Malta has come on in leaps and bounds in the last decade or so. Just 20 or so years ago, this was a land of taboos and the accepted curtailment of rights and norms. Today (although there is still a lot left to be done), we have seen the acceptance of gays and lesbians, the right to remarry, the planned changes to drug laws, advancement of women, acceptance and integration of the disabled, more tolerance for different faiths and races and much, much more.

As stated, there is still more to be done. But there is no doubt that this is a much more modern Malta that has made progress as a people, a nation and a European Union member. Our lifestyles have improved, things are more socially acceptable and there is, in general, much more equality between people than there was in the past. This is all positive and, at the same time, inevitable.

But it has brought with it a Pandora’s Box of its own. In making this progress, we have also become more decadent, susceptible to whims and fancies and egotistical with a seeming sense of entitlement.

While some of that has been manifested in increased crime rates, more alcohol and drug fuelled violence, the trafficking of women for prostitution purposes and more, there is one very worrying trend that has been highlighted by this newspaper in this week’s issues. That trend is the increasing contempt and actual psychological bullying that teachers in our schools are being faced with.

People have been talking about it for a long time, yet it has never really been spoken about openly (there’s the taboo thing rearing its head again). Kids in schools are getting more and more out of control. When you hear about it, it tends to be twofold – parents saying how badly their kids are being treated by their teachers (there’s the self entitlement) and those who worry because they hear stories from their children about how bad their peers behave in class.

Let’s be frank. As the union of teachers has said, things needed to improve. Students were the ones being bullied 20 years ago and things had to change. Schooling was Victorian in approach and that simply does not fit in today’s world. But to have kids openly defying their teachers and for young boys and girls to be talking about sex acts and flashing their privates to their teachers with impunity is a collective failure on our behalf. It seems that while these may be the extreme acts that have occurred, the general attitude seems to be prevalent amongst a good portion of youngsters who are of school age. Is this the unravelling of our social fabric?

Teachers seem to be at their wits end with some requesting transfers to get away from kids that are literally blackmailing them is surely not a healthy situation. Sadly, this will turn into a blame game with many saying that it should be the responsibility of the parents to ensure their children behave in an acceptable manner. But in truth, it is our collective responsibility as a society to start addressing this and changing, before it is too late.