Reasons of Juvenile Delinquency [Archives:2000/45/Focus]

archive
November 6 2000

Ismael Al-Ghabri,
Yemen times
Delinquency is a socially harmful behavior runs against interests of the state and people. This is the simplest definition of delinquency.
Education professors confirm that the educational process can not fulfill its goals within the frame of school or of the house alone, but by integrated interaction among the home, school and outer community. It is of no doubt that the first lessons in education a baby could have are from the home, and the child gets affected by the parents, brothers and sisters and the relatives. Then the child starts school, which participates greatly in the childs education and prevents a great deal of deviation.
Although the school is a social establishment, responsible of teaching and educating the child, there has to be a level of cooperation between the school and the parents to make the process of education prosper and the child becomes an active member in the society.
We see some parents give up their responsibilities towards their children and leave it all to the school. this is a terrible mistake, because the school will never be able to replace the parents in the childs heart and mind who will become the victim of this negligence especially for younger children whom the early stages of their lives represent the corner stone in their education.
Teachers, psychologists and thinkers are all busy analyzing factors leading to juvenile delinquency, and they all call to bring up children in decent ways to prepare people who will serve the community. At the early ages of the their lives, juniors start discovering the contradictions of life that will eventually affect their behavior and ways of thinking for the rest of their lives.

The family
Members of the family are the first teachers and the house is the first school for the child.
A child starts imitating his parents words and actions then those words and actions become deeply rooted in him then he starts using them. That is why the parents should be extremely cautious of what to say and do in front of their children.
Children start learning whats right and whats wrong at early stages of their lives, thats Why they should be rewarded for the good things they do and punished for the bad things. Children lost one or two of their parents without having someone who can teach them and take care of them will grow without having the sense of responsibility. Even those who have parents, but one or both of parents have to stay away for long times will grow without that sense of responsibility.

School
This is the second stage of the childs life. The child at this stage is affected by different behavior patterns, from the teachers and other students. The child picks what suit behavior habits he learnt before from his parents. He may also pick up other patterns of behavior that he finds appealing.
The newly acquired patterns stay with the child for a long time, and no doubt some of the most important patterns are those he receives from the teachers like respect, discipline and obedience.
The teachers role at this stage is to guide, encourage and help the child to move in the right direction. The parents at this stage should keep monitoring the child and encourage him to move in the right direction too. Cooperation between the school and the parents is essential at this stage, since parents and teachers are required to give similar patterns to the child.

The street
It is an unquestioned fact that various types of people can be found on the streets and if the child gets mixed with the wrong type of people, he could get deviated from the right direction especially if he wasnt monitored closely by the parents and had a weak religious and ethical foundations. One more reason why the streets seem sometimes appealing to a child and that is the absence of the restrictions he could find in his house.
Again we stress on monitoring the child, to be able to deal with any sign of misbehavior and not leave it to grow and be a big problem that is hard to be dealt with in the future.

Economic Conditions
Bad economic conditions could lead the father to ask his son to work to help cover some life burdens. This child who was forced to work and leave school at an early stage of his life could mix with delinquents who teach him to get money illegally by stealing or begging. Immigration from the country to big cities could have negative effects on the childs psychological health due to mixing with people who have different attitudes and behavior patterns.

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