@gulfie
Don't see your point. I had ADD, my step-daughter has ADHD (she's 11). I was born and raised in Liverpool and lived in the Tuebrook area and went to school in Wavertree (right at the end of Penny Lane) It wasn't all that long ago, and I missed city busses all the time. some mornings I had to walk, if there was a bus strike, or they didn't come. 2 1/2 miles, across 3 of the main routes into the city center (west derby road, Prescott lane/Kensington and Edge lane - which is fed by the M62).
I Didn't need a cell phone to call my parents to tell them I was at school, or that I'd missed the bus. It might only have been 10 years ago, but we had common sense back then. And gee, do you think that he will always tell you the truth? I was also one of my group of friends that lived closest to the school. One lived right by Aintree racecourse, at the north end of the city, was an hours bus ride, and he had to go past the spot where jammie Bulger was murdered, every day.
We needed a phone? There was a payphone inside the school building, at the office. in the last 2-3 years of attendance, I did have a cell phone, but I didn't take it with me, generally. I saved it (a then brand new nokia 1612 on 121) for the rare occasions when I would be going on somewhere else, and I didn't turn it on at all in school.
Yes teachers need more powers, no kids don't need cell phones, some teachers need real life experiance, yes. Saying that, the best english teacher I had was a lovely young (hot) mancunian lady, fresh with her degree. The best math teacher however, had spent years designing the pipes for chemical plants. It depends on the person.