RE: Children and teenagers behind half of London knife crime, police figures reveal
We have to understand that these children’s lives are different, according to Chief Superintendent Ade Adelekan in the Evening Standard (4 February 2019).
Thisweek as he sought to provide the statistics about those boys who were eithermurdered or murder other young boys. He painted a picture of young boys fromblack and ethnic minority backgrounds, some for poorer communities and all whohave been attracted to gangs because they are excluded from school, have nosignificant role models at home or have often moved from place to place. Inorder words – lonely, stressed, vulnerable and angry children looking for asense of belonging where people care and nurture them (even if it is to rob andkill).
I was unsurprised by the descriptions, but it left me furious because we as a society have failed these children. Listen as he warned us that:
“We cannot enforce our way out of this; prevention and intervention is key”
He is right. The long-term answer is early intervention and it starts in the womb. We have a continual flow of national and international research which points this out. From Mayor Giuliani’s theories of broken windows, economic findings from Professor James Heckman, to the Glasgow Violence Reduction Unit set up by John Carnochan and Karen McCluskey, the answer is consistent; invest in their Early Years.
Themost important learning in preschool education builds aspiration, motivation,socialising and self-esteem and encourages and develops mastery. Without this,successful schooling and adult learning is unlikely. Clearly, those children withhome lives that present them with unremitting challenges (as described by theInspector) would have benefitted from this.
Instead,we have the opposite happening. Early intervention is merely a mirage as wewatch children centres close, nursery education remains underfunded andrecruitment continues to be challenging – all for lack of investment. Worsestill is the number of nurseries in poor neighbourhoods closing because theycannot make ends meet – locking out those very children and their parents fromnurseries at a time when good quality education could really impact their livesfor the better. Instead, we have shortcuts through early entry to primary educationwhich is not a suitable alternative to the distinct and fundamental phase ofeducation we call nursery.
Children are the litmus test of our society and right now we are ignoring the findings. When are we going to wake up and recognise our combined responsibility to look after our children? Nelson Mandela observed that there can be no keener revelation of a society's soul than the way in which it treats its children. I suspect if we look into ours we may not like what we see.
