Quick march back to old-style discipline

Fed-up with the antisocial behaviour of feral youths in his neighbourhood, Mev Brown thinks he has the answer

On Monday last week I saw a kid, no more than 11 or 12, rush up to a No. 7 bus departing from the Gracemount bus stop. The driver stopped and opened the door to let the kid on.

The kid then gave the driver a pile of verbal abuse together with repeated single fingered salutes.

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This was all to the applause and cheers from his gang of wee pals.

On Thursday afternoon last week the staff at the local Co-op had yet another confrontation with teenagers and the police were called for assistance.

Anybody who has been on the upper deck of a Lothian Bus late at night will be familiar with the type of behaviour and language which can be expected from the ubiquitous teenagers that will be found at the back of the top deck.

And nobody ever says anything.

I suspect this is the reason the new buses can lock the upper deck to stop access.

Of course, if an adult doesn't ignore this type of behaviour or language and actually steps in, they will be the one that ends up in the dock, in the hospital or, in extreme cases, in the morgue.

Many will recall Labour MSP Helen Eadie's demand for something to be done after she was attacked in her car by 60 hooded hooligans in her Fife constituency in 2006.

It seems we are still waiting.

Indeed, the policy seems to be to ignore the problem, to let the public live with and work round the issue and to accommodate, rather than address, youth antisocial behaviour.

MSPs, no doubt, keep out of the dodgy areas in their constituencies after dark.

Which is more than their unfortunate constituents can do.

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With the passing of each year, this "solution" gets harder to live with.I recall a conversation with a retired primary school headmistress a few years ago.

She told me that when she started teaching, a primary school teacher would expect a five-year-old coming into primary one to have a vocabulary of around 500 words.

When she retired as a headmistress, in her school, it had dropped to less than 100 words.

If the foul language was discounted, the children's vocabulary would be less.

The sad fact is that during her career the number of children living with parents with drug or alcohol abuse problems constantly increased and has now reached a staggering one in six.

The term "feral children" made it into the political lexicon during the previous Labour administration and accurately reflects the degree and scope of this unaddressed problem.

Can anything be done to address this problem?

Kids push boundaries, it's part of growing up.

If struggling parents can't or won't define boundaries, there is only one, radical solution.

My view is that we need a new form of academy - the Military Academy.

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Daily life would be structured, varied, challenging, rewarding and, yes, disciplined.

The main goals of the military academy would be to promote self-discipline, academic study, athletics, personal development and good citizenship.

This can be best achieved by enhancing the existing education curriculum with military discipline, coupled with scheduled extra- curricular activities including sports, with a mix of compulsory and optional activities in a range of non-academic subjects.Cadets will be taught the value of citizenship, independence, leadership, service to the community, personal responsibility and gain a sense of accomplishment, while instilling self-esteem, teamwork and self- discipline.

The days would be long and rigorous.

On completion of their time at the military academy, cadets will be fully prepared for a full, active and rewarding life within mainstream society.

To fail these children would be to abandon them to be the next generation of NEETs (Not in Education, Employment or Training) or worse, a life wasted on benefits or crime.

Many recognise that parents can be a major factor in youth antisocial behaviour.

I agree.

With this in mind, a key component of the military academy would be that, if deemed appropriate by the courts, parents and siblings would also be accommodated on the military academy campus so they, too, could benefit from the regime.

This will provide the academy staff with an opportunity to help develop good parenting skills with parents, as well as addressing pertinent issues relating to the parents themselves.

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For potential "recruits" coming to the attention of the police, there could be provision for a short "summer camp" so that the potential recruits and their families could gain first-hand experience of life on the military academy campus.

This may in itself be enough to encourage many parents, with the assistance of their local council, to improve their parenting and for their children to change their antisocial ways.

There will be those who will say this policy will not work.

I would say just because the current crop of elected parliamentarians couldn't make it work it doesn't mean to say that it can't work.

I have no doubt many of our MSPs are full of good intentions. But, the parliament does seem to be long on excuses and short on results.

Indeed, it never ceases to amuse me how our delinquents can outwit, manipulate and outmanoeuvre the policies from our political elite to their personal advantage.

We need politicians who can match wits with our delinquents and win. Then, and only then, will we witness a more civil society.

And, if this policy was to be adopted, it would seem only fitting that the first academy should be called the Gracemount Military Academy.

Mev Brown will be standing as an independent candidate at next year's Scottish Parliament elections

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