Recent figures show an increase in violent crime among youngsters under the age of 18. Some psychologists claim that the basic reason for this is that children these days are not getting the social and emotional learning they need from parents and teachers. To what extent do you agree or disagree with this opinion?

The given table illustrates the

attendance

of students in four different kinds of secondary school students in the year 2000, 2005 and 2009. Overall, while the

attendance

increased in the ‘Community Schools’ between 2000 and 2009, it decreased in the ‘Voluntary-controlled Schools’. Regarding the ‘Community Schools’,

although

it had the lowest proportions of the pupils attending the classes in the year 2000, the

attendance

showed a significant rise in the following decade and recorded the highest percentage of

attendance

at 58%.

On the other hand

, while the

attendance

in the ‘Specialist Schools’ remained more or less unchanged (10-12%) during the time frame, it decreased to more than 50% in the ‘Voluntary-controlled Schools’ and stood at 20% in 2009. The ‘Specialist Schools’ pupils were the least consistent in attending classes in 2000 as well as in 2009. The ‘Grammar Schools’

also

experienced a similar trend and

attendance

recorded in 2009 was half of what was recorded in the year 2000 (52 per cent).