More education dumb ideas...UK edition

I saw this article up at the DrudgeReport: You can use the f-word in class (but only five times)

A secondary school is to allow pupils to swear at teachers - as long as they don't do so more than five times in a lesson. A running tally of how many times the f-word has been used will be kept on the board. If a class goes over the limit, they will be 'spoken' to at the end of the lesson.

The astonishing policy, which the school says will improve the behaviour of pupils, was condemned by parents' groups and MPs yesterday. They warned it would backfire.

Parents were advised of the plan, which comes into effect when term starts next week, in a letter from the Weavers School in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire.

Assistant headmaster Richard White said the policy was aimed at 15 and 16-year-olds in two classes which are considered troublesome.

Wow. What a dumb idea. I wonder how many people really thought this policy through. I knew lots of 15 and 16-years olds (ok, maybe like 10 years ago...but still) and this only encourages bad behavior. So if the class has 20 kids and the students get five f-words to use against the teacher, that's 100 times the teacher (remember that the teacher is *supposed* to be the authority in the classroom) has to endure being verbaly assulted. That's probably more than the average telemarketer. It's also very sad. How does one maintain authority when they have idiots making policies like this. One can't. Once again, teachers get another hand tied behind thier back as they get more responsiblities heaped on them. Sad times.