'Adults fear youths'

A report by the Institute for Public Policy research 'Freedom's Orphans: raising Youth in a Changing World' is due to be published soon. The BBC has previewed it. The report's findings include:

• A significantly lower percentage of UK adults would intervene if they saw young people vandalising a bus shelter than in Germany, Spain or Italy - according to respondents questionnaires.
• 1.7 million UK adults said they had not gone out after dark because of youths gathering
• last year (2005) about 1.5 million UK adults considered moving house because of young people gathering (presumably this is a statistical extrapolation)
• UK adults were more likely than other Europeans to blame young people for anti-social behaviour
• The report recommends structured activities - organised clubs - for young people



The Institute for Public Policy Research says on its web site that it is an independent progressive think tank aiming to influence public policy to achieve a just, democratic and sustainable world.

There is clearly an inconsistency if adults blame young people for 'anti-social behaviour' but do not in fact challenge them when it occurs.

An example; I was in my local high street on a recent Saturday. A group of young girls (about 13 or 14 maybe) were letting off firecrackers. It was incredibly annoying. Not one adult in the busy street said or did anything. (Myself included). And presumably, for precisely the reason cited by the reported report; adults expect - probably correctly - that they will get a load of abuse. This is inevitable; if children are not used to being picked up on unfriendly behaviour the first person who does do this will get an earful (or more). In the last few weeks a 40 year old man was stabbed to death in Hackney, London, when he asked a group of boys to be quiet - outside his flat. Children and young people who have no experience of discipline will go over the top when then experience it; the person challenging them will get quite possibly all the pent up vengance that comes from having been ignored by adults for so long. How dare they tell me off (while, behind this, the desparation that they never tell me off...)

New Labour has of course understood much of the report's findings for sometime. Its anti-social behaviour drive promises to do something about the 'problem of youths hanging about' without actually involving local people at all. It can all be dealt with by the new army of 'professionals' and 'anti-social behaviour experts' (omg - yes) and by hearsay evidence. Despite the rhetoric that the anti-social behaviour campaign involves local communities it does exactly the opposite. Local people's role is as snitches; nothing more. The campaign panders to a real conern but offers a banal solution which simply takes the easy way out of blaming voiceless children. That many of these children are victmised with ASBOs and sent to YOIs for next to nothing is a rather horrible consquence of this political cynicism.

The question is how have we as adults lost the confidence to discipline children? Is it because we have lost our own values and know (really) that we, so to speak, don't have a leg to stand on; no ground from which to correct anyone elses bad behaviour?

More on the report when I can get hold of it.

The IPPR report recommends an extension of the school day to include compulsory structured activities with 'fines' (and presumably parenting orders) for parents who did not force their children to attend. Oh dear.

Yes; a useful piece of research which confirms the rather obvious likelihood that children who attend structured youth activities (sports, martial arts clubs, etc) as children are likely to keep out of crime and grow up to be more robust individuals with better 'outcomes'. Yes. Obviously. But why this craze for forcing everything on people? I would suggest that the reason that these young people have better outcomes is because they voluntarily attended a structured youth activity. That showed character - or the character of their parents. This desire to make it complusory for everyone is a culture of levelling. In the world of the IPPR and Nick Pearce (the director) no one is allowed to be stronger or better. Having seen that there are measurable benefits now everyone must attend structured youth actitivies. Of course; once they become a complusory part of school the nature of the activity will change - the benefits will not be the same. No character will be built. But the measurements of this won't be made for 30 years...

There is a frightening degree of dehumanisation in this way of thinking; the failure to appreciate the distinction between doing something voluntarily and because one is forced to. The thinking is; if structured youth activities are good then everyone should do them. There is no understanding of the role of human will and agency in this. It is classic New Labour style socialism.

The Editor

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