A leading Scottish expert has warned of a
“fundamental loss of respect” for parents, teachers 
and the values “previously
instilled by the Church”.
Professor Tommy
MacKay of Strathclyde University, whose opinions have helped shape some
of Scotland’s approaches to education said that UK society was “losing its old
anchor points” and that Britain was sitting
“on an unexploded time bomb of disturbed behaviour”.
His comments come as
figures show a concerning rise in domestic abuse perpetrated by under
18-year-olds.
Scottish figures on
domestic abuse, reported in the Sunday Herald, show that in 2009 there were
1,572 police reports of domestic abuse carried out by young people aged up to
18-years-old, a 17 per cent rise on the previous year.
Prof MacKay, who was
instrumental in setting up Scotland’s National Literacy Commission said parents
still had a duty to “provide the foundations of traditional values by instilling
in their children a respect for their parents and for
others”.
And he said: “The
decline in these traditional values can be traced systematically over recent
decades, and with it a corresponding increase in problems in
society.”
Prof MacKay
commented: “Old ideas of sacrificial commitment for the benefit of others have
sharply declined, as can be seen in the dozens of voluntary organisations that
can no longer get the support and leadership they require.
“The old values have
been increasingly replaced with the ‘cult of self’, and the highest ideal for
millions is now seen in the celebrity culture which is idolised and to which so
many aspire. Expectations should be raised and not set at the lowest possible
bar.”
Prof MacKay
cautioned: “Over the years there has been a fundamental loss of respect for
parental and school authority and for the values previously instilled by the
church”.
His warning
was backed by Karyn McCluskey, deputy head of the Scottish Violence Reduction
Unit, who agreed that problems were worse now than in years gone
by.
“Teenagers are
physically bigger now so the effects of domestic violence can be devastating.
The police figures will be the tip of the iceberg,” she
said.
A spokesman for the
Scottish Government said the country’s new curriculum intended to give children
and young people the opportunity to develop “respect for
others”.
According to
statistics from last year, attacks by pupils on teachers or classmates lead to
tens of thousands of school pupils being suspended from schools in England in
2009.
Almost 17,000 of
these suspensions involved primary school pupils aged 11 and under, and over
63,000 of them involved children in secondary schools.
The Department for
Education’s statistics also revealed that there were 1,240 cases of children
aged four and under being suspended for a variety of reasons during
2008-09.