years had not been kind to Bermuda.

Twenty years ago -- some said ten -- the Island had a much friendlier face.

And nowhere was this more evident than in the education system.

Knives, hammers, drugs, alcohol and violent TV programmes -- Bermuda now bore a scarred look, they said.

"I have been in the profession 28 years and was trained in the United States where there were rough kids -- we are now catching up with America,'' said one female St. David's Primary teacher.

"I moved to Bermuda in 1974 and it was much better then. I think the introduction of drugs to our children has a lot to do with it.

"Parents are using drugs and children are using them. It's so sad.'' America taught her how youngsters imitated TV -- sometimes with disastrous results.

"One child even jumped out of a window thinking he could fly like Batman and broke his arm.

"The influence of television is incredible. One little girl at St. David's Primary told me she watches TV at 2 a.m. and 3 a.m., while her mother is asleep.

"Parents should realise to what degree young people imitate what they see.

They need to be involved with children, training, loving and nurturing them.'' The woman called for counselling programmes to identify children's educational and social needs.

"Teachers are having to do more than meet education needs. We also have to tackle emotional and social ones, and it's getting tiring. We are working flat out every day.'' A Whitney Institute teacher of 22 years agreed.

"There has definitely been a change over the years in the degree of violent behaviour and the number of disturbed young people.

"I think we have to address some of the serious social, psychological and emotional problems,'' the teacher said.

"There must be the expertise to work out programmes to assist the whole process. It's a problem of self-discipline and character education.

"Family breakdowns are part of the problem. I've had no personal problems although I've had to come to the assistance of other teachers.'' To Port Royal Primary teacher Lisa Siese, Government had to grasp the education nettle.

"I don't have problems at my school, at least not on the same magnitude as at others.

"But while I don't think there is an easy answer I do think we need support from the administrators and the Ministry needs to show more leadership.'' Ms Siese believed the Ministry may have mishandled the question of security guards, making promises too quickly.

Some teachers felt parents were shirking responsibilities. Said one woman: "I've been a primary level teacher for ten years. When I was going to school you respected teachers and if you were disrespectful you got licks.

"Now we have a whole different generation of youngsters. They have no respect.'' Another primary teacher said: "The relationship between parents, teachers and students is no longer there.

Teachers need support "Too often parents and principals make excuses for children, and they say things like `What did you to provoke Johnnie?'. They say `Oh, little Johnnie comes from a difficult home environment' or `little Johnnie's parents are poor'.

"They also say children have attention deficit disorders. They are always making excuses for misbehaviour. Teachers need far more support and understanding.'' Another teacher said: "I know of one incident at St. George's when five or six kids surrounded a teacher with hammers in their hands. They jostled and circled him.

"I think the latest incident at Warwick Secondary was the straw that broke the camel's back.''