FACT NOT FICTION.

Anyone who rants on about “the good old days” always gets accused of untrue nostalgic reminiscences about a golden age of time which exists only in the imagination of the, usually middle aged or elderly, observer.

I’m here to tell you that post war there were indeed different and higher standards both in behaviour and manners. Don’t believe me? Then may I refer you to: “To Sir with Love” by E. R. Braithwaite. This book has just been re-run by the BBC’s excellent station Radio 7 and since it was abridged there, I’ve just read a copy of it so I could get the full story.

Of course the world wasn’t perfect then since this story charts one black man’s struggle for acceptance in mainly white British society. It deals with his reactions to prejudice which are both calm and dignified and one can easily see his great courage in the face of this blatant ignorance which would cause many to give up in despair. However this book is about more than that for Braithwaite worked in the poor and deprived East End of London amongst some of the roughest and rudest children one could ever hope not to meet. These children’s manners, language and educational standard were abysmally poor and low. They had little respect for themselves or those in authority and the Headmaster of the school which was renowned for what the outside world saw as being wooly and liberal made many of the allowances for them which “leftie” social workers and do-gooders of our time would make today, excusing all this behaviour and the lack of standards and often he entreated Braithwaite to do likewise to the point where the poor man became irritated beyond words. Braithwaite did not excuse it however, at least not to the point where he was prepared to allow it to continue. Instead he turned his classroom into a place of loving discipline without cruelty. He taught these children to be courteous to each other, insisted on their turning up for school clean and tidy, banished the filthy language from his domain, discussed openly all sorts of subjects and taught them the value of humility by showing them how to react to an unjust situation – Not by using violence and reverting to what most would expect them to do but by apologising for the wrong which one of them had done to a bullying teacher who had consistently picked on a boy who was no good at physical education, causing him injury in the process. The example that Braithwaite showed them and the line he made them take, especially the one prepared to violently confront the teacher concerned, eventually caused this man to apologise in his turn. By the time they left school they had a deep affection for Braithwaite but more important than that they had a respect for themselves and a proper respect for each other which doubtless they would show to new people they met throughout life.

By his example he also encouraged them to support a mixed race boy whose mother had died. For fear of censure and ridicule, scorn and maybe even a beating from their parents, they were at first prepared to avoid his home even though they’d played with him as an infant and he was one of them but ended up going to the boy’s mother’s funeral and making a stand against the ignorance and bigotry which had been taught them from their cradles. All these changes had been achieved in just eight months of Braithwaite taking up what was his first teaching post at what would doubtless be described today as a “sink” school. It was achieved as all things are by setting these children a dignified example. It was done by not using silly euphemisms like “road rage” for uncontrolled bad manners when driving and recognising the rotten seeds of indiscipline and bad manners and wrong conduct for what it was and still is no matter what the age of the person, the times we live in or the circumstances and insisting on their being weeded out. I’ve no doubt that this wonderful man saved many of these boys from delinquency and prison, drug taking and alcoholism and it is to be noted that though they goaded him, they didn’t show the outright disrespect for authority which people do today. The parents too sought his help if they suspected their children of possibly going off the rails instead of being in league with their errant children and threatening litigation because a teacher dares to chastise “little Johnnie” or “little Jane”. Also one girl’s obvious love for this teacher displayed in her very evident crush on him as she turned from a young girl into a young woman was dealt with by him sensitively and kindly and though he recognised her striking beauty especially when he danced with her during a social when she was dressed nicely and looked lovely, he didn’t seek to take advantage of her or the situation because he couldn’t control his sexual urges or thought he had a right to “do what you wanna do”. Of course I know that even then not all teachers were “Braithwaites” but I am suggesting that because there was a definite line which was recognised, stated and clearly set out and proper boundaries as there was proper discipline which probably resulted from the consequences of the obscenity which was the Second World War, most people were happy to stick within those boundaries so as not to incur disapproval. This is why it only took Braithwaite eight months to turn these children into the civilised and respectful adults they became. Now his task would be impossible. He’d probably be beaten up, stabbed to death, rounded on by vicious angry parents and have every civil liberties crank from Land’s End to John O’ Groates telling us about the violation of their human rights while not giving a stuff about the human wrongs they perpetrate.

This was a man who, like them, knew about poverty. This was a man who knew about prejudice and nursed a hatred of white people at times because of it but was saved from a totally embittered attitude by the kindness he did receive and very probably the upbringing he’d had. He’d got to these children just in time – When they were on the cusp of adulthood and before they went out into a world which would deal much more harshly with them than life had done thus far and goodness knows it had been hard enough already. I would recommend that all of you reading this, go and read Braithwaite’s book. It moved me to tears many times and it is most definitely one of the best books I’ve ever read and believe me I’m an avid reader. It has reminded me once more that apart from poverty and prejudice there is one more injustice which we inflict on our children – The injustice of not setting them boundaries and insisting on firm but fair discipline and a proper respect for authority. Yes they should question it especially when it’s abused, yes they should kick against it in their struggle to become independent adults but no discipline and an “anything goes” attitude is as bad as harsh and cruel discipline and will lead as it has done to the violent and largely immoral society we have today. This book reminded me too that poverty, prejudice and though not mentioned there, disability, is no excuse for uncouth behaviour, bad manners or abusive anger. The higher standards In manners, politeness and respect for authority were indeed present in those days. Braithwaite’s book proves this though it has to be said that ignorance of, and prejudice against, minorities was also blatant and rife but as a blind person I don’t see much change in that regard despite all the laws. All that has happened is that people have found more subtle ways of displaying it or masking it. As I said in my piece about Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand, we can’t get out of the gutter unless we can be and are taught to focus on the stars. Though it may have been unrealistic to expect those children, coming as they did from miserable circumstances of abject poverty, to actually reach the stars, Braithwaite taught them to focus their eyes on them and to believe that better lives and a better world was possible. For this they had much to thank him - More in fact than any present children have to thank the wooly minded liberals and batty social workers of today. By contrast with Braithwaite, they’re so stupid and “open minded” that their brains have fallen out and it’s the children of today and the parents of tomorrow and eventually as a consequence, all of us, not least of all the old and vulnerable whom the youth terrorise as they steal money for drugs, rampage round the streets in drunken gangs and of course themselves and their unborn children, who will suffer as they in turn will not know how to parent them properly.