BBC News Online: Talking Point

Should children of violent parents be expelled?

The National Association of Head Teachers says that there is "rising tide" of assaults against teachers by parents - in incidents which they have called "school rage".

Head teachers say they want a zero tolerance policy against such attacks, including banning violent parents from school premises and expelling their children from school.

Should children be punished for the actions of their parents? And why are parents becoming more aggressive in their dealings with schools?

This debate is now closed. Read a selection of your comments below.

Your reaction

It may seem unfair to exclude the children but there is one thing to remember. If the child remains in school the teaching staff will still have to deal with the parents. I don't think anyone would relish trying to work with someone who has previously assaulted them, whether or not they had been fined.
Rob Court, UK

When you see abusive, disruptive and violent parents in schools, then you can understand why their children behave the way they do. Teachers need the support of parents to promote improvement and consistency in their children's education.
C.D. Burton, England

It's not so very long ago that teachers were in the forefront of the debate to reduce exclusion. I remember teachers being more interested in socialist politics and blaming authority for society's problems than in ensuring that the children in their charge received a decent education. It's ironic that it's the generation they encouraged to rebel against society as it was then that they now demand protection from.
Mark, England

I think that violent children should be expelled from their schools. They threaten the physical and mental well-being of teachers and pupils alike, and such threats need to be wiped out as soon as possible, regardless of any external factors concerning the behaviour of these children. They also prevent teachers from doing what they are best equipped and paid to do - teach and educate our youngsters into becoming more educated and rounded adults. It's so embarrassing to be part of a country whose inhabitants are so immature and uneducated in relation to those from other countries and, worst of all, such behaviour is tolerated and seen as acceptable.
Simon Porch, United Kingdom

No, if you do this then you deny the child. Ban the parents from school, leak their name to the papers. Encourage the child to see why you have banned their parents, say violence only creates bigger problems, hopefully the child will see that being violent can be a negative thing. If you ban the child, he may think he has done something wrong, also it gives the violent parent the opportunity to go to the papers and embarrass the headmaster, this will look to the child as if violence and brashness is the way to solve problems.
Graham, England

The problem with this kind of general question is that it assumes without qualification that one side is always right and the other always wrong. My kids are now grown and away. When they were at school, did I ever strike a teacher? Of course not. Was I ever tempted to strike a teacher? You bet! There are a LOT of incompetent, socially dyslexic time-servers in the teaching profession - not all teachers of course, but certainly not the tiny minority they would have us believe.

My children went to a school where bullying was rife and unaddressed; where bright children were made to sit on their hands until others caught up. Response from the headmaster and most of his staff was supercilious and patronising - and if that was enough to provoke me to anger, I can see where it might have provoked some even further.
John, Scotland

Why should the children have to suffer due to the irresponsible actions of their parents? Every child has a right to education, and expelling them for the behaviour of someone else is not right!
Joanne, England

Adria says "Kids are supposed to learn social skills and reasonable behaviour in schools" No! I thought they were supposed to learn that at home? No wonder schools are under such pressure.
Julian, Wiltshire UK

I thought parents were responsible for the actions of their children and not the other way round?
S Fowler, UK

I think it is a bad idea to expel the children for their parents' anger. But a good idea to ban the parents from school property preferably with a threat of criminal repercussions if this ban is not followed. Parents need to be taught that school is a place of discipline and learning as well as the children. Perhaps punishing the parents will send a message to the child that behaving badly is wrong.
Finbar, England

It's interesting that some people are using this forum to advocate the return of corporal punishment in schools. Why is it unacceptable for an adult to assault another adult, yet desirable for an adult to assault a child? What strange values you have.
Andrew Smith, US exUK

If parents knew that their ill-behaved little thugs would end up spending all day with them as a result of the parents' behaviour, they might think before lashing out at a teacher.
TK, UK

The main argument against the exclusion seems to be that the student will suffer if removed from mainstream education. What about all the other students in his/her class? For many of these people, violent parents often have violent children, and although I think that there should be special schools and institutions to help them, a choice between total exclusion or not is no choice at all, when the benefits of all those involved is taken into account. Being 18, I have been through the state-school system more recently than most, and it is shocking to see just how many people suffer if every behaviour, no matter how disrespectful and violent, is tolerated.
Chris, UK

In our hospitals, attacks and assaults on doctors and nursing staff are usually met with legal action. We do not exclude an injured child from hospital because their parent attacks a staff member, so why should the same apply to schools? Just because teachers generally today don't believe in disciplining children hard, there is no reason why criminal parents shouldn't be treated harshly. After a couple of publicised cases of threatening parents being charged, found guilty, fined heavily, given a criminal record, etc, maybe, just maybe, the prevailing attitude might change.
Robin, UK

No, do not exclude these children as what hope is there for them without a decent education?
Jan, Britain

This whole issue is just another example of the ongoing breakdown in British culture. Of course we must expect better of both children and parents. Yes the schools have the right to expel a student for the behaviour of the parent. To do otherwise sends another bad message to the student. The parents should be interfacing with the student when problems develop, not the teachers. This is all the result of the breakdown in discipline that started in the sixties and accelerated after we joined the EEC and buckled under to its liberal policies. Bring back caning and you will see an about-turn in the decline. But do it quickly while there are still teachers who understand discipline. First the children were spoiled, now the parents and soon the teachers.
Ian Gorman, USA (British Expatriate)

This is absurd! Usually it is the issue of whether the parents should be responsible for their children's deeds. I feel that, no matter what, it is not fair to take away the child's right to an education system and besides, the root problem is just not solved. By expulsion, we are supporting the proliferation of the social stigma of apathy.
Shawn, Singapore

I think that the parents of the child should be reprimanded and reformed. This poor behaviour must almost certainly rub off on to the child creating a vicious cycle when the child becomes an adult, thus never resolving the problem. Expelling the child is not the answer, however, as the child is already being punished for something he or she cannot help by having abusive parents.
S E, UK

Surely it would be better to arrest the parents rather than preventing their children from getting an education? Assault is a still an offence as far as I'm aware.
Christopher Cradock, UK

Anyone who thinks this is a good idea needs to spend 5 minutes with someone who knows what they're talking about. There surely can't be any law that would support punishing one person for someone else's actions. Beyond punishment, it's a life-sentence - denying a child an education would clearly ruin their life, for something they didn't do or have any control over. This is mob mentality and will do nothing to protect teachers - how would you expect an already "violent" person to react when treated like this? The message is "we don't care about your child or their future, we only care about finding an easy way to deal with the problem".
Leigh, USA (UK orig)

Basically, what goes around, comes around. Banning abusive parents will never resolve this problem. Children of parents who are violent or verbally abusive will grow up to be the same. Children always reflect what their parents are or were like when they grow older, so this is a no-win situation for both parents and schools. What needs to be done is simple - a return to the old style of education, pre-war lifestyles whereby respectful behaviour was drilled into children and the parents did most of this moral standards teaching. It seems now, though, it is too late to reverse this current lack of moral standards and if attempts were made, it would take many, many years to return the British people to respectable and morally decent people. All that went out the window when Thatcher got in.
Mikeal, Germany

But my memories and many of my friends' memories of school are coloured by teachers who 'got off' on bullying children. By all means destroy more children's lives because they are unlucky enough to have abusive and violent parents - just a few more future adult lives ruined by people too pathetic to get a job dealing with adults.
Louise, UK

It doesn't make any sense to punish children for what their parents do, unless the child itself is errant. The converse is true. Persistent child offenders are usually the responsibility of parents and if the child is unruly then the parents should be punished as well as the child.
Bilal Patel, London, UK

Bad idea. Parents who act in violence are not likely to care about the education of their children. This idea is harmful only to the unfortunate child of incompetent parents.
M. Belavit, Canada