoroughly disrespectful way, of course, which is as it should be.

It has taken two years to bring them to a place where they can show they are not yobs, not unthinking disruptive louts. In fact, they have come so far that when the local authority told them it wouldn't pay for their last year at the unit, and they were being sent back into the system which was a part of their failure, some of them wept.

What has happened over the last few days has been reprehensible and people have to be responsible for their own actions. But as I sat watching the TV screen with disgust at the mob's behaviour, I couldn't help but think of a group of students being told that a small budget cut was more important than their education, future and ambition. Now it's time for us to weep too.

Michael Sandle-Brownlie


One of the many causes of the recent shameful behaviour is the obsession of both Tory and Labour governments with giving children their "rights", without explaining their responsibilities. As an educator throughout these years, I saw the decline in respect for classroom teachers, along with the mounting expectations of pupils, who saw education more as a form of osmosis directed solely by their teachers, rather than effort by them. Increasingly, pupils would point out that it was the teacher's duty to ensure that they passed their exams with the grades they wanted. We should not be too surprised that our youth has behaved as it has.  

Brian Lawrence

High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire

I have worked with young criminals, almost all of whom had been brutalised by childhood neglect and abuse. Most had no respect for or fear of their parents, the police or anyone else. The toughest of them looked forward to a spell in a detention centre where they would be well fed. I can think of no punishment that will deter the looters. However, I understand that public schools far outclass those of the state and that it is cheaper to send a boy to Eton than to Feltham Young Offenders Institution. The solution is surely obvious. 

Robert Walls

Camberley, Surrey