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VideoYou are in: London > London Local > Your Stories > Video > It takes a village to raise a child It takes a village to raise a childOllie Chase More than half of UK adults believe that young people behave like animals but, in a revealing new film, young people themselves are calling for more role models and mentors to give them support and opportunities to beat youth crime. The 91Èȱ¬ is not responsible for the content of external websites The Reel Change project was developed by Tower Hamlets Summer University (THSU) and was supported by the London Youth Offer, a joint initiative of the Mayor's London Development Agency and Government. Over 100 teenage students from a variety of backgrounds created the documentary, "Hear Me Out". The film contains a series of interviews with young people about their experiences of youth clubs, prison, education and life on the streets of London.
The views of youths who've been excluded from mainstream education and those who have just come out of prison are contrasted with those taking part in positive activities such as making music and gaining experience in the police cadets. The film comes at a time when a study commissioned by children's charity Barnardo's, says that 54% of adults believe that British children are "beginning to behave like animals". Around 49% said they disagreed with the statement that young people who get into the trouble are misunderstood or need professional help. Charlotte Sharise Fletcher, who conducted interviews and scripted "Hear Me Out", says the scheme made her much more aware of the opportunities on offer outside her own borough: "There are so many projects going on for young people but there's not a lot of things like that in west London where I live. We visited a lot of good projects in south London while making the film but in west London we only seem to have things for people who've been kicked out of school. Obviously in my case that's not very useful. A lot of youth clubs have also been closed down for refurbishment but up until this day they're still not open."ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý The Reel Change project provided an opportunity for 1000 young people to take part in media courses, the making of the film or an online survey where young people were asked for their views on youth crime and improving life in London. Charlotte would like to see similar schemes implemented in her own area but she also feels there is a responsibility on young people to make the most of their lives:Ìý "There should be more investment in projects in west London and more promotion and advertising of the good initiatives that young people can get involved in like Reel Change or with organisations like Tower Hamlets Summer Uni. But I also think some young people need to sort themselves out which is an easy thing to say because not everyone is on the same level of thinking." JP is a young person who has sorted himself out. He got involved with a charity which is featured in the Reel Change film. Street Vibes is based in south-east London and provides opportunities for young people to make their own music. JP heard about Street Vibes through a friend's sister who was working as a youth worker at the time. Up until then he had spent his summer holidays hanging around the streets with his friends with little to do. They were all interested in music but didn't know where they could find an outlet for their passion. He admits he fell in with the wrong crowd at one point and would've gone off the rails without strong guidance from his parents: "Not all young people were brought up like me. My parents are pretty strict on the gang culture thing. They didn't want me to have anything to do with it. I was born and raised in the Bronx which is where a lot of gang culture started off so my mum knew what it could extend to. I think she tried to cut off a lot of that from the early days with me so my main influence has been my parents who showed me a lot of sense."ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý Charlotte also believes that parents have a major role to play in making sure their children steer clear of gangs and crime: "Sometimes young people don't have the right moral support from their families which leads to themÌý falling out of education. A lot of problems start from home" In contrast, nearly half of the adults questioned in the Barnardo's report have little time for the notion of anti social youths being misunderstood and, of course, both JP and Charlotte take exception to the accusation that young people behave like animals. In fact, JP believes that adults need to look at themselves before they start apportioning blame in other directions: "For adults to be calling young people animals is a big statement because young people get most of their influence from adults. It could be in films, watching TV, things they see on road or it could even be their parents. So really we should be talking about certain adults that are not giving young people the right advice or showing us the right way to live our lives." Charlotte thinks that many adults are labelling all young people as anti social rather than seeing the wider perspective: "I think some adults might be getting all their ideas from what they read in the newspapers. Not every young person is a thug. As our film shows there's a lot of young people doing good things, it's just a minority that messes it up for others, but that's how it is in life." This is clearly a view that makes perfect sense. When W.C. Fields made his famous quote about never working with children or animals he could hardly have envisaged a time when they would be seen as one and the same thing. You might even go as far as to suggest that it's sometimes hard to believe that adults and young people in Britain even live on the same island.Ìý last updated: 25/11/2008 at 14:46 SEE ALSOYou are in: London > London Local > Your Stories > Video > It takes a village to raise a child |
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