Heading back down to Earth for a bit with this post. Away from all the shiny, glittery bits of university and back to my hometown:
I had a pretty good childhood and my hometown had quite a lot to do with that; I went to a good school, I got good grades, I was never really in any danger and the vast expanse of countryside in one direction and Birmingham city centre just 15 miles in the other direction meant that gigs on one hand or places to just run and get lost for a while on the other were never far away.
My hometown is not very big, some people even still call it a village; it's overshadowed by it's much larger neighbour and nothing ever happens. It is possibly and probably the most insignificant, uninteresting and uninspiring place in the whole of Great Britain.
I consider myself a 'kid' of my hometown, until I moved this September I had never lived anywhere else in my whole 18 years. I am a 'Polesworth Kid' through and through.
This seems to have turned into a bit of a bad title over these past few weeks. Parents don't want their kids to be 'Polesworth Kids' anymore.
Polesworth Kids fight and swear.
Polesworth Kids get into trouble with the police.
Polesworth Kids are dangerous.
It is easy to see why people may draw these conclusions, a fight involving 100 teenagers, 7 arrests, multiple police cars and several weapons certainly does give a place a shining reputation.
But people need to start looking further than the end of their noses when it comes to forming their opinions on young people; not just the young people of Polesworth, but the young people of 21st Century Britain.
In no way, shape, or form would I ever advocate violence, I'm a pacifist through and through but how can you not expect kids of 2014 to be angry and frustrated. It almost seems that everybody wants us to fail and be unsuccessful in whatever life throws at us. Anger is now a given in youth society, which means that any problem, be it over a job, a friendship or anything in between van get completely blown out of proportion.
The vast majority of kids involved in this mass brawl were between the ages of 14 and 16. They were of school age, most of them dong their GCSEs.
We go to school. We go to school to sit exams. We go to school to have immense pressure placed upon us to succeed and pass as many exams as our tiny, tired brains can take. Yet now we go to school to sit exams with results not based on our merit and achievement, but instead based upon the whims of exam boards and government heads of education. Oh? You do history? The Education Secretary doesn't like history this week so you won't get any more than a C in that exam. What's the point trying to do well in that exam anyway? The grades are fixed so going to university is seemingly impossible and even if you do pass then there isn't a job waiting for you at the other end because there aren't any jobs left.
There is an immense amount of pressure upon young people to do well in school, to get a job or to go to university, tasks which understandably seem insurmountable as well as trying to earn a disposable income and maintain social relationships.
As I've tried to make clear, in now way am I excusing of violence, I am simply trying to offer a potential explanation as to its cause. However, the reaction of local people to this incident, in my view was absolutely abhorrent and a thousand times worse than any punches thrown by a fifteen year old.
There is a certain community Facebook group within my hometown, one which is normally filled with photos of missing pets, invites to village fetes and just general village gossip. However, in regard to this particular incident the reactions of the members of this group were absolutely disgusting. As I've said, in no way, shape or form am I a supporter of violence, but surely adults; grown, responsible citizens of society should be able to step back and suggest some alternative solution to the problem of youth violence other than community service and the death penalty, surely there should be some sort of analytical process implemented here? People aren't just angry for no reason whatsoever, and by criticising and widening the gap between 'us' and 'them' surely the problem can only be made worse? The more tensions there are and the more that young people feel isolated by their elders in society then displays of violence and revolution against the 'system', the 'system' controlled by adults, adults who seem to criticise their every action and jeopardise their future, become increasingly likely.
Don't get me wrong, if you're violent then you should be punished, and I would never be one to criticise an arrest, but surely part of the rehabilitation process should be trying to find out why the crime took place and trying to prevent similar events in the future?
I grew up in a suburb. There are hundreds, if not thousands of places similar to Polesworth across Britain. This fight in my hometown has been blamed upon an argument between friends and cross-town rivalries, but it could have been anything. It could have been a fight over a girl, a fight over lunch money, a fight over who got the last seat on the bus.
People need to start looking at teenagers not as the enemy, but as a miniature version of themselves; capable of being questioned and the vast majority of us as deserving of a certain level of respect.
I am in no way ashamed to be a Polesworth Kid. Yes, there are probably places in which it is a little more pleasant to grow up, but there is nothing wrong with the place and it is certainly not the breeding ground of violent, ASBO branded, yobs that some people would like you to believe it to be at the minute.
