Moderator:

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for allocating your time on our Student Forum
at Dewan Bestari, Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Seri Melur. We are here to listen for
a few opinions on the increasing crime rate among school children.

Ladies and gentlemen, let us think of this situation, you are happy that your child
is going to school and studying well. But one day, the child comes back with few marks
on his body. When you ask how it happened, the child said that somebody has beaten
him in the school. This painful and dreadful act is called school violence and it is
creating a lot of trouble among pupils.

We are proud to be here today to share and gain knowledge on what is the
factors that increase crime rate among school children. I would like to introduce our
panel for today’s forum. On my right is Mr. Mohd Hisham, the president of Bumi Hijau
Society, Miss Nasrah who is the president of the English Language Society, is just
beside him, Well on my left is Miss Faezah who is the president of the School Prefect
Board and Miss Rozilah who sitting beside her is the president of The Girl Guide. They
will be sharing their opinion on these matters and what actually cause the crime rate.

Mr. Hisham, in your opinion, what is the main cause that increased the crime rate
among school children?

Speaker 1:

Thank you Miss Zashila. There are many reasons that might become the factors
that increase the crime rate among school children. The main reason on the increasing
crime rate among the school children is due to lack of parental guidance to the children.
Parents become increasingly busy with their job and don't spend enough time with their
children. They don't have time to talk to them, listen to them, know their problems and
simply don't know their children enough. As a result children don't get enough attention
they need and deserve so they turn to anti-social behavior in hope it will eventually
alarm the parents and remind them of their existence after being notified by the
teachers, even if the kids have to deal with negative consequences afterwards. Lack of
proper parental guidance is a main contributory factor for disciplinary behavior among
children. The communication gap between parents and their children may be due to
many parents being young and ill-prepared for parenting. On most occasions, students
with rude behavior come from little supervision backgrounds where they receive at
home. Many parents didn’t recognize that most students misbehave to get attention. I
think, parents should communicate more with their children because this approach can
be an effective measure to solve the problem. Parents have to understand their children
before addressing their problems. I believe that many parents seldom interact with their
children on matters of relationships . Parents didn’t recognize the changes from
childhood and try to find out the issues that might be affecting them. Parents cannot
enlighten their children when they do not have the knowledge, they failed to connect
with their children and that is the reason they cannot solved the children problem. This
communication gap, has allowed the children to venture into various types of negative
behavior. Therefore, parents should be more alert of their children to prevent these
matters to arise.

Moderator:

Thank you Mr. Hisham, that was really great ideas on factors that increased the
crimes rate among school children. How about you Miss Nasrah, do you think of any
other factors that you think should be the most to raise the crimes rate among them?

Speaker 2:

Thank you Miss Moderator. I agreed with the opinion that increasing of crime rate
among school children could be due to lack of parental guidance. But, in my opinion, the
most increased factors are due to a major cause of indiscipline among children. I feel
that all schools must have sports, environmental and other clubs to channel students’
negative energy into positive and productive behavior. Schools, irrespective of their
track record in discipline, should institute a mentoring programmed. This will not only
ensure that there are disciplined students in schools, but also play a vital role in building
their self-esteem. The behavior displayed by the children at school is quite the opposite
of the one they show when at home. I propose that all class teachers should have
clearly established rules governing students behavior, penalties for the various kinds of
mistakes and the rules must be rigidly enforced by the teachers.
The Ministry of Education recently instituted several interventions to address the
problem of indiscipline in school. These include the placement of Guidance Counselors
in schools where the problem has been reported the most. The Health and Family Life
Education programmed will also be introduced in more schools and will be part of the
curriculum in the next academic year according to ministry officials. In addition, the
Ministry has also been working to resuscitate and strengthen the Parent Teacher
Associations (PTAs) in school as parents have an important role to play in imparting
values of discipline and proper conduct to their children. A national PTA Coordinator was
recently appointed to oversee the process. More recently, stakeholders at the education
forum have proposed the introduction of a special training programmed for parents to
sensitize them of their roles and responsibilities. It was not determined who will take on
the responsibility of the training workshops for parents.

Moderator:

Thank you Mr. Hisham, which was really great ideas on factors that increased the
crimes rate among school children. How about you Madam Rozilah, do you have any
other factors that you think should be the most to rise the crimes rate among them?

Speaker 3:

Thank you Madam Moderator. Those factors might be factors that increased crime rate
among school children. I agreed with the opinion but the most factors that increasing of
crime rate among school children is due to influence of the mass media. Mass media
has affected our way of lifestyle, socialization, living patterns and personality. It has not
only affected us personally, but our young adults as well. The influence it has on our
teenagers, dictates their actions. Weather it is by television or newspapers, our
teenager’s is affected by it. The pressures that young adults face to fit in, is tremendous.
Movies, as well, have a large influence on our teenagers.

Teenagers spend a large amount of time in front of the television, reading magazines, or
on the internet. They try to adapt to what they see and hear. Teenagers also imitate
what they see.

The media today is responsible for body image, and self worth, and this is where we
see several teenagers suffer from inferiority complex, thus resorting to unhealthy eating
habits and weight loss. The media sells sex, drugs, and smoking by the movies and
advertisement they show. These negative effects of the media on teenagers are
controlling every part of their social life. Television, the internet, newspapers,
magazines, and advertisement bombard them.
Many media outlets increase aggressive tendencies in teenager. They want the latest
clothing, the latest hairstyle, the newest cars, and so the vicious cycle continues.

We know that the media sometimes fail to tell the real deal about how one can obtain or
achieve things in life. I think, this is why the media as such an effect on their life.
Moderator:

Thank you Mr. Hisham, which was really great ideas on factors that increased the
crimes rate among school children. How about you Madam Rozilah, do you have any
other factors that you think should be the most to rise the crimes rate among them?

Speaker 4:

Thank you Madam Moderator. I agreed with the opinion that increasing of crime rate
among school children is due peer pressure. Circle of friends contribute to violent
behavior on a large extent. If the child spends most of his time with a group of friends
who are naughty, haughty and arrogant then your child too has a tendency to develop
that attitude. So it is better to avoid our children get into such unhealthy circle of friends.
Same way, the school atmosphere does have an impact in school violence. The
teachers, the friends around etc does have their share of developing arrogant behavior
in children. Children and teenagers feel social pressure to conform to the group of peers
with whom they socialize. This peer pressure can influence how children dress, what
kind of music they listen to, and what types of behavior they engage in, including risky
behaviors such as using drugs, cigarettes and alcohol. Peer pressure can begin in early
childhood with children trying to get other kids to play the games they want. It generally
increases through childhood and reaches its intensity in the preteen and teen years.
Peer pressure can be negative or positive. Starting in middle school, children begin to
spend more time with their friends and less time with their parents and family . In
children ages eleven to fourteen, it is most common for members of these cliques to be
of the same sex. Children will spend a lot of time with friends in their clique, interacting
by going to the movies or the mall, talking on the telephone, or chatting online with
instant messaging. Peer pressure can be extremely strong and seductive. Experiments
have shown how peer pressure can influence children to change their minds from what
they know for sure is acceptable behavior to unacceptable behavior just because
everyone else in their peer group is doing it. Children cannot always avoid negative
peer pressure. It may continue to be a fact of life through childhood, and into adulthood.
Peer pressure can be found in groups as young as age too, when children will do
things simply because other kids are doing it or tell them to. This can effect the child's
behavior, social and emotional development, eating habits, play time, and sleeping
patterns. Negative peer pressure occurs when a child's or teen's friends or other people
their age try to convince them to do something that is either harmful to their body or is
against the law. Examples include drinking alcohol, taking drugs, smoking cigarettes,
cutting classes, vandalizing, and stealing .
Moderator:

Ladies and gentleman, we are at the end of this forum. Thank you Madam, it was great
ideas. Let us think on made decision on those factors that increased the crimes rate
among school children. As the parents, we need to take a very good care of our
children. Till then, a very good day and thank you.