Last updated 07:43, Friday, 25 April 2008

PUPILS should be rewarded for good behaviour in schools - while negative behaviour is to be ignored.

That’s the latest idea being put forward to raise standards in schools where pupils seem, more and more, to have the upper hand.

This concept was something that we were taught when my kids were little; both of them are well into their 30s now, so it is certainly nothing new.

But I believe that while it might work effectively for some pupils, it will not for others.

I had two kids and a 50 per cent success rate.

If my daughter was being co-operative and good and my son wasn’t, I would praise my daughter and tell her how wonderful she was.

Within minutes my son would start to co-operate, eager to earn his share of my lavish praise.

If my son was being co-operative, however, and my daughter was not, I would heap praise and encouragement on Andrew while ignoring Sarah.

She would immediately jump up, inform us that she hated us and that we hated her, and would storm off to her bedroom, slam the door and remain there.

It proves that there is no simple solution for bad behaviour.

But I do know that it is not a solution to give the reward before the behaviour has changed - as we seem to have done for China.

That country has been given the Olympic Games and we are told that the country is keen to be seen in a good light.

But it’s showing no sign of change.

Maybe China should have been told that it would be given the Olympic Games IF it changed its behaviour on human rights issues, on Darfur and on Tibet.

Not only has China not done any of that, but it is flying in the face of world opinion again by sending arms to Zimbabwe.

I couldn’t believe it when I heard that a ship carrying tonnes of weapons was heading there from China.

We have given the Olympics to a country whose behaviour is completely arrogant and totally wrong.

Forget rewards - I just wish there was a naughty step to put the whole of China on for a very long time!

And joining it would be South Africa.

I was going to say I couldn’t believe the way its government has turned its back on neighbours who are being killed, tortured and starved to death by dictator, Robert Mugabe.

But president Thabo Mbeki, in a remarkable imitation of Pontius Pilate, has washed his hands of the whole affair, and says that there is no crisis and that electoral matters must “just take their course.”

Even Nelson Mandela, the champion of goodness and a man with huge influence, has remained strangely silent.

I was going to say I couldn’t believe it but, after listening to a Zimbabwean diplomat on the radio the other day, I can believe it.

In an interview he defended Mugabe and did a good job of trying to convince the world that everything was being blown out of proportion.

On at least three occasions he mentioned colonialism. And there’s the problem!

To South Africa and Zambia and most of the rest of Africa, what is happening in Zimbabwe might be wrong. They might be watching people die, they might see refugees fleeing, but they can’t do anything about it because Mugabe fought for freedom from colonialism - just as they do.

When it comes down to it, black governments are going to stick together even while many are dying under an oppressive regime.

And by the same token, places like Britain are almost powerless to act because what happened under colonial rule is still too fresh, too new. If we go back in to help now, we will be seen as the white oppressors.

Even though it is black killing black, it is colour that will determine the outcome in Zimbabwe.

We started it, make no mistake about that.

But now somebody has to finish it. Someone must start recognising good behaviour and bad behaviour.

History is no longer important. It is now that people are dying and now that people have to act.

The only person who is completely colour blind in all this is probably Mugabe himself - he doesn’t care what colour the people who are suffering are.