History of Suicide - Public Schooling - Broken Homes - Gangs
Youth Suicide Youth suicides seems inexplicable. if ever there were a known reason for suicide, in general, we might have some insight into youth suicides. We do know that child suicides increased fourfold in the last fifty years. Looking for answers brings few, although Gabor Mate claims that peers influences carry much more weight than parental influences for child suicide. Because death as a universal must be similar all over the world, suicides are more-or-less the same all over the world. We can categorize them as horrific, honorable, brave, senseless, whatever else comes to mind. In the end, taking one's own life seems counter-intuitive. Historically, some philosophers recommended suicide as the perfect way to gain freedom from suffering. Others, like Plato, strongly disapproved of it. The Christian church would come to the same position through Saint Aquinas. After Aquinas, suicide became a mortal sin and remains so to many believers. William James, the great American psychologist and pragmatist (like Dewey and Mead), saw things in the same way, without the sin part, perhaps. For James, religion served to help protect believers from suicide. Another way to look at suicide, which I agree with, is as Immanual Kant expressed suicide in terms of the categorical imperative. There's a duty to nature as a universal law to behave as if everyone else were to behave in the same manner. Of course we can see where this leads. We would cease existence if everyone were to follow suicidal acts as a preferred form of behavior. What we know now about youth suicide comes indirectly from many sources. For certain, we need to look at historical changes in society and child rearing. We know from anthropologists that families existed thousands of years ago. They shared a part without families in clans and tribes. In these larger, closely nit social groups, children were "raised," in part, by many adults children socialized with early on. A child's parents influenced their children as now. In clans and tribes, parents were helped directly and indirectly by single adults as well as married adults. Ethics, morality, hunting and gathering were all part of a larger story shared by all. A child knew where they belonged and knew where to learn. Other children were important role models, too, although their role modeling served as child role models, not adult role models. There's a big difference between adult role models and child role models. After all, if we have only children to learn from, where would we be? From where would answers to big questions arise? What about justice, fair play, sexuality, responsibility, earning a living? Learn from a child and a child-like mind continues into the future. fodder for manipulators, thieves, and wild animals. This same logic applies today, and I believe it serves, in part, to explain increases in gang violence, bullying, and suicide. If we look to public schooling we find children mixed with children for most of their day. Their contact with adults becomes a formal sort of interaction. They interact as with one another as an adult in a formal, structured repertoire of state defined behaviors and information transactions. Children become objects of a teacher's work, rather than a subject in themselves. One with connections to known parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts, and so forth.
A home need not be a single-parent home to be broken. Many millions of home run well enough with two parents, and quite broken. This does not absolve single-parent homes from this negative phrase, though, "broken home." Those children with broken homes become latch-key children. They return from home to an empty home, or a home ran by other children. Now we see children raising children. This social environment become both succor and sustenance physically, mentally, and emotionally a child's entire source of learning. Where such homes lack what a child needs, emotional attachment to a caring, giving, present adult, mischief abides. Before long we see tens-of-thousands of children raised in such conditions. Their part in school fails them as they slowly fall behind their peers. Among those peers also slowing falling behind, like finds like. Now we have inept students role modeling for one another. Their most significant other becomes someone like themselves, under socialized, academically inept, and destined for a future rigged with personal pitfalls. Now enter gangs into this world of of unattached, inept young people. Through gangs, children find those attachments so important to being a human being. Bonding to others so close to their own intellectual and physical achievements and failures brings forth a most powerful social bonding. In fact, this bonding becomes murderous in certain situations. Giving one's life for their "homies" becomes an accepted ritual among those who have turned suicidal. There's few adults who can now turn the tide. What's done is done. If we were to save these children, social programs would not do, in most cases. Social programs gather these kids into groups not unlike a public school setting, they're now with their own, mis-handled peers. "It takes a tribe to raise a child," and in a city or county's social programs for youth, there are no tribes, only adult lead regeimes destined to organize failing, suicidal chidren into the same or similar groups from which they were removed earlier. Los Angeles, California shows this pattern of social engineering failing in many cases, but not all. Father Boyle's program for gang kids showed great success with those young boys and girls sensitive to emotaional and psychological growth; here though, resources remain a great setback. Given the wherewithall, Boyle's drive and altruism could create a tribal identity for his young followers. Now some will reject my use of this term "tribal"; for "tribal" easily applies to gang life, doesn't it? It would surely seem so. But not so, actually, tribal means old, middle-aged, and young. All ages have a place and all places have well groomed role models for children to learn the ways of their socity. Tribal settings need not be large, just large enough to portray an extended family's roles and role models for learning. Introducing learning in all of its acceptable aspects should be everyone's role, including that of children. "Each one teach one" becomes a commandment ensuring all children see themselves as care-givers, role models, and teachers. See Gabor Matel's fine book, Hold Onto Your Child for more in this vain. A visit to Orange County suicide cleanup will help with more information. Eddie Evans, Crime Scene Cleanup |
 |
|
| ©2001 Business Internet Marketing | •• |