1984

[Mich the Tester]

Army of door-knocking neighbours should be paid to keep ‘bad parents’ in line, says Ofsted chief - Telegraph

words fail me

Yuck.

[Mich the Tester]

Stasiland: Stories from Behind the Berlin Wall: Anna Funder: 9780062077325: Amazon.com: Books

Please read it.

[d000hg]

I can just see it - I stroll down to Chav Street to make sure the parents are getting the kids to school



and get the tulip kicked out of me..

It said neighbours, it's generally unlikely you'd live on Chav street.

these people do not send their kids to school or in general follow the 'average expected citizen' route cos they don't give a toss


some busy body knocking on their door isn't gonna change a thing.

Truancy is a crime so they might out of fear of being reported (or being beaten to death, as SO would claim).


In the older days, wouldn't parents on a street (one where all the kids play together and people actually know each other) go rounding up all the kids as part of the street community life? That seems a better model to me. Middle class people have fear of the pedo and don't talk to their neighbours of course, but they are rarely the truancy problem.

[Mich the Tester]

In the older days, wouldn't parents on a street (one where all the kids play together and people actually know each other) go rounding up all the kids as part of the street community life? That seems a better model to me.

Yes, and that is part of being a decent chappy or good neighbour, and it's entirely different to being an informer who goes around poking his nose into other people's business. Personally I think this kind of command from on high destroys that kind of community spirit rather than encouraging it.

[hyperD]

Stasiland: Stories from Behind the Berlin Wall: Anna Funder: 9780062077325: Amazon.com: Books

Please read it.

That looks a really good book - gonna buy it. Thanks Mich.

[d000hg]

Its stupider than even that. If children don't want to be in school, they will just disrupt those that do want to be there. I don't want the great not interested disrupting my children's education.

That's a really stupid argument. The majority of children don't want to be in school. The difference is that responsible parents take their kids to school despite fake illnesses, etc.

[d000hg]

Yes, and that is part of being a decent chappy or good neighbour, and it's entirely different to being an informer who goes around poking his nose into other people's business. Personally I think this kind of command from on high destroys that kind of community spirit rather than encouraging it.

I agree. I'm not sure that "informing" is automatically a bad thing - in many circles reporting any crime is considered "informing" or "dobbing" and that's nonsense - but paying people to do it rather than letting them do it as a concerned citizen is bad however you cut it.

Also - why do you need neighbours to report kids as truants? Schools know who is supposed to be there. They should contact the authorities IMO.

[DirtyDog]

Yes, and that is part of being a decent chappy or good neighbour, and it's entirely different to being an informer who goes around poking his nose into other people's business.

What he is advocating is exactly this - trying to get people in a community to keep an eye out for others in the community. Being a good neighbour (in certain areas) requires some kind of incentive, sadly.

[Mich the Tester]

What he is advocating is exactly this - trying to get people in a community to keep an eye out for others in the community. Being a good neighbour (in certain areas) requires some kind of incentive, sadly.

No he isn't. He's advocating financial rewards for people who observe and then report on their neighbours; that amounts to setting up an informer network, and once that informer network is in place it's all to easy to abuse it for other things; social security fraud, tax avoidance and so on. I don't believe for one minute that illiberal modern day politicians and officials can be trusted with that kind of power.

[SpontaneousOrder]

What he is advocating is exactly this - trying to get people in a community to keep an eye out for others in the community. Being a good neighbour (in certain areas) requires some kind of incentive, sadly.

He's advocating the expansion of the state. Whether you think that's good or bad is less important than recognising that that is it's true nature.