The past few months must have been the scene of many classic battle of wills between school leavers and their parents. Do children on the cusp of adulthood need their parent's permission to engage in that rite of passage - " Schoolies " week on the Gold Coast ?
The past media coverage of these events is enough to make most conservative parents react with horror. They have viewed scenes on television showing drunken young men and women cavorting on the streets. There have been warnings by the police that drugs are rife - and in particular this gathering attracts big numbers of young men well beyond school leaver age who seek to engage in sexual activity with girls made vulnerable by too much alcohol.
There will certainly be some unwanted pregnancies as a result of Schoolie's week. Many will return home with uncomfortable memories of events they would rather forget. A few physical injuries for some are inevitable - that goes with getting stinking drunk and doing crazy things while in party mood.
Statistics show that the great majority of party goers will survive with nothing worse than the odd hangover. What appears on television is usually " sensationalism ". The media go out of their way to find the extreme images that help with ratings and a surprising number of those celebrating will be conservative in their actions.
It is the parents back home who suffer the most - speculating on what horrors may be happening - and expecting the worst. To many school leavers, participating in Schoolies week is nothing more than bravado. The fact that they were " there " is some sort of badge of maturity - the " Crossing of the Rubicon " that marks the first step on a new, adult life.
In many an Australian household there will be different outcomes. Some parents load their teenager up with alcohol and money - and send them off to have a good time. Others will lower the boom and totally forbid it. There will be tears and tantrums - and some may even defy their parents and go anyway.
Pubs and clubs on the Gold Coast will look forward to super profits over the coming weeks as kids from one state go home - to be replaced with others from a different school time zone. Ordinary citizens will shudder at the disruptions to their lives - and the police will shake their heads at the stupidity they encounter - night after night !
We had better get used to it - because there are no signs that anything is about to change !
No comments:
Post a Comment