Can Englanders really be this....

...stupid? Naive? Afraid to be real leaders, mentors, teachers, or parents to their children?

Students in an England town will be allowed to curse during class, including while speaking to their teachers, up to 5 times per class period. After the fifth time, they will be "spoken to". For those students who choose not to swear during class, "praise cards" will be sent home.

I personally hail this response to this decision:

But Conservative member of parliament Ann Widdecombe said the policy was based on “Alice in Wonderland reasoning,” the Daily Mail reported. “What next? Do we allow people to speed five times or burgle five times? You don't improve something by allowing it, you improve something by discouraging it,” Widdecombe was quoted as saying.

You know, I'd like to be able to skip paying my taxes for 5 years before being prosecuted, maybe be able to shoplift 5 items of clothing before getting arrested.Ooh, a good one would be to be allowed to skip jury duty 5 times before getting a warrant for my arrest put out! Yeah, I definitely think that last one should be allowed, for sure.

Give me a break. The people who came up with this must be severely behind in their pop culture intelligence. Anyone who has ever seen any movie about a teacher or adult who makes radical changes in their students (most recently, Coach Carter) knows that it is not done by coddling, lowering expectations, or not giving kids enough credit (anyone want to give these administrators Morgan Freeman's number?). Treat kids like they are capable of rising to high expectations, and they'll do it.