You guys should put in the dates you attended to compare eras.

To be honest, I have probably have a different view on the way school children behave in Forest Hill, being an American. A couple of months ago I was on the train and a bunch of boys (I'm assuming from Forest Hill Boys) were acting up on the platform. When a teacher, who was also on the train, repremanded the boys they all stood in a line and said 'yes sir and sorry sir'. I was impressed.

Something like that never would have happened at my white, outer suburban school in the 1980s. In fact my parents, who have visted Forest Hill many times have commented on the children gathering around WH Smith and the like and remarked that it reminded them of what it was like when they were in school in the 50s and 60s in America! My mother went to a state high school in a neighborhood of Boston that is very simliar to make-up of Forest Hill.

Sorry, to highjack the 'what school' thread--but I thought this kind of fit in with the discussion.