The kids are off to boot camp

COMMENTARY

Published: 14 Jul 2012 at 00.00
Newspaper section: News

Vocational school students, like some MPs, have acquired the image of thugs. Fairly and unfairly.

It's convenient to heap on the kids prejudices about class and upbringing, though it's not hard to see how they couldn't resist the lure of violence when even our distinguished MPs sometimes practise in-session brawls, pornography browsing and chair wrestling. Certain MPs, prior to the dramatic court ruling yesterday, even called for terrorism and civil war. The country is vulnerable to agitators, and the outbreak of violence by polytechnic students seems like a manifest symptom of the disease that's crippling the body.

To rub salt into the festering wound, there's the military and their weird schemes. While the images of flower-adorned tanks and M-16s after the September 2006 coup remain disturbingly fresh, now comes another initiative from the army to cure juvenile delinquency. Since dek chang kol - my father was an alumni, so I speak with proud authority - have caused so much trouble with their gangster-like shoot-outs that often kill bystanders, the potential troublemakers next week will be sent to - take note of the name - the Special Warfare School, in Lop Buri province. If the army really doesn't know, angry vocational school students often call themselves "warriors", and their rampages against rival colleges have the sanctity of war. Shipping them off to a Special Warfare School (don't you love the name?) is like unleashing screaming kids in a candy store. The boys have used homemade grenades, and next, who knows, they'll have a chance to fondle the real ones.

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Ian Wensor
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Discussion 6 : 15 Jul 2012 at 11.076
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Boot camp should be compulsory not only for problem kids but police, bureaucrats and politicians found guilty of graft, corruption and rorting the system.
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bkkmatt
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Discussion 5 : 14 Jul 2012 at 21.155
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Boot Camp is for Discipline which for certain individuals can aonly be a positive thing.
However on the other hand angry boys are angry boys. It's in the genes so a bit of army training will give them some new fighting skills.
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jerrold
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Discussion 4 : 14 Jul 2012 at 13.284
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Deterrent CAN work, but usually isn't working at all.
This is a 'problem" ever since the sixties when a new generation of youngster were breed ed in a culture of love - peace and hate.
Rebellion against peers, parents is a "youth" teenagers thing, nothing new about that.
Fact is that in the past we could isolated drop-outs and thugs quickly indeed sending them to correctional centers, and in some cases boot camps.
Nowadays the communication technologies outscore law enforcements , parents and peers alike.
Divisions are easily made between upper and lower class students, farming s a no-go area of education , youth are pressed to compete and deliver.
Parents loose touch, in general because of a disconnected lifestyle from the world of gadgets and
smartphones.
Leaves the children on their own,basic educational institutions are performing (very) poor, not only in teaching performance but in environment as well.
All youth "want to belong" if its not at home available they find it in drugs, alcohol, disproportional behavior, or simply crime.
Upgrading teachers ability to teach, intervene and peer is one,but one should always remember that disconnecting children from the cornerstone of society - FAMILY-comes with a price
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elvis
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Discussion 3 : 14 Jul 2012 at 10.543
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Excellent article in which every letter is true. In most European countries skilled workers make more than decent money, because they are so hard to come buy. Waiting three days for a plumber to come to your house is nothing out of the ordinary. Let's hope that in the near future in Thailand too skilled workers will be just as appreciated as they are in Europe.
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rebel4ever
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Discussion 2 : 14 Jul 2012 at 07.232
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Agree: Military camps would do no good for violent vocational students. However there is a delay in dredging, building dykes against floods, making new canals... Give them a shovel and both problems solved...
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pjt
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Discussion 1 : 14 Jul 2012 at 06.271
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I understand the army is providing the facilities and training, but someone somewhere in government or the police force has decided this is a good idea. Who? How do the students get onto this programme - I doubt the army simply rounds then up and sends them? So what is the process to identify and send them and who runs it and makes that decision?
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The kids are off to boot camp | Bangkok Post: opinion