There's a question I hear all the time. It's an easy one to answer.
They don’t do it because they’re bored, or because they live in 'deprived' areas, or 'there is nothing for young people to do’ or any other fashionable excuse, dreamt up by naive people usually in posession of a beard and a degree in Psychology. Each of these excuses is easily dismissed. Do we seriously imagine that there was more entertainment on offer in, for example the 1930s or that people were less deprived then? The answer is simple.
Kids misbehave because it's fun to do so and there is no longer any reason not to.
Have we all forgotten how enjoyable it is to hang around in a gang as a teenager and intimidate terrified adult passers-by? It's great entertainment! I'd do it this very evening if Mrs. Chalk didn't keep me in check by being the equivalent of the old fashioned village Policeman.
Kids have formed gangs and misbehaved since the dawn of time_it's perfecly natural adolescent behaviour to explore the boundaries of accepted behaviour and to push and prod them a bit. We learn where these boundaries lie by experiences at home, at school, what we see and read in the media, from the way adults behave in public and finally from the Police.
Nowadays many parents have abandoned any attempt to bring up their children. Lots of schools have given up trying to impose rules they cannot enforce. No sane passer-by would dare tell off a group of teenagers behaving badly for fear of being stabbed, and there are only about four coppers per city; three of whom are behind desks, busy filling in forms and the other one is attending a 'gender awareness' course.
7 comments:
Couldn't agree more. At our school most trangressions are simply ignored to avoid confrontations with the kids and later, their parents. It's a sad state of affairs which is increasingly common in the inner cities.
Like many other I was part of a gang of kids who used to 'hang around' a corner shop in the evenings as a kid, ocasionally getting into minor scuffles. Mind you we would have run a mile if an adult had come up to us and told us off and probably s*** ourselves if the Police had turned up. Can't imagine them having the same effect now though.
I quite agree with your statements that kids have always shown a proclivity for being naughty (except for a few, which nobody liked) but being naughty is not the problem of kids nowadays. In my experience we are faced with a profound lack of respect for anbody and anything. Raising kids who never have to face up to the consequences of their behaviour, will eventually fall prey to the state authorities, the very same people who have undermined parental rights. Considering the lack of prison space they might as well start putting barbed wire round schools. Might be cheaper. The kind of tolerance that is preached to all and sundry is a contradiction in itself. I can assure you, when our kids are old enough to come into conflict with the law all this cant about tolerance is gonna be null and void. Going back to the actual origin of the word, tolerare means to suffer, to bear, to sustain, to put up with. Doesn't sound so good then, does it?
Makes us all sound rather like a flock of sheep. Just take a quick look at the following link, if you're not worried yet about where this is heading:
http://news.independent.co.uk/
uk/politics/article1129827.ece
I've always been proud of bringing my children up to be critical and to not tolerate everything that is thrown their way. To stand up for themselves, the same way I was forced to stand up for myself against a state that is permanently trying to increase it's influence over all aspects of live, including the family unit. They will have to lock me up before I will allow them to tell my children what's good and bad. And gender awareness, my foot, if you're not an absolute prude your children will have no problems finding out we come in two genders, it's actually quite easy to spot. There is of course the occasional hermaphrodite, so that bit of information was passed on verbally. Seemed to satisfy my kids. The homosexual aspect was covered by their favorite aunt who leans that way, so there was no need for the gender awareness crap at school. I realize I probably come across as homophobic, which I'm not. As far as I'm concerned everyone is welcome to do whatever they like as long as it's consensual in their private life. But I object strongly to schools conveying the image to my children that homosexualuality is on the same level as heterosexuality. What absolutely pisses me off, is the double-dealing that is dished out to us.
1. You're born homosexual, so to speak poled different to the majority of people; we can all accept that I think.
2. I'm proud to be gay! I beg your pardon. Last time I looked, you took pride in things you achieved, like improving yourself or whatever. So it's either one or the other. And if it is the latter I don't want those people anywhere near my kids teaching them those particular achievements.
I'll go with Pink Floyd: teacher leave those kids alone!
redspyda - you're right, you do come across as homophobic.
Mr Chalk, excellent blog, thankyou.
Mark: said so! And your remark makes you come across as someone who is apparently not interested in the problems of kids growing up nowadays. Very predictable though. How about taking a course on paediatric awareness? (lol)
Very pretty site! Keep working. thnx!
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