Bonnie Greer on Any Questions on Radio 4 today moved me very much when she spoke about youth crime. She spoke of schemes in her native Chicago, which focus on the fact that the great majority of gang members aren't what we might call villains. They harness the skills and energy those young people have, redirecting them into positive outlets. I was wondering why we don't do this already, when almost psychically she hit the nail on the head: "We hate our young people," she said. We - that's to say adults - fear them, mistrust them, and expect the worst from them. Berating young people is a national pastime. And we wonder that they feel excluded and misunderstood?
But hang on. Obviously not all kids are gang members or hoodies, so perhaps we might say it's hoodies specifically that we hate. They're the ones that cause the trouble after all. As a society, surely we're much nicer to better behaved kids? The higher achievers? The ones that don't bunk off school to go shoplifting from the age of 11?
Well, I'm not so sure. I noticed too that on the same program, there was the A-level results issue. Every year results get better; every year the cry goes up that A-levels are too easy, standards are slipping etc etc. That's not exactly expecting the best from those kids either, is it?
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