It’s not everyday you see an 11 year old boy dangling from the end of a truck, while the driver of the car behind is beeping like crazy and his “friends” are egging him on. But witnessing this once made me raise a few questions about the common sense (if any) of teenagers today. With the succession of knife and drug crimes, committed by kids as young as 12, it’s become a question as to whether the younger generation is getting more careless or are the older generation not doing enough?
With there being over 20 secondary schools in Haringey alone, it’s almost impossible to avoid school students. If it’s 3:30 on a weekday, you can bet that you will be bombarded by a sea of youths, screaming, swearing and clogging your noses with the smell of chicken and chips. But it is safe to say we can just label this as being British culture. However, the ones who do get into fights, a minority of them join gangs, and of course, gangs breed violence. As a former secondary school student, I’ve had the opportunity to view it from the inside. Young people are vulnerable when it comes to getting involved in drugs and fights: two things leading to prison or death.
The question is what is there to do about it? The sure answer is that there needs to be more youth clubs open. More specifically, youth clubs that are targeted at those people who have a criminal record or have been known to carry knives or drugs.
Of course, a large amount of resposibility has to be laid on the teenagers themselves. The media can blame it on bad parenting or them having a rough childhood but in actual fact, it's their own choice to make. If they want to make something of their life, they can. That's not to say that it's they don't need a little push. When there is temptation of drugs and money, it could be hard for teenagers to make the right choice, especially with them being so vunarable. But part of what makes them vunerable is them feeling like they're alone, and there is something we can do to change that.
In my local area, and I'm sure in most, there tends to be new buildings open that are business related. Never really tackling the issue of youth clubs. The one way to increase the amount of youth centres in London is by volunteers. Parents, taking time out to help get these youngsters off the streets, because of course, no parent wants to see a child being in any type of danger. It could easily be their child.
It's not going to be easy getting them to go to a youth club, when in their eyes, they could be doing more intresting things. With that said, we can't force them to be part of a youth club either. But there are ways of increasing the probability of them going. One way that has been proven to work in many other situations is: following the crowd, or, positive peer pressure. Instead of aldults telling kids that they need to turn their life around, why not have peers tell them. We need a place where teenagers, who feel like they’re carrying this burden alone, are put with people in a similar position as them. This will not only lay down a foundation for safer streets in London, but will also build a sense of community for all young people who are struggling to be part of something. Less risk of depression. less risk of isolation and most importantly, less risk of gang crimes.
By Camay Davis Mcauley, City and Islington College
