Rage in SA: What has gone wrong?

You now time and again, when I read about how kids find school unsafe, I wonder what in the hell is going on in this country. I can’t believe I’m going to say this but here goes. When I was back in school, such things would never happen. The worst that would happen would be that after school would be after school. Basic translation being that someone was being threatened to get beaten up but half the time would just run away.

This whole bring a gun, a knife, to school is just getting out of hand. What are kids of today defending themselves from? Since when have school become a military ground? Have the lax laws contributed to the demise of security at schools?

The fact that there’s no corporal punishment at home and at school has maybe contributed to this. Kids know that teachers are toothless dogs lately. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not all for beating kids up since there’s a thin line between corporal punishment and abuse, but knowing that doing wrong has repercussions has led most of us along the right path. Knowing that when you do wrong you will have someone to answer to, usually led one to seriously think twice before doing wrong. This knowledge alone was enough.

Now kids know that the worst that would happen when they do wrong, or worse stick a knife into one of their peers’ necks, is that they will not be allowed to play PlayStation for a month! Wow — the thought of that would definitely make me behave!

I truly do wonder where we have gone wrong. We now even have the threat of the Scorpions being disbanded, surely for the self protection of ANC members who did wrong. It’s almost as though as a country we feel it is OK for people to do wrong and for there not to be any repercussions.

Then we wonder why there’s so much crime. Criminals always get just a slap on the wrist, kids are stabbing one another, left right and center and they are protected by law. There’s always a loophole. Teachers are raping the young, the story gets plastered in the newspapers and we never hear about them again! Why are we such an angry nation?

I wish I had answers to these questions because it would make watching another cell phone recorded brutal fight between kids make all that much more sense.