Over the past few months, several incidents of school violence reached the public. As with most things, our responses were reactionary and would quickly fizzle out without getting anywhere. Meanwhile, our institutions of learning continue to transform into what seems more and more like a war zone. It can be easy to see the high levels of school violence as a sign of our times and the errant values held by young people these days. But this line of thinking removes us from culpability when we are all in fact involved in the shaped attitudes and norms of today’s youths.
Many blame the growing liberalism and restriction of corporal punishment as being the real culprits behind increased school violence. The solution it is said is to return schools to their former glory days where they were under full command of the church and were ruled by fierce rules and punishments. It is quite odd that we seek to return to the genesis of the dysfunctional school system as it was this model that has led us to where we are today. Beating children does nothing other than damage them physically, emotionally and psychologically. It breeds resentment and fosters negative and destructive behaviours. While disciplinary actions are needed for children, the solution is not licks. As many children and I as a former child will tell you, licks does bun an cool but the damaging effects lasts for life.
It is often said that children are poor listeners but extremely good imitators. The things that they see, hear and feel shapes their thinking, values and actions. So while one can continue to criticize and talk down to children, we must ask ourselves as parents, guardians and caregivers if we are good examples and whether we are surrounding them with positive influences. Many of us who are adults now have never been taught how to manage our aggression and resolve conflicts. We have grown up damaged due to broken parents whose negative teachings we willingly pass on to our children. It is very hypocritical and unfair of us to expect children to do any better than what they were taught when we are still struggling.
Violence does not happen in a vacuum. The heightened levels of school violence is directly linked to the larger emergency of gender based violence in the country. Daily we can hear of and read stories of children brutally assaulting each other, of rapes and molestations – all while in school. Children are being traumatized and mutilated by other children in spaces where they should be safe and learning. A lot of these incidents stem over hurt feelings and minor disagreements where the offended party then exerts their power. We teach children, particularly boys that to command respect, they must exert power. However, power in our social context is often muddied with ideals of aggression and gendered violence. Children are not encouraged or taught how to cope with their emotions and problems they might be experiencing so of course they mimic the actions of those around them. When we see children, particularly those on the younger end of the scale perpetuating acts of physical and sexual violence, it is not because they are necessarily deviant children. But it could mean that they are more than likely exposed to or are victims to this sort of behaviour in their home and social environment and are themselves in need of protection.
So many of us are very quick to denigrate children considered deviants, even calling for criminal charges to be instituted on them. Seeking to criminalize children is an ineffective and frankly asinine plaster to the epidemic of school violence. While retribution can often seem alluring, particularly by affected parties, making criminals out of children should never be the road to take. We have already been upending the lives of many young persons already, particularly those who have been charged for things such as truancy and loitering. They end up in inefficient and mismanaged correctional facilities that often seek to strip them of their humanity rather than build it. With our age of criminal responsibility still standing at 10 given that the Juvenile Justice Bill has not since its passage in parliament been enacted, many children continue to be vulnerable to the state in this regard.
It is a curious thing to see how ready we are to hold children accountable when we refuse to hold ourselves and those we hold dear to the same standards. The way in which we raise our children of course impacts their future and that of every single person they come into contact with. That is why it is important that those of us responsible for molding the lives of the future are not teaching them harmful behaviours and practices. If our focus is on building a better and safer school and societal environment for our children and ourselves, then we must aim to be gentle with each other.
