Blame the parents??

When it comes to bad behaviour in teenagers, it is very easy to say, blame the parents. True that bad parents often produce badly behaved children but not all bad behaviour stems from a kids upbringing. Peer pressure means a lot to a kid and in the presence of a gang, even the nicest of kids can become a raving idiot, capable of almost anything.

The latest government initiative is to increase the number of crimes that a kid is able to commit. The punishments? More of the failed ASBOs that most kids ignore anyway, and raps on the knuckles or big fines for the parents. It will not work for any number of reasons, and it is like treating a bad dose of acne by squeezing the odd zit!

Fundamentally what need tackling is the heart of the problem, and that is the nature of youth culture. Youth culture is an active and dynamic thing that changes all of the time, and is reflected in the music the way kids appear and the way in which they behave.

Unfortunately the current trends are based on, and I hesitate to say this because it sounds so bad, black youth culture. Black youth culture seems to be about non achievement, violence, incoherent RAP, and an utter disregard for any sort of authority, whether that be the law or agencies that are supposed to be there to help.

Why do so many white kids want to look as if they are black? They dress black, they walk black and they even talk black and make the same noises. Now they go around in gangs, killing each other with knives. Maybe we need to look at what it is about being black that these kids aspire to, if indeed they aspire to anything.

For years now, the education system in this country has been bending over backwards to raise levels of achievement in girls. It worked. Girls now achieve far more in educational terms than boys do. As a result though, the majority of boys see achievement as uncool, and wandering the streets aimlessly, pretending to be black and with chips on their shoulders is far easier and far more appealing. Once on this road, it is very hard to extricate oneself, and so many bright and promising kids are doomed by their own misguided choices.

Unfortunately it is leading to the development of a growing underclass that do not fit into society, and as society gives them nothing, they feel obliged to take it.

I am not a racist, I have friends of all races and nationalities, and I respect them and their cultures, but I do feel that our own culture is in danger of being subsumed by those growing in our midst. Alas the present situation gives fuel to the hideous fires of the British National Party and the idiots that represent them. It is alarming that with each election, their numbers grow. If only the kids could find a way of getting back a culture of their own, maybe the days of the BNP would be numbered.