The recent article in the times
Teaching Respect to the Faithful about how our religious children act like wild animals at Bar and Bat Mitzvah parties, is a Chilul Hashem and an embarrassment to our educational system. You can't argue with that, unless you buy into the modern day response that everyone hates religious people and that its all about anti-semitism. An even better response by some yeshivas today is to ban Bar Mitzvah celebrations to a limited number of friends, so it won't get out of hand, another brilliant way of dealing with problems, or should I say avoiding the issue.
Below is a reprint of an article my father wrote many years back on teaching proper middos and derech eretz. My father used to explain that everything else, like brains and beauty, one really doesn't have much control over, but how one acts and behaves toward others is completely in our hands.
Anyone who has been to Camp S'dei Chemed knows how much emphasis my father put on the famous Middos Awards each summer. He also instituted the universal “Kesser Shem Tov Award” that many schools across the US participate in.
Teaching Proper Middos and Derech Eretz
By Rabbi Eli Teitelbaum Z"L
My father, Rabbi Eli Teitelbaum OB”M was a 4th grade Rebbi for over 40 years. One of the highlights of being in his class was hearing his amazing stories. Every Friday he would tell the story of the Parsha with all the Medrashim to his 4th grade class. I have begun to upload the stories to the web. Click this link to visit the audio page. We hope to add more soon… 
