Last Sunday we ran a column by Superintendant Dr. Gary Mathews that talked about teacher/parent relationships. It was a good read, go check it out. If you don't still have Sunday's paper, you can read it at covnews.com.

There was a time a generation or two ago that children had respect for their teachers. In most cases this respect was as strong as the respect kids had for their parents. We shouldn't have to point out children should respect their parents, so why not their teachers?

Anyway, it used to be that if you failed to show the proper respect for your teachers, you were not only going to disciplined by your teacher, but your parents would double your punishment when you got home.

Now we fast forward to today, where parents are willing to argue against their children receiving any form of punishment. Dr. Mathews even cited parents bringing lawyers to parent/teacher conferences in his column, which we think is absurd. It's not a parent/teacher/lawyer conference.

Our teachers need to be able to control their classroom, and if they have to hand out punishment to keep order, then so be it. Our children will only suffer in the long run if they learn in an unruly environment.

At the end of the day, a child needs to learn to respect authority young. This begins at home. We can throw any amount of money into the education system, and we can make draconian demands of our educators, but students with no respect or manners will not benefit from their schooling.

Don't get us wrong. We have some great teachers in Newton County who do the best they can, and plenty of parents do care about their children's education. This column isn't directed towards you - it's directed to the parents who can't be bothered to do their job as parents and raise their children well.

That needs to change.