MR Michael Humphreys, head of Our Lady and St John RC High School, Blackburn, rightly condemns the Government's policy of social inclusion, which will force heads to keep disruptive pupils in their schools.

Those responsible for this crackpot idea should be removed from office.

Keeping disruptive pupils in class will have a detrimental effect on the education of other pupils. This idea has removed the last sanction of the head teacher and governors to run their school on sound principles and in a responsible manner.

If parents truly value their children's education, they must fight against this intolerable edict by writing to local politicians and MPs to express their concerns.

Parents must also encourage their children to show due respect for their teachers so that they can regain their rightful place in education.

A teacher who tries to restrain disobedience in pupils is in danger of being dismissed for assault, regardless of whether he has an excellent record for being an efficient and caring teacher.

The stupid respect for the asinine pupil makes a mockery of common sense.

The people who have over the years advocated the policy of not touching a child are responsible for its current crisis of indiscipline in schools.

This indiscipline has now spilled out into society where children behave badly in public and cause much distress to the average person.

I often wonder if the do-gooders ever reflect on the damage they have done to education, but possibly they are too arrogant even to contemplate such thoughts.

Anyone who suggests corporal punishment as the most effective means of restoring sanity in schools is immediately portrayed as a Dickensian tyrant of the flogging and hanging brigade.

JOHN EDDLESTON, Brownhill Road, Blackburn.