Coming to a Crèche near you.
I was reminded today of the 2008 Barnardo’s Poll which caused such a hypersensitive outcry in the Guardian – of Henry Porter leaping to the defence of the ‘imaginary’ 50% of children who were ‘responsible for most crime in Britain’ by pointing out that it was only 12% in reality…..that’s OK then.
Or Sam Allen in more recent days reminding readers that her community had “people who, if they are silenced, will act in a way that will ensure they will be heard.”
In Houston, Texas, parents are clamouring for metal detectors to be installed in a kindergarten – the authorities say they can’t afford it; they already have metal detectors and all available police officers deployed at the junior and middle schools.
Why? A six year old boy packed a loaded semi-automatic pistol along with his fizzy drink and monster munchie pack and trotted off to kindergarten – during ‘play time’ he managed to shoot himself in the foot – and two other pre-school children – whilst they were eating lunch.
“School security and national security experts say the rarity of such incidents among younger students make spending limited resources on such things as metal detectors impractical.”
Naturally, the six year old has been ‘disciplined’ – he has been expelled from the school, only for a year, proportionate response etc., etc. – and sent to a different kindergarten!
Lacy Becerril, whose 6-year-old son Carlos was in the cafeteria at the time of the shooting, said she thinks the school district should reconsider its decision. “I’m not satisfied. The boy wouldn’t have been able to take the gun into class if he had passed through a metal detector. They would have caught him right then and there,” said Becerril, 29, a patient care technician. (Is that what used to be a ‘nurse’? Ed.)
It is not the first such recorded incident – in January, a 5 year old bought a loaded gun into a Florida school; previously a third grade student managed to get a hand gun past metal detectors in another school.
“Experts say more effective prevention efforts include working directly with parents and students on gun safety, better training of faculty and staff and building better trust between teachers and students.”
Not a single word in all three articles that I could find about parental responsibility to make sure the little shavers don’t get their hands on a gun in the first place – just ‘better gun safety’; ‘better staff training’.
Armed six year olds, ensuring their ‘voices are heard’ – is this the future we have to look forward to?
UPDATE: And today – a two year old has shot his Mother dead…….
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April 25, 2011 at 09:23 -
“Not a single word in all three articles that I could find about parental responsibility to make sure the little shavers don’t get their hands on a gun in the first place…”
Parental responsibility? That’s so 50s of you, Anna!
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April 25, 2011 at 09:37 -
Yeah, I know. Mea culpa.
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April 25, 2011 at 09:51 -
Prompted by their members, even the unions are sitting up and yapping:
“Teachers’ leaders blame parents for bad behaviour. Chris Keates of the NASUWT said: ‘Teachers are not receiving the support they need from parents, school leaders or government to assist them in maintaining high standards of pupil behaviour.
‘Parents can’t simply abandon their responsibilities at the school gate.’”
Why not? The glorious comprehensive educational system that replaced those outdated elitist grammar schools and vocational colleges is now seen as little more than a state-provided childminding service…
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April 25, 2011 at 10:01 -
But parents are not to be trusted, only professionals who have been vetted by the government and have a piece of paper to prove that they’ve never been caught are deemed safe. You can’t have it both ways – either the parents are to be trusted and responsible or they have to be checked by state officials to make sure all the appropriate boxes are ticked.
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April 25, 2011 at 10:02 -
The unions and their socialist freinds called for the relaxation of discipline at schools, and are now reaping the rewards. They seem unable to connect the relaxation of discipline in schools with their previous policies. Perhaps it is now time to re-introduce strict discipline, dress sence, and manners into school life. Maybe even to re-introduce corporal punishment as a last resort. No more pussyfooting around, teachers tell pupils that teachers are in charge, and pupils do what they are told. If they do not like it, it will hurt. If the parents do not like it, they can take their offspring somewhere else. Of course if the parents can not find a school to accept their children, they could be up before the courts for failing to provide their children with an education.
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April 25, 2011 at 13:29 -
Spot on. The cane never hurt anybody.
Can we also bring back suitable chastisement and stocks in place of ASBOs.
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April 25, 2011 at 10:31 -
……Start them young, get them in the beating line by 6 years old.
Aged 7 explain that Father Christmas only brings that first air rifle to children who know this poem off by heart.
A Fathers AdviceIf a sportsman true you’d be
Listen carefully to me. . .Never, never let your gun
Pointed be at anyone.
That it may unloaded be
Matters not the least to me.When a hedge or fence you cross
Though of time it cause a loss
From your gun the cartridge take
For the greater safety’s sake.If twixt you and neighbouring gun
Bird shall fly or beast may run
Let this maxim ere be thine
“Follow not across the line.”Stops and beaters oft unseen
Lurk behind some leafy screen.
Calm and steady always be
“Never shoot where you can’t see.”You may kill or you may miss
But at all times think this:
“All the pheasants ever bred
Won’t repay for one man dead.”Mark Beaufoy – 1902
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April 25, 2011 at 10:01 -
“…during ‘play time’ he managed to shoot himself in the foot…”
Have we identified a politician of the future?
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April 25, 2011 at 10:10
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April 25, 2011 at 10:11 -
Julia: it starts way before the comprehensives. I volunteered in a school working with two classes – one 6 to 7- year-olds, one 8 to 9 – and quickly realised the purpose of school was largely not to educate, it was to civilise the little would-be darlings. Without effective discipline, believe me, it was almost impossible. Effectively, it boiled down to an exercise in crowd management, and the parents were not interested in any meaningful co-operation in the civilisation exercise. What happened in school was not their problem, but rest assured it would never be their child that was the problem (as if…)
Anna, I fear you may be right about this being our future, but at least it’s more difficult in UK to get hold of guns. Maybe we can anticipate knife wielding hooligans at SureStart.
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April 25, 2011 at 10:59 -
Gladiolys — “the purpose of school was largely not to educate, it was to civilise the little would-be darlings”.
Totally agree… the “little darlings” are all born as ANIMALS, and it’s down to parents, teachers, etc to turn them into civilised PEOPLE. But modern thinking isn’t capable of recognising it. Too bound up in talking about “rights” without considering the responsibilities.
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April 25, 2011 at 11:14 -
Agree with you, lenko. It’s not only parents and teachers. We should also be doing it as communities (I can remember getting right mouthfuls as a young so-and-so from neighbours if I was behaving badly), but we’ve been scared off by the threat of police investigations and have retreated behind our front doors.
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April 25, 2011 at 11:03 -
What would Darwin say? This is just (un)natural selection – let all “the cheeldren” have guns and knives – the strongest will survive.
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April 25, 2011 at 11:10 -
Shame the strongest may also be the most stupid.
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April 25, 2011 at 11:17 -
Or the quicker on the draw!
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April 25, 2011 at 22:05 -
Not necessarily. We didn’t get to rule the planet by brute strength alone. Intelligence must be naturally selected for. So if it is straight law of the jungle I wouldn’t put it beyond the school nerds to come out on top.
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April 25, 2011 at 11:16 -
Firearms are already a way of life for many under-10s in our ghettoes; because they’re under the age of criminal responsibility, older gang members use them to carry and store firearms, and of course in so doing they gain familiarity with the weapons. Just be wary of that scowling eight year old on his BMX bike; disrespec’ him and you could be looking at the wrong end of a MAC10.
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April 25, 2011 at 11:53 -
The day will come when you need to go on a course and pay the state a fee in order to ‘qualify’ as a parent. If you do not go on the course and pay the fee your children will be removed for their ‘protection’ and raised in a state institution.
I do not know if this will happen in 10/20/30 years time, but it will happen.
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April 25, 2011 at 12:58 -
Of course, the state has a pretty dire record as a parent, just look at the statistics for what happens to children in care.
If it was purely a numbers game, we’d let families adopt these children with the minimum of red tape. Some would be unlucky and end up with perverts or violent people, but I suspect it would be less than we get at the moment through the lack of care by the state.
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April 25, 2011 at 15:57 -
The assumption is always that the state makes no mistakes. At worst an individual acted improperly, or worst worst, new procedures are required. So a private solution will never be acceptable, since any flaws will be considered to be judged against perfection, even if that perfection is imaginary.
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April 25, 2011 at 14:53 -
“Not a single word in all three articles that I could find about parental responsibility to make sure the little shavers don’t get their hands on a gun in the first place…”
Er, doesn’t the following cover that?
“Experts say more effective prevention efforts include working directly with parents…”
Just saying
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April 25, 2011 at 17:33 -
Kids today aren’t what they were. I used to collect unexploded incendiary bombs.
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April 25, 2011 at 19:53 -
Boys will be boys!
I cannot help but wonder if the little tyke would not have been just as happy taking a plastic toy gun to school, but of course toy guns are too dangerous and they are no longer available to curious tykes. It could easily be argued that politically correct gibberish caused this incident and a pc detector should be mounted at the schools entrance to keep “modern teachers and administrators” out.
That does not argue against the obvious need for parental accountability and sensible gun storage.
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April 25, 2011 at 22:40 -
Meanwhile they get upset about checks on children at airports…
http://articles.latimes.com/2011/apr/19/news/la-trb-tsa-patdown-child-20110416
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April 26, 2011 at 02:08 -
But are not a lot of parents females. Not only but ‘single mums’ who are of course saints. Surely you would not dare to criticise them.
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April 28, 2011 at 06:08 -
Me being brought up in such an ultra strict and quite indeed, fifties fashion, I always attributed my nerves and shyness and complexes to it, blaming it for many things. Then again, on the other hand…
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