Letter: Courtesy is catching

Sir: Courtesy cannot be achieved by legislation or by putting up larger notices in trains. Courtesy needs education, encouragement and example.

Parents showing the way to their children would be a useful start, and if all those many decent men who, as a result of the case of the pregnant woman who had to stand in a train, have felt a little ashamed to be male, would determine to change their selfish attitudes, then as Deborah Orr says in her excellent article (6 August), they might start feeling good about themselves.

Courtesy can be contagious. It just needs someone to get the good habit started and for the silent majority to stop being silent.

I agree with Hilary Rackstaw, (letter, 7 August), that children take delight in learning behavioural skills. We have just held an essay competition for schools on the subject of manners, and from the many hundreds of entries now being judged, it is obvious that young people have a clearer idea of the importance of manners than many adults, which I find greatly encouraging.

GERRY HANSON

Chairman

Campaign for Courtesy

Iver heath, Buckinghamshire