How can children be so cruel?

Take a look at the school curriculum.

YOUR report headlined ‘Gang feeds cats to killer dogs’ (October 16) is a serious indication of how low we have gone in this country.

The behaviour of those youngsters in Cobh, Co Cork, who threw cats to dogs to be savaged alive, was nothing less than sadistic.

Albert Kleyn of the Cork Animal Care Society tells us in the same report that “there is overwhelming evidence to prove that many serial killers have started off experimenting with torturing and killing animals”.

Surely this ought to alert us to the seriousness of the situation.

Soon after I read Séan O’Riordan’s report about the appalling treatment of the cats, I became aware of the inclusion of a so-called poem entitled ‘Poisoning Pigeons in The Park’ in the English curriculum for secondary schools.

It’s in a textbook called ‘Take The Plunge’, and the ‘poem’ details the poisoning of pigeons with cyanide.

In it people are invited to the park to poison the pigeons and maybe to “do in” in a couple of squirrels ... “amid laughter and merriment” except the few that they will take home to “experiment”.

The inclusion of this kind of material in the curriculum is a very serious indictment of our schools and of the Department of Education. Who is responsible for such a poem being approved for use in our schools? This comes with the authority of the department and has the stamp of approval of those who selected the curriculum, the NCCA, and ultimately the teachers’ boards of management that selected the book for use in their schools.

Children are being corrupted by such material and there is no doubt that what is being taught in the classrooms is now being acted out on the streets.

The culture of lawlessness and abuse once blamed solely on the media is clearly being created and nurtured under the guise of ‘education’.

This book must be withdrawn immediately and a full investigation conducted into the materials approved for use in schools.

Michael Sheehan

Ballyarra

Castlelyons

Co Cork