Should Schools Teach Table Manners?

Surely that’s automatically taught at home. Teachers have enough to do, it’s parents duty.

Yes put it all on the teachers! No they shouldn't it's down to the parents

It starts at home with the parents my friend who is a school teacher says sadly alot of children have not been taught table manners same as alot of children don't even know where food comes from and there's many parents who are not toilet training and coming to school wearing nappies still it all comes back to the parents

I think manners should be learnt first and foremost in the home.We follow by example so if mum and dad are piddling around with their phones at the table then the youngsters will automatically mimic.The other thing is ,most people I know don't eat at the table but on the sofa in front of the TV so table manners go out of the window.When I was younger I had to ask to leave the table as well!

Schools should have a look at what they are teaching because a lot of it is absolute garbage but manners should start at home

Parents should teach them, we did, politeness, good manners, courtesy ect...ect...

Surely this is for parents to teach. The teachers are having to do more and more, as parents are not teaching at home

I also agree this should be taught at home. So many basic things are not taught to children these day's it's scary. Kid's in nappies at school!! honestly I don't understand it. Not being able to use a knife and fork crazy

Unfortunately some parents do not care to teach children basic manners , in order to keep community good shape I believe must do something but like all the previous comments; teachers have enough. I believe parents and cares has ro be force to join “ being parent and cares course.”

Why do parents not want to parent these days? Seems very lazy now.

No I’d rather teachers concentrated on school subjects rather than manners. Manners should be taught by parents to kids from the very start. Teachers don’t get paid enough or have enough time in school day to start having to teach manners to kids as well. Kids should be starting school with at least the basic of manners, excuse me, thank you etc. Though I have to disagree with holding fork in your left hand, as a family of lefties (myself and my 4 kids) we tend to do things like that backwards but I don’t like elbows on the table and eating of another’s plate is a big no. My aunt who’s 92 in July gets disgusted when her younger brother and his wife take her out for dinner cos she says he’s constantly saying to his wife r u going to eat that, r u finished with that etc. She goes to see nurse at drs surgery most wks for ongoing problem with her leg and dreads it when my mum and dad can’t take her cos then my uncle and his wife take her and they always go for something to eat after drs. My uncle is my dad’s youngest brother and my dad says he’d slap his hand if he caught him doing that in front of him. They come from family of 10 and my uncle is youngest, I seem to find youngest member of family doesn’t have same manners of the older 1s. My own baby sister is same. There’s 11yrs between her and the next sister and I regularly say to my parents who brought her up cos it wasn’t same parents I had . Mum blames us older kids cos we were all much older and we constantly spoilt her. We’d have come home from work and handed over r housekeeping and present for baby sister so suppose in a way we r to blame

No. Teachers are there to teach kids to read and write. It's not their job to parent. Dumping parents responsibility on schools really needs to stop. It's unfair on those that work in schools

People are forever suggesting teachers/schools should teach this and that but there are only so many hours in the day. Things that can be taught at home, should be. No child should be unable to use cutlery, wearing nappies, unable to hold a pencil, not saying please or thank you, unable to do up buttons and zips etc.

Both mine were toilet trained by 18 months which was not unusual 50 years ago. We wanted them out of towelling nappies and rubbers asap as we didn't have the luxury of disposables. I had also taught them to read simple words and write their names before going to school. It really isn't difficult and should not be put on teachers, especially male ones and females who have no experience raising children.

This is a lesson that starts at home not at school

I taught my children table manners before they started school and this should be done by parents. I am a bit miffed by having to hold a fork in the left hand. Does it matter which hand it is in?

This is definitely something that is the parent’s responsibility to teach their children. But I think if the teachers see a child struggling then I don’t see any harm in them encouraging basic table manners.

Myself, my partner and now my daughter all use our fork in our right hand and the knife in our left hand (we are all right handed). So I wouldn’t want them trying to change this for our daughter.

Perhaps it could be taught in the Personal Social Education lessons, I’m assuming that those still happen and if they aren’t maybe they should be brought back. Perhaps they could also teach them about having respect. I’m fed up of there being generations of adult brats who are self-entitled and think the world owes them a living, take no responsibility for anything and that as soon as those who get a job after finishing education so have no work experience compared to their colleagues think they should be paid shed loads of money.

I’m annoyed that the education system and the government and ultimately society has stopped teachers being able to discipline children that they and their parents have to much control and put the teachers in a position where they can’t do anything anymore

I all honesty I feel that all manners should start with being taught at home, teachers have enough to do.

Manners should be taught at home by the Parents. Thats their responsibility of being a parent. Thats how I was taught. If I did wrong, I was dealt with accordingly. If I didnt listen I would have a whack. If I didnt have my food It would get warmed up later. No alternatives.

I think parents should teach their children table manners at home before they start school.I taught my children table manners and now that they have children of their own they are learning about table manners. Not many families sit down and eat together. I always sat down with the rest of my family and used my table manners what I had been taught. It's a shame some children don't get taught manners today.

In the 1980s if you did not have the manners then as well as telling you off then the teachers here in Bradford primary school used to give you a slap or grab you from your ears and say how dare you.

I personally felt bullied by nearly every teacher I had.

Especially the racist ones and I was the Quiet one.

Easy to be taken advantage of.

So yeah manners should be taught.

Parents should have the manners and children would follow them not a JOB for teachers

Absolutely. Parents/carers are responsible for teaching manners, including table manners, on priority.

Parents should teach manners

That's definitely up to the parents to teach their kids table manners. Teachers already have enough to do.

Most schools kind of do this in a way as it is

Yes I think so, my children were taught from an early age but declined when they started eating at school, even holding cutlery was a chore for them and started to be done incorrectly, maybe a monitor to check and guide not as to teach,

coming from a disadvantaged background does not mean or tip the scales for a child to not know these things at all, I’ve found that children from those settings tend to have better understanding of basic table manners, there is no monetary cost to table manners or any manners at all, there’s a lot of distraction nowadays for parents not teaching there children the simplest of things because they just want there child to be occupied so they have more time on there own devices ect or work commitments mean you don’t get the time to do these things and put on other people to teach it, I’m all for providing for children but if this means taking time away from doing the simplest of things with them is it worth making more money to buy them something or spending more time with them teaching them something?? That’s a question that people tend to not think about, but having someone to remind the ones that do know and assist the ones that don’t would be productive, even a child that doesn’t know would be quick to learn off another child that does know if there was something in place to uphold table manners, even in the most casual ways of discussion,

No, because that's a parent job, but also because it's classest bull