Release Date: Sunday 9th July 2006
Release Time: Immediate

Contact Details:
Dr Sean Gabb (Director, The Libertarian Alliance), +44 7956 472 199 (UK access code), sean@libertarian.co.uk

For other contact and link details, see the foot of this message
Release url: http://www.libertarian.co.uk/news/nr044.htm

"KEEP YOUR HANDS OF THEM KIDS!", SAYS FREE MARKET AND CIVIL LIBERTIES THINK TANK TO 'HAPPINESS' PRESSURE GROUPS

The Libertarian Alliance, Britain's most radical free market and civil liberties policy institute, today denounces the introduction of "happiness" lessons into state schools.

According to The Independent on Sunday for the 9th July 2006,

Lessons in happiness are to be introduced for 11-year-olds in state schools to combat a huge rise in depression, self-harm and anti-social behaviour among young people....

Lessons using cognitive behavioural therapy techniques will include role play designed to help children build up their self-esteem, challenge negative ways of thinking and express their thoughts clearly....

They will also be shown special breathing exercises to keep them calm when their parents are arguing and avoid blaming themselves for situations that are beyond their control, for example, the fact their parents may be divorcing.... The anti-depression classes, due be introduced in South Tyneside, Manchester and one rural location, have been approved by Lord Layard, the Government's "happiness" tsar.
 

"This scheme should be rejected with scorn. It is another step towards the nationalisation of the family - and therefore to its destruction by a politically correct Ruling Class that simply hates the people of this country and all that they once represented.

"The real purpose of this law is not to teach children to be happy - not that it is the business to teach happiness even if this could be taught like the times tables or a foreign language. The real purpose is to brainwash children, so they will grow into biddable sheep.

"The most a government can do to make people happy is to produce conditions in which they can make themselves happy. These conditions include low taxes, minimal regulation, low spending, laws that protect life and property and that protect other fundamental human rights.

"If children are not happy at school, this might be because they realise they are growing up in a chaotic police state where criminals will have more rights than they have. They might also have noticed that the standard of education in state schools has now collapsed."

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Note(s) to Editors

Dr Sean Gabb is the Director of the Libertarian Alliance. He is also Deputy Director of the Truancy Unit at Buckingham University and author of Home Schooling: A British Perspective, published in Homeschooling in Full View: A Reader (2005) by Bruce S. Cooper (Editor)

Dr Gabb can be contacted for further comment on 07956 472 199 or by e-mail at sean@libertarian.co.uk

Extended Contact Details:

The Libertarian Alliance is Britain's most radical free market and civil liberties policy institute. It has published over 700 articles, pamphlets and books in support of freedom and against statism in all its forms. These are freely available at http://www.libertarian.co.uk

Our postal address is

The Libertarian Alliance
Suite 35
2 Lansdowne Row
Mayfair
London
W1J 6HL
Tel: 07956 472 199

Associated Organisations

The Libertarian International - http://www.libertarian.to - is a sister organisation to the Libertarian Alliance. Its mission is to coordinate various initiatives in the defence of individual liberty throughout the world.

Sean Gabb's personal website - http://www.seangabb.co.uk - contains about a million words of writings on themes interesting to libertarians and conservatives.

Hampden Press - http://www.hampdenpress.co.uk.- the publishing house of the Libertarian Alliance.

Liberalia - http://www.liberalia.com - maintained by by LA Executive member Christian Michel, Liberalia publishes in-depth papers in French and English on libertarianism and free enterprise. It is a prime source of documentation on these issues for students and scholars.