Pupils from The Cherwell School, North Oxford, invited local people and businesses into the classrooms in Marston Ferry Road to discuss ways to resolve a series of issues.And those ‘series of issues’?
It followed complaints from local people and businesses about hundreds of pupils congregating outside shops in Banbury Road, Summertown, at the end of lessons.
Police said they had received reports of large groups of children, gathering outside shop fronts. There were complaints of swearing, spitting and minor scuffles.Pretty typical, then.
But the resolution is quite unique. Also, revealing…
A group of six pupils selected by teachers were picked for the meeting with the hope they would feedback messages to their peers.In other words, they picked six representatives who they hoped would be made to realise what a poor show of themselves (and their school) they were making, and who would then convince their fellows that they were acting like hooligans.
What followed was…well, let’s have a look:
Mazen Mustafa, 15, said: “We were talking about what we could do to improve the situation in Summertown.Oh, where to start?
“It was to do with crowds of us outside shops – some people feel intimidated when they walk past.
“We said it would be good if there were some seated areas outside the shops.
“We decided respect was needed on both sides because there have been some incidents.”
First, it seems that Mazen has somewhat misjudged the purpose of this little exercise. It’s not to present a list of demands which, once settled, may result in better behaviour from the pupils, if they feel like it.
Secondly, where does the issue of ‘respect on both sides’ come in? Have the shopkeepers and their customers been hanging out in your school playground, sweating, fighting and dropping litter then?
Still, maybe he’s not typical?
Roisin Ross, 16, said: “The meeting gave them a different impression of us. They saw we were just normal people and they saw the police are on our side as well.”The police are ‘on your side’? WTF?
Max Andrews, 16, said: “If they follow through with the things we said then it will be effective.”Translation: If they meet our demands…
Naturally, this has been set up by the police as a means of ‘conflict resolution’. I forsee many ticks in many boxes for one particular sergeant:
Sgt Lis Knight*, of the Summertown neighbourhood team, who oversaw the meeting with PCSOs and teachers, said: “This is typical of all schools.So rather than grant these pupils a standing they don’t deserve, why not start issuing cautions willy-nilly?
It’s the sheer number of students coming out at 3pm in large groups dropping litter, not being very thoughtful and hanging around shop doorways.
“We have had swearing, and antisocial behaviour, spitting and sometimes it escalates. We’ve had a few minor scuffles.”
Police said the problem had died down since officers had started working with the school. It peaked in September, when they were called to the shops almost every day.Ah. Right. Because its too much like hard work….
She said: “The whole point was to bring everyone together to air their grievances, say how it affects them and come up with solutions. It has been a positive experience.”No, sweetie, it’s merely cemented in their minds the belief that adults should dance to their tune and their every whim!
So when the little darlings are screaming and spitting in your face, and demanding their rights when you next arrest one, be well aware that you’ve contributed to their overweening, undeserved self-esteem…
Shop staff pledged to talk pupils in a more ‘adult’ manner and there was talk of installing benches for them to sit on, and more litter bins./facepalm
* Yes, she does appear to have form for this sort of thing, doesn't she? Does she ever do any actual policing, I wonder?
And when you consider that the six pupils picked will have been the usual sort of goody-two-shoes teachers'-pet can-be-relied-on-not-to-goof-up-too-badly type of pupil who always get picked for stuff like this, in other words nothing like all the others it looks even worse, does it not?
ReplyDelete"Sgt Lis Knight"
ReplyDeleteDo you think she has nipples? Just wondering, that's all.
Roisin Ross is wrong: people who have no respect for other people's personal space and a sense of how to behave in public are not "normal" in my humblest of opinions.
If shopkeepers had complained to my school about kids hanging around outside shops we would have had a stern lecture about representing the school when in uniform in public, about acceptable behaviour in general and perhaps even a warning that we would be banned from the shops if the nuisance continued.
More importantly, perhaps, we would have taken note of the advice.
I didn't get as far as Dr Torrance,' Bernard admitted. 'I've been talking to a couple of the Children.'
ReplyDelete'And how did you get on?'
'I don't think "get on" quite expresses it. I was informed, lectured and instructed. And finally, I have been charged with bearing an ultimatum.'
Anyone else reminded of The Midwich Cuckoos?
You’d think the police would grasp some basic psychology. The “negotiation” is almost certainly perceived as a reward – a signifier of status - and so makes the teenagers feel self-important and entitled. Qualities that teenagers tend to have in abundance before any official flattery starts. Hence the opportunist demands for benches, deference, etc.
ReplyDeleteI live in a fairly leafy and respectable part of town but there’s still an issue with ill-behaved school kids at lunchtime. Piles of them congeal in and around the doorways of local shops and it’s easy to see how frail and elderly locals might feel intimidated. A while ago, I spied three little darlings writing on someone’s car with marker pen. They found this very amusing. I walked over, filming their handiwork with my phone camera and was met with puzzled looks. They didn’t seem embarrassed or particularly worried, just nonplussed. It seemed to actually baffle them that anyone would see fit to intervene.
A brief intimation of violence corrected that impression and they spent the next five minutes cleaning the car.
They need to install a mosquito outside of the shops.
ReplyDeleteI always thought that was a good idea.
"...here was talk of installing benches for them to sit on, and more litter bins."
ReplyDeleteAnd how's this the shop owners' responsibility? If the kids want something to sit on wherever they want I suggest they save a bit of pocket money, go to B&Q and buy a collapsible chair. Why the fuck should someone else provide? And can shops even put seating out on the pavement without contravening some elfinsaftee regulation or some law about obstruction? If I recall obstruction has been used against photographers using a tripod on the pavement, so I wouldn't bet on a garden bench or something being allowed unless sited under the careful oversight of the seating gauleiters from the local council.
"Yes, she does appear to have form for this sort of thing, doesn't she? Does she ever do any actual policing, I wonder" ?
ReplyDeleteActual Policing ? .. get real, Sgt Lis Knight obviously wants to become Insp Lis Knight .. and is going to avoid, like the plague any situation which might expose her to the kind of aggravation which could conceivably blot her copy-book ..
As for the provision of benches .. why should the shopkeepers, of for that matter .. the Taxpayer foot the bill & in the process provide the little darlings with something else on which to take out their childish frustrations ?
No .. what's required here is that the School provide at least two Teachers .. every Lunch time & Going home time to ensure good behaviour by THEIR pupils ..
obvious really- someone needs to open a snack bar with plenty of seating- make a killing from all the 'pocket money'.
ReplyDelete-Vividart
Eight quid at B&Q. Buy your own fucking seats, you whiny little bastards.
ReplyDeletehundreds of pupils congregating outside shops...
ReplyDeleteWell, if you will put 1,700 of the little bastards in one place...
When I was at school the solution to a similar problem was to stagger the chucking out times. No doubt such a scheme now would be seen as an infringement of their rights.
"large groups of children, gathering outside shop fronts. There were complaints of swearing, spitting and minor scuffles".
ReplyDeleteSounds just like my school c1970s, solved by periodic bans which hit the newsagent and bakery in the pocket.
"...when you consider that the six pupils picked will have been the usual sort of goody-two-shoes teachers'-pet can-be-relied-on-not-to-goof-up-too-badly type of pupil who always get picked for stuff like this..."
ReplyDeleteGood point!
"...we would have had a stern lecture about representing the school when in uniform in public, about acceptable behaviour in general and perhaps even a warning that we would be banned from the shops if the nuisance continued."
Ditto. And my mother's grammar school lived in fear of being called to assembly by the headmistress.
One day, it was because she'd received a report that elderly people were standing while pupils in uniform were sitting down in the only available seats...
"Anyone else reminded of The Midwich Cuckoos?"
Yes! :D
"I live in a fairly leafy and respectable part of town but there’s still an issue with ill-behaved school kids at lunchtime."
Oh, indeed, it's not confined to the poorer areas, by any means.
Maybe it's something of the herd instinct where adolescents gather in large groups and reinforce each other's sense of immunity?
"And how's this the shop owners' responsibility?"
ReplyDeleteYou aren't suggesting it's the children's responsibility, are you? Good lord, you must be some kind of monster! ;)
"When I was at school the solution to a similar problem was to stagger the chucking out times."
Perhaps they'd simply hang around waiting for their mates?
“We decided respect was needed on both sides."
ReplyDeleteZaphod's Third Law states;-
Wherever you find the word "Respect", try replacing it with "Fear". (And vice versa.)
You may not like the result, but it may increase your understanding.
Well if you incarcerate people in a building for a number of hours a day and call it compulsory education and then you let them all out at the same time how can you expect them to behave reasonably and respectfully to the free people outside?
ReplyDeleteLast poster is right, fear, scare the little bastards a bit more or keep them locked up in schools even longer, put tags on them, a few more cc tv cameras.
Will children raised this way ever learn respect? Oh well just increase the age of compulsory education then.
XX Mazen Mustafa,XX
ReplyDeleteGood old English trouble makers name.
Sais it all about the type of school it is, and where the trouble comes from really.
Yes, but respect was called for on both sides. :-)
ReplyDeleteTranslation- "If they don't have reason to fear us, then we will have to continue to fear them."
I'm not necessarily commenting on what the balance should be, but calling it "fear" instead of "respect" makes it easier to understand the problem. It eliminates the waffle about respect needing to be earned. Respect is very nebulous, but we know what fear is.
Consider the old phrase, "god-fearing". It works, doesn't it? Wherever you see "respect", read "fear" instead. It all becomes so much clearer.
"Respeck, Man"?
Zaphod, with respect, I agree, but I think it's one of those irregular verbs and goes something like this:
ReplyDeleteI respect (ie patronise) you
You respect (ie defer to ) me
They respect (ie fear) us