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Looters and Rioters
A school is a microcosm of society. If we want to change the behaviour of the London rioters weshould study what happens in well-run schools.
Forchildren in their first term,the playgroundcan be afrightening experience. Teachers know this and keep a close eye on them.
Schools operate a policy of positive encouragement. Those who make an extra effort get a star,water the plants, feed the hamster, have a clap in morning assembly. Pride in oneself is the key here, knowing you can succeed if you try. (It is important to ensure everyone is good at something, even if it's not academic).
A school is a community, everyoneknows each other's name, and interacts.Ifa dosbarth (class) performs in theUrdd, the whole schoolbasks in the achievement of a win.A sense of pride in each other and team-building comes into play.
When young people leave school, a first job can benerve wracking, like going into the playground. Some offices operatea mentor policy,someone available to talkthings through with thenew employee. This is also a way of absorbing the work ethos, understanding what is expected of you.
There is no simple answer to the problem of what to dowith the rioters.
Behaviouralpsychologists say it is difficult to change ingrained behaviour and the riotershave been brought up in a culture of expectation, a 'pennies from heaven' mentality.
I would take away their mobile phones, get them off the internet, make them do somework (animal charities,perhaps) know that if they want to spend money they must first earn it.
Then a mentoring policy for the whole family might be another way of assistance. Active,retired people with experience of bringing up their own families couldbring a stability that issadly lackingat the moment.
There once was a scheme running in Swansea called 'HomeStart' which did exactly this Gill.
I spent a period volunteering in the 90's as a 'parent mentor' and the two families assigned to me were quite different - the first was with a young family where both parents were registered blind and the little toddler who was approx 21 months old, was fully sighted. A few hours a week was spent helping them with household tasks like dealing with paperwork and claiming for 'benefits'. Other times I read to the toddler and I played stimulating games with her,and the parents were able to learn from this. There was no back-up from either side of their extended family, they were on their own, coping in the best way they could, but the toddler was suffering, so that's why SS stepped in to help.
In the second a young teenager had had a baby and been kicked out of the family home by her parents. She had to withdraw from school because there was no-one else to look after her baby, so I would spend a day a week helping with building parenting skills and nurturing her self-esteem.
These two cases are a sample of a long list of 'Cases' that arrived on the desk at the HomeStart office, all of them referred by Social Services, so all of them deemed to be worthy of assistance. It appeared to me that 99% of the time the route into Social Care resulted from a breakdown in the family unit. So, the idea you propose is still sorely needed.
[It's interesting to note that there were never ever enough members of the volunteering team or paid staff on the HomeStart Project to ensure that all the 'Cases' had mentoring input! If anyone in Swansea is prepared to offer time to schemes like HomeStart/SureStart etc then I urge you to contact Swansea Council for Voluntary Services , or Volunteering Cymru ].
Hmmmmm....not sure I like that idea about getting people off the internet.....lol. But...agreed...riots have many causes and other than observing the fact that something needs to be done to prevent them I have no practical suggestions to make. Hopefully they are all over for the meanwhile.