We are not sure if kids are behaving any more badly than they did in the past, but they are certainly behaving differently. It appears that, in those bygone halcyon days, pupils were obliged to salute the rector of Campbeltown Grammar if they passed him on the street. Goodness knows what they had to do if they encountered him in school.
This was recalled by David Cameron, head of education with East Lothian and a Campbeltown lad. Actually it was Cameron’s mother who told him, somewhat wistfully. As he revealed to the parent-teacher gathering in Edinburgh at the weekend (page four): “I can’t even get my staff to call me Mr Cameron.”
Perhaps his mother does.
