Take two teenage underachievers – Hollie who had a habit of wandering round the corridors and said “school’s so boring”, and Jack (excluded three times, 105 detentions) – and put them in the homes of two of their high-achieving classmates for six weeks.
The parents of the poorly achieving children did not come out covered in glory. Hollie’s father admits not getting involved in her education; her mother does up the teenager’s shoelaces for her.
Jack’s mother admits she hasn’t been to a parents’ evening in two years as she doesn’t like hearing anything bad about her son: “I can’t be bothered being angry with him. I want to show him how loved he is.”
A nation rolls its eyes.
Unsurprisingly, under the tougher tutelage of the swotty parents, Hollie and Jack’s grades did improve, despite the “I WANNA GO TO A PARTEEEE” complaining; but I’d like a revisit in a year to see what happened next.
Will Hollie be able to do her shoes up herself?
