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?

So if I were to give my DD a couple of quid to go into the shops after school to get X, Y and Z which I needed, that wouldn't be possible. Great idea to make life harder for working parents who are trying to teach their teens to help a bit around the house.

Blanket bans are always wrong. Blanket requirements for doctors' certificates on Mondays and Fridays are also wrong, employers know who the skivers are and should be going through the usual capability processes to pull them up on it, not making everyone else's life difficult.

I agree it is totally unreasonable and discriminatory.

Evans

My friend asked the school for the reasoning behind this and was told that the school Principal and secretary are spending an unreasonable amount of time dealing with phone calls and emails complaining about the behaviour of pupils from their school. It's taking away time from other things they need to do. I can honestly see their point of view, but my friend just can't. She's really annoyed.
There's a canteen in the school plus the option to bring in a lunch with you, as far as I know.

"I know it's not always fair, but it happens throughout life. It's often the only practical way to deal with a situation. There are many irritating rules and regulations that we all have to abide for, which were really only introduced to curb the behaviour of an irresponsible minority"

so if a shopkeeper had noticed a couple of say, black shoplifters, it would therefore be reasonable to stick up a sign saying 'no blacks' would it?

Sorry but no, a blanket ban on a certain group of individuals is not on if that group contains innocent people.[Quote]

I agree that if, for instance, a bus company just banned all schoolkids, that would be crazy.
But in this case it is the school who has imposed the rule. The shops haven't banned the pupils.

like those pubs around Victoria that were putting up signs saying 'no deaf people allowed' - anyone remember that?

so if a shopkeeper had noticed a couple of say, black shoplifters, it would therefore be reasonable to stick up a sign saying 'no blacks' would it?[quote]

Of course not. But no one has put up a notice in their shop banning anyone. This is a school issue, as I've outlined above. I've no doubt that many shopowners and shoppers are relieved by it, but they're not the ones who've imposed it.

actually if it is the school who have imposed the rule then it is kind of different

x-post

My school did this to us because of shoplifting. If we had a special reason to go shopping after school ie present buying we had to bring a note saying so.

I think the ban lasted about a year and was a bit of a pain, but we soon found new places to hang out.

This happened to me as a teenager. My school had a bit of a reputation for being rough, and this culminated with all pupils being banned from several local shops whilst we were in out school uniforms (obviously they couldn't police it at the weekends or in the holidays etc).

My friends and I were perfectly well behaved kids who'd done nothing wrong as were many other pupils at the school but we were all unfairly tarred with the same brush.

Should probably mention here that my school was the type that banned you from walking more than 2 abreast in uniform too.

If i was a teenager, i'd do anything to hide my uniform -- wear an overcoat or something. At school i really did have a nice thin windbreaker which could be neatly folded into the size of a small umbrella.

They should install one of those mosquito sound thingies. They emit a high pitch noise which adults can't hear but which irritates teens and so discourages them from hanging around certain places.

All seems a bit daft. Surely the school can't enforce this anyway after school hours?

That's not a bad thing, though, Bunny. Your school was taking responsibility for the behaviour of the pupils.

When I was at school in the 70s, we weren't allowed out for lunch unless we had a note.
My own youngsters were not allowed out of their school for lunch, they either had a packed lunch or bought at school. School doors were locked and exit forbidden unless for a genuine reason, and responsible adult had to sign them out.

I think, Vintage, your friend's school is trying to relinquish its responsibility because the staff are too lazy and can't be bothered to deal with the complaints. Perhaps your friend could suggest to them that the youngsters are not allowed out at lunchtimes, but they have no right to prevent the teenagers from going into the shopping centre after school, whether in uniform or out of it.

Maybe a reminder to the pupils from the Head Teacher that whilst in uniform they are ambassadors of the school and should behave accordingly, miscreants will also be dealt with accordingly.

(But they still should not be banned from the centre).

My dd's old school did this. We received a letter saying something very similar - could parents support the school to go straight home and not to the shops, etc. I wrote back and noted that once the school day was over, the school had no jurisdiction whatsoever over where my daughter went on her way home and if she decided to stop off in Starbucks or pick up some stationery to help with her homework from the local shopping centre she had my permission so to do. I invited the school to telephone me to discuss if they had a problem with that - funnily enough they didn't call me. I might also have put something in about raising issues of behaviour directly with the families whose girls were causing issues and dealing with poor behaviour effectively; because if I knew who the culprits were, then I was sure the school did too.

WestieMamma - NNNNOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!! I posted on this very thing earlier. They are truly awful. Equally discriminatory - well-behaved youngsters are not able to legitimately shop or move around freely. Bloody dreadful things.

I'd like to see them try and enforce thus so-called rule. Outside school time, not their business.

It's just common sense to ban all schoolkids if statistically they are more likely to be a problem.

We should ban black people from shops and other public areas using the same argument.

Oh wait though. That would be an ignorant decision that no decent person would approve.

BackOnlyBriefly

The shops aren't banning anyone.

The mosquito things sound terrible. How would the poster recommending them like it if the local mall started emitting a high pitched noise to keep people her age away?!

The school have got it arse about face. They should not be banning children from doing stuff while in uniform, they should be coming down like a tonne of bricks on children who bring the school into disrepute by misbehaving in uniform.

We used to get detention for being seen in the street without a correctly tied tie, let alone stealing.

The school has banned them.

If we think it makes good sense then it also makes good sense to ban other groups.