Children Are Our Future?

There are many people who live by the saying ‘the children are the future’, providing the best conditions for them. But has it got to the point now when the children just don’t deserve this help? Has it got to the point where the children are the future, but today is ours’? When it comes to issues such as public transport and shops in the area, a few locals in Kingston are fed up with the invasion of school children.

With buses and trains becoming more popular and under-16s having free travel, pupils use public transport widely and extensively. So much so, that the time when schools finish is the busiest and hence the noisiest. There is many a situation where the driver has to issue warnings to unruly children whilst angry voices and sighs are heard from other passengers. If residents are facing this scenario five days a week along with the major queues that occur in the afternoon, it is not hard to see why one will become fed up. Some of the solutions suggested include changing the timings of the school day, resulting in school finishing before the rush hour and everybody getting home quicker and happier. However this would interfere with the overall hours that school is open for; school would either have to open earlier, unpopular amongst students, or school would have to be open for fewer hours, unpopular amongst the public.

Public transport is not the only factor that locals are disgruntled about. Many members of the public find school hours are the ideal time to run errands such as their daily grocery shopping. These times tend to leave shops and roads empty and therefore provide a hassle-free environment. However it has become common practice for schools to allow students to leave school premises at lunch, and naturally, the students seek to purchase food from or simply visit the centre of town. This results in quite an opposite environment with crowded streets and shops. Schools could be forced not to permit pupils to leave school at break times but it is most likely that that would do no more than produce angry pupils and angrier shop owners; the profits school children provide for small businesses in town must not be overlooked.

It is important to consider the pupils’ role in this situation. Students are criticised for crowding buses uncontrollably. However, taking the bus or train home is sometimes necessary and the only means of getting home from school, particularly as relying on their parents for transport at that age would be considered spoilt. Furthermore, if pupils act on the frustration of the public by seeking other forms of transport such as the car, it will undoubtedly result in more traffic on the roads and more harm to the environment. When it comes to overcrowding in Kingston, most of the time the students are simply feeding themselves or passing the time and wish to get in nobody’s way.

Although the frustrations are just at times, the situation can sometimes be resolved with maturity from the students and tolerance from the public. At other times should these complaints be taken further? Or should the discomfort be overlooked with a resigned sigh and the words ‘the children are our future’?