Sad thing is no one's going to be able to say that its wrong because it isn't this country is going though a major change and its not a change for the better.
I couldn't agree more, and when I start having children, my God, they are going to be brought up properly.
I remember when I was around 12-14 I use to be jealous of my friends because they were aloud to hang out till late during the week and even later during the weekends. I thought my parents were weirdos or something. It wasn't till I grew up that I realize there were just being proper parents. It is interesting to see family relationships from different cultures being so different. Being half Scottish half Chinese I can see a difference to how children act with their families between the two sides. However it isn't as big as it use to be as the later generation of Chinese has intergrated more with the British.
Many changes happened in post-war Britain, all with some influence on present-day behaviour. In no particular order, Progress - the local bobby on the beat or his bike replaced by the squad car, responding to calls rather than keeping an eye on things. And a greater emphasis on traffic offences. Higher wages, the power of the Trades Unions after the post-War boom - employers had to make efficiencies, which largely meant fewer employees; one-man buses meant no conductor to keep an eye on passenger behaviour, fewer policemen, central management closing the local police stations. No fear of Authority leads to no respect for Authority. Teachers are powerless to punish, every petty offence has to go to court or be passed over. Partly a consequence of having a good wage and secure job (thanks to the Union), the employer becomes the enemy. No discipline in schools, no discipline at work, no discipline on the streets. End of National Service, apprenticeship systems. Young people don't need to mix with older people and need to learn to mix socially and learn to fit into the hierarchy of a power structure. They don't learn personal responsibility. TV kills the need for the family to interact socially. 'Pop' music creates a divide exploited by artists and the commercial world. The anti-hero becomes the role model, kids despise their parents as out-of-touch, other kids know more about real life. No discipline at home. Money is the only way to be happy. The commercial world has lots of ways for you to spend it. Forget playing with your friends at things that don't cost anything, now you need to spend. But you don't need to help round the house in return for pocket-money, just demand as a right. OTT Legislation - hasty, reacting to ephemeral pressures from the popular press. More bureaucracy favours the perpetrator rather than the victim. Trendy ideas. The traditional systems had a few weaknesses, so let's tear them down entirely and put in a brand-new system. Scrap competition, it's so unfair on the less able. Dumb down to the mediocre, no prizes for excellence. Parents mustn't smack their kids. More help to criminals, less to victims.
A major problem I have with this is that alcohol and drug consumption are being taken as measures of behavior. They are not. Hippies weren't instantly hooligans because they laid in the grass and took acid, neither are stoners going to go out and rape people just because they've smoked some weed. Nor are all people who drink themselves into a stupor going to go and break into some place just for fun.
Well, to be fair, a lot of these points raised has occurred in one place I know of in particular and youths there are mild mannered by comparison. I think it's down to the family unit, and in the UK it has broken down severely.
Parenting is the problem, not teenagers. Honestly, I'd rather hang around with a bunch of druggie chavs than talk to most of the moronic adults in this world.
My dad has no choice but to put up with the kids that dont want to be there or do nothing but cause trouble. If they get written up and sent to the principal they get sent back because the office is full of worse offenders from other teachers. If he calls the parents then he gets yelled at for making their kid feel bad, nothing hapens and no one learns that their actions have consequences. I worked as a Co-OP the second half of my day my senior year of high school as a tech in a factory. 3/4 people I worked with were 50 or older, I learned quickly how to work and get along with almost anyone. Plus the technical skills I picked up are a plus in school and job interviews. Yeah, enough said. Let the TV raise the child. My parents never gave me squat without me having to do something for it, and even then I still feel underpaid. But I do have a very small sense of work ethic. Ughhh, I wont even bother there. All great ideas, lets implement them now. It just reminds me of the time I went out of my way to do a good job and got in trouble for it because even though it was done correctly, it wasnt in my non defined job description. Nothing like getting almost fired for going above and beyond.
What the open post says is one of the reasons i quit as a youth worker because the problem is getting alot worse and whilst it degenerates social workers and youth workers have to neglect overall need in order to hit targets which are designed for failure from the offset. Another problem is we dont have political parties working in the interest of the people we ave politician playing pop politics and neglecting the real issues which are at our own front door, but the British political process is mre about not losing elections than it is about winning elections because saying things like their is an issue with young people in our society is a risk and something a party political party would not do, Tony Blair mentioned this as an issue but as soon as he did people started asking when is he leaving power and so forth and the subject gets buried again. I think parenting is a major part of the problem i saw a girl who had been out heavily drinking with her mum because she had managed to get her teacher fired for restraining her when she got out of order, the girl im thinking of i can imagine how the teacher had little choice. I hate to sound all rightwing but i think children have so much freedom with little accountability meaning they can establish patterns of behaviour which follows them into their adult lives and perpetuates the circle and with a legal system which is failing to protect the innocent who are often the victims of the behaviour in which these problems stem. Unless the government takes a stronger stance against the behaviour of the diseffected youth now it wil be hard to make changes in behaviour in a couple of decades from now. I think things wont change though because making any changes which will offer any impact on behavioural issues, young and old, will be seen as risky policy and politicians will not dare stand up and do what is needed instead they will push ideas such as 'hug a hoodie' which is ridiculous when already a lack of discipline is already causing these issues.
"...I hate to sound right-wing..." is half of the problem. We don't want to speak the truth because it doesn't sound progressive or politically correct. "Children need choices because they are young adults and we don't want to disenfranchise them...". ********! Children are still growing and forming and they can't think as adults do. Yes, teens try to push the boundaries - that is their job. It is a parents job to not let them succeed. I'm not one for bringing back the birch, but teachers and the police need the ability (and the inclination) to control children (and parents in many cases). Control is not a dirty word. These people need structure from an early age, and perhaps their parents aren't providing it, but the state damn well should. I'm more inclined to vote Tory at them moment, but I can't say I agree with the hug-a-hoodie policy. I think that if either of the main parties were to stand at the next election on an serious family-friendly, sort-the-kids-out platform they would walk straight into Downing Street. As much as we think the whole country is rotten to the core, there are millions of people (voters) who think the same as we do. But instead, the politicians skirt around the issue, ad infinitum.
