to not see the problem with banning schoolkids from the shopping centre?

[Vintagejazz]

A friend of mine has steam coming out of her ears because her child's school has made a rule that children in uniform cannot go into the shopping centre down the road from the school. She's banging on about it being an infringement of her teenager's rights.
Personally my sympathies are with the school and the shop owners. Up until recently gangs of teenagers used to descend on the centre at lunchtime and from 4pm - pushing, shoving, shouting, tearing around and knocking into people, and daring each other to steal things. A lot of people started avoiding the place at those times, which can't have been good for business.
I imagine the school also got the brunt of the complaints from annoyed shopowners and shoppers.

So AIBU to think she should stop going on about her DD's rights, and show some sympathy for the business owners being driven demented by gangs of badly behaved school kids?

[ReallyTired]

I think is sad the nice, well behaved children have been punished for the actions of the few. Surely its possible with the use of CCTV to find and punish the hooligans who have spoilt the school's repruation. I feel that children in school uniform should be banned from going out of school at lunch time.

[Weegiemum]

If children are behaving that badly then something needs doing!

My dd1 is my only child in High School, she can go out at lunch. I work in the area, and have never encountered children from her school who weren't polite, restrained and happy to help/give you a place in the queue/carry things for you.

If schoolchildren are being obnoxious and difficult, of course they should be banned!

[LouiseAderyn]

Imagine saying that about any other group in society. For example if you said that a woman with a buggy once used it to shop lift and therefore no women with buggies were allowed in the shops.

Children are not all potential criminals or troublemakersand shouldn't be treated as such. Also after school I would view it as my business where my child goes, not the school's. And I buy the uniform so where it gets worndis also up to me.

[eurochick]

I think it's unfair too. Some local shops did this. I and my friends were well behaved. It seemed unfair that we were punished for the misdemeanours of others. And those same shops were happy enough to take our money at other times. It's a very disrespectful way to treat customers b

[Ruushii]

It's a shame to punish everyone for the sake of a few. But then equally, what else can they do if they don't have the resources to police it in other ways?

[ReallyTired]

I think the school is trying to wash their hands of any mischief their children get up to. If the chidlren are stealing in non uniform then the school will not be phoned up.

[MrsTerryPratchett]

I can see no issue with banning a whole group of people from somewhere based on a shared demographic in which some individuals act poorly. Oh, hold on, that's pretty much a textbook definition of discrimination.

Tarring all the children with the same brush is wrong. Why not do what we do with any other person who behaves badly and deal with the individual?

[funkybuddah]

It does seem unfair and shows very little faith in the kids,
however most centres are private property so they can do what they like as can individual shops.

[AmberLeaf]

I also think it is unfair.

Those that have been doing wrong could very easily be identified and dealt with, then banned.

It is wrong to punish those who do behave properly just because they are the same age as those who did wrong.

[Xihha]

YABU, banning children from the shopping center means the well behaved ones going in to get some sweets, food, something they need for school, to meet mum etc would have to go home and get changed first and will just move the problem elsewhere. Plus where I live the quickest route to the bus station is through the shopping center so it'd be a pain.

Can't the school just ban them from hanging around in groups in uniform? or tell them that any bad behaviour whilst in uniform will result in detention? I know that needs someone to tell the school who has been doing what or having someone down there checking but so does knowing who has been in the shopping center in uniform.

[Vintagejazz]

In fairness, they're not banning the kids per se. The school has simply said that they're not to go there while 'in uniform' - presumably because they're fed up having to waste time dealing with complaints about children's behaviour outside of school hours, which is really the parents' responsibility - but because they can be associated with the school that's where the complaints are directed.
The shopping centre hasn't imposed the ban - but I imagine are happy to support it as it lessens the risk of teenagers descending in droves and egging each other on to bad behaviour.

[AmberLeaf]

what else can they do if they don't have the resources to police it in other ways?

They can do what they so when a 39 year old woman causes trouble by stealing/anti social behavior.

Identify her and ban her not all other 39 year old women.

[specialsubject]

it is not discrimination because the reason for it can be changed. If the kids behave better then the ban may be lifted. I'm afraid that with kids, they do all get punished when some misbehave. Perhaps this will make them convince each other not to be thieving vandals.

they should not be in a shopping centre every day anyway, what a pointless waste of time. They need to be outside getting some fresh air and doing something productive rather than wandering round wasting time and money looking at useless crap in shops.

[OhChristHasRisenFENTON]

The school needs to take some responsibility for the badly behaved children in their school.

By banning the children in school uniform they are saying 'when you go to the town and arse around don't wear uniform'

When we were at school the very fact that we were in uniform ensured we behaved in public, on the bus etc. because we knew there would be consequences if anyone reported back to the school about our behaviour.

[CoffeeTea103]

Yanbu, there's a lovely coffee shop in my area. Kids come there in groups, loud, rowdy and bring in an unpleasant atmosphere. How do you keep policing which ones in the group are the bad ones? It's just more effort and I can see why banning all of them is a better solution. Unfortunate for the good kids though but that's too bad I guess.

[DogCalledRudis]

Yabu.
Certainly not all school children misbehave. Why they should be punished and restricted?

[Topseyt]

I can see why they have done it, but it is always a shame when a relative minority of the children have given all of the others a bad name and brought about the ban.

I would have hoped these days that with CCTV and so on it would be much easier to identify the main culprits and ban them in person.

The "not while in uniform" ban as put forward by the school is all very well, but may not work in practice. Sometimes children and parents need to go into shopping centres, supermarkets and other shops just after school, and it may not be practical to go home and change first, before coming out again.

I know I have occasionally picked my kids up straight from school and gone directly to buy new shoes or uniform, or whatever is needed. That would mean them being in the shops whilst still in uniform and I would not want either schools or shopping centre managers on my back for it.

[Jubelteen]

I agree with you OP. School kids don't need to be wandering around shopping centres during lunch break. DC went to a school where it was forbidden to leave the site at all during school hours, you took a packed lunch or had school dinners. I liked it, I had no worries about what they were doing during the day
I do think that DC should be allowed into the centre after school if they are accompanied by a parent. Otherwise they should be going home and getting on with their homework.

[Tenrec]

It's discrimination. My DC have never stolen to my knowledge. I never shoplifted as a teen (although I had a friend who did, there were some other issues around her). Limiting students to a certain number in a shop (set by the individual shops) would stop a lot of the things they might have problems with and would be less discriminatory. Most teens don't shoplift or cause problems. I think alienating teens is wrong and I know my DC are annoyed when they are followed around by the security person when in the supermarket or get told to move on when they're just hanging around.

[Vintagejazz]

Actually, I think the ban only extends to pupils not accompanied by an adult. I agree it would be unreasonable to no allow a situation where a parent is meeting a child after school and wants to bring them shopping.

[coppertop]

I would have thought it would be better for the shop owners, the police and the school to work together to identify and punish the troublemakers.

[EvansOvalPiesYumYum]

I'm also with the totally unfair brigade here! Not all teenagers are rowdy thieves, but they are all labelled the same. We have some shopping malls around here that have that high-pitched squeal that only teenagers can hear. The number of times I've taken my youngsters out to try to buy them new clothes or shoes only to be driven away because they can't stand the sound of it and the resulting headache.

They are there, trying to make a legitimate purchase, not causing any trouble at all, but they are driven away because they have been stereotyped. Absolutely makes my blood boil.

If troublemakers are present, deal with it, but not in a way that impacts on all the youngsters.

[AmberLeaf]

it is not discrimination because the reason for it can be changed. If the kids behave better then the ban may be lifted. I'm afraid that with kids, they do all get punished when some misbehave. Perhaps this will make them convince each other not to be thieving vandals

It is discrimination, beccause the majority of those being discriminated against are not doing anything wrong and realistically have no influence over those that are.

Punishing a whole group because of the actions of the minority is always wrong regardless of the common age of that group.