seriously by all concerned.

The scheme, which pays cadets a wage and their Bermuda College tuition in return for service in the Police, is a good one which should be given every chance to work.

The parents, who have been making the complaints on behalf of their children, do seem to be serious and they have a good understanding of what a cadet scheme requires of its members.

Parent Ricky Tucker, himself a reserve Policeman, noted that the parents accept there is a need for discipline and for high standards. At the same time, the instructors must behave according to set standards as well.

If, and the investigation is not yet complete, an instructor struck a cadet, then that is not acceptable and the officer must be disciplined. But cadets must also accept they will be shouted at -- and tested -- during their training. Indeed, there is some merit in the idea that they should be challenged in training so they will be handle anything thrown at them, literally and figuratively, when on the street.

The Police and the Bermuda College are correct to demand high academic standards from the cadets, and if it is true one cadet had a grade point average of 0.0 over three semesters, then that student had to go; he or she was wasting everyone's time and money.

Students who cannot maintain a C average in the College should not stay in the programme either -- unless their grades improve. This is not being unfair. The cadets are being paid a salary on top of paid college tuition; if they cannot uphold their end of the bargain, then the arrangement must end before they waste any more taxpayers' money.

Since the revelations about the Police scheme came out, there has been some criticism of the Island's education system, some of it no doubt justified.

It is not unusual for an `A student' in high school to suddenly start getting Cs or even Ds in the more demanding academic environment of a college; indeed when students are moving from a comprehensive secondary school to a demanding college environment it is bound to happen.

But the Bermuda College has remedial teachers and tutoring to help students who find themselves struggling to catch up. It is not known if these were offered or taken up in the case of the cadets.

If they were not, they should be. At the same time, the cadets, if they are serious about finishing their academic course and becoming good Police officers, need to apply themselves too, and soon.