Monday 29 June 2009

Asbos in the News


Asbo is a very popular acronym and it stands for "Anti-Social Behaviour Order". Asbos have been around since 1998 and were first introduced by Tony Blair's government to curb a growing tide of anti-social behaviour. Indeed, the scheme was so successful (not) that it encouraged young thugs and yobs to gain more than one Asbo in order to show them off proudly as a badge of honour. Now this topic is in the news again with Alan Johnson, the new Home Secretary, saying "We need action, not talk, on anti-social behaviour". Read the full article from the Daily Telegraph here.

Ageless
Asbos seem to have no age restrictions. Here is an article from the Daily Mirror with a reference to an Asbo being given to a very young person and here is another article from ITN News which covers a story about an Asbo given to a pensioner of 82. Learn more about the meaning of the word from this BBC Learning English lesson.

Asbos for Kids
Teachers will be able to take parents of disruptive pupils to court under Government plans to be unveiled this week. Read more of this topical article from Yahoo News here.

Who is ultimately responsible for a child's behaviour? Parents or teachers? What is your opinion?

2 comments:

popps said...

Ultimately responsible?
Well i guess, ULTIMATELY we are each responsible for what we do, and we are ALL responsible for what everyone else does.
But maybe you didn't mean that.
Did you see the report of the pensioner who took on the two guys trying to smash and grab at a jewellers some months ago, in broad daylight?
I was amazed by the number of people just standing there watching as they threw a brick through the window.

Janet Bianchini said...

No, I didn't see this particular report.

I agree we are each responsible for what we do, but in the case of vulnerable children, I believe parents have a care of duty to protect their kids and bring them up in the best way possible