Robin’s ‘weak generation’doesn’t add up

Senator Robin Padilla calls today’s youth “weak.” Apparently, they are crybabies, addicted to social media, and all too familiar with words like depression.

Yet the same senator has long advocated for lowering the age of criminal liability — and, following the Tacloban school shooting, he has renewed that call.

Which is it, senator?

Are Filipino children weak or are they dangerous enough to be treated like criminals at 10 years old?

In recent weeks alone, the country has witnessed a school shooting in Tacloban, multiple student stabbings in Cavite and another knife attack in Negros Occidental. These incidents show that young people are not weak. Many are angry, troubled, neglected, failed by the adults around them.

These incidents deserve serious attention. But they do not support the argument that young people are weak. If anything, they point to deeper problems — bullying, untreated trauma, behavioral issues, mental health struggles and failures in intervention.

Ironically, these are the same issues often dismissed when young people speak about depression.

If children are committing increasingly violent acts, perhaps lawmakers should first ask why schools lack counselors, why bullying persists and why warning signs are missed.

It is easy to call kids weak. It is harder to admit that the adults may be the ones failing them.

--- Jason Mago

Don’t blame the kids

After every crime involving minors, the public searches for someone or something to blame. Video games. Social media. The Juvenile Justice Law. The parents, even the children themselves.

Long before a child steps into a classroom, makes friends, or picks up a cellphone, their home was their first classroom. Values are taught there. Respect is learned there. Violence is witnessed there.

Children do not leave firearms lying around the house. If a gun is within reach of a minor, responsibility lies with the person who made it accessible.

The same goes for behavior. A child who grows up hearing insults, seeing intimidation and experiencing abuse learns that power begets fear. A bully is rarely born one. More often, it is behavior copied from the adults who shaped that child’s world.

This is not an excuse for crimes committed by minors.

Accountability belongs to everyone involved, including the child where the law allows it. Accountability, however, does not stop with the offender.

Parents and guardians cannot be left out of the conversation every time tragedy strikes. They are the first line of discipline, supervision and guidance. When the foundation collapses, society ends up having to deal with the consequences.

Before rewriting the law, perhaps we should start by rebuilding the home.

— Carl Magadia

Parental guidance advised

A drowning in Aurora. A shooting in Tacloban. Stabbings in Cavite and Negros Occidental. Sexual abuse in Parañaque. They have one thing in common: they all involve schools.

The country is facing an education crisis — but not just one of quality. We are no longer talking only about learning outcomes, teacher shortages and overcrowded classrooms. It now extends to the students’ safety.

How can parents feel secure sending their children to what is supposed to be their second home? Responsibility rests on many shoulders — the government, school administrators and teachers. But it begins at home.

Children are children; they are still learning. Parents are supposed to teach, guide and be present for them. Schools are supposed to educate, supervise and protect. The government is supposed to provide the resources, policies and support necessary for both students and teachers to thrive.

When any of these pillars fail, children pay the price — and now they are.

Some lawmakers are again pushing to lower the age of criminal responsibility to 10.

The problem is not that children are becoming criminals. The problem is that too many are growing up in environments where violence, abuse and neglect are all too familiar.

A 14-year-old who fires off 33 bullets is not only deeply alarming — it is a clear warning that something is fundamentally wrong with the environment in which that child is growing up.

The answer is not to treat children as adults, but for adults to start acting like adults. Parents must be present. Schools must be accountable. Government must be responsive.

Because the truth is uncomfortable — most of the failures of children begin with the failures of the adults around them. — Vivienne Angeles