School failures ‘primed bombs’

Press, 14 October 1986, Page 4

School failures ‘primed bombs’

PA Dunedin Young people were graduating as failures from the education system and entering society like “primed bombs,” a psychiatrist told the Committee of Inquiry into Violence yesterday in Dunedin.

Dr Roy Muir, medical director of Ashburn Hall, the only private psychiatric hospital in New Zealand, said future generations would regard today’s society as grossly negligent in its failure to provide adequate counselling and support for “at risk” families.

Dr Muir, a specialist in child psychiatry, said his own experience of dealing with families in trouble showed violent offending

by young people arose from childhood experiences, either direct abuse by parents or from observing parents indulging in violent acts against each other. “Violence becomes strongly associated with parents and intimate relationships,” he said. “Boys, in particular, grow up with this feeling in their bones which comes out in times of stress. “They develop feelings of powerlessness and hopelessness because they are regarded as failures by the education system. “They are primed like bombs, ready to go off in society either as individuals like multiple re-

entry vehicles from outer space, or as groups.”

Dr Muir said the forming of gangs arose because of a need to overcome feelings of inadequacy. "They then become marauding packs and feel effective for the first time in their lives.” He said that while S2 billion was spent on superannuation, only a fraction was devoted to family care. “Research has identified families at risk but not much is being done in preventative action,” he said. “I hope this committee will give our society a kick down the path of civilisation.”