Argus title : The unhappy generation
Earlier this week, the Independent newspaper ran a front page headline asking “Why are children so unhappy?”.
Ironically, on the very same day, newspapers and television news reports published a photograph of a man on Brighton sea-front, pushing a baby in a buggy towards wild seas, as huge waves crashed about them. Late night newscasters appeared to find it quite amusing.
At the same time news channels continued to publicise details of the rape and murder in Goa of a 15 year old British girl, Scarlett Keening, who last November left Britain on an extended “holiday” with her mother, her step-father and 6 siblings. Rape is reportedly the fastest-growing crime in India, but nonetheless Scarlett was left in the care of her tour operator boyfriend while her mother and siblings travelled elsewhere. She was last seen alive in the early hours of the morning drinking heavily in a bar. She reportedly told a friend she “didn’t really like” the tour operator, but was sleeping with him “because it meant she had food, transport and a roof over her head”.
The Independent’s point could not have been better illustrated. One of the key reasons our young people are unhappy is because adults don’t look after them.
The Independent’s headline referred to a quite remarkable statement by the Association of Teachers and Lecturers Teachers (ATL) which next week holds its annual conference. Continue reading