Gerry Eckhoff: Boot Camps

It would seem that concept of boot camps –  no doubt modified from past attempts to change the behaviour and attitude way of a small percentage of wayward youth, has not found  favour with society's professional apologists.  

Apparently past experience has shown that around 15% of attendees benefit from boot camps which is good if you were to be one of their victims.  

Editorials attacked the National party’s resurrection of military style “boot camps” as one way of combatting ram raids and some youths’ contemptuous attitude to all norms of societal behaviour. 

Currently neither the media nor the Labour Government have published any meaningful response to the out-of-control behaviour of youth who have unlikely ever experienced any kind of sanction for their –“we don’t give a dam” behaviour. Rather perversely the Government is saying that the ram raids are diminishing as police catch the offenders - so we mustn’t overreact.  That’s a bit like saying the road toll dropped this week so we don’t really have a problem with road fatalities.   

The need for remedial action such as ‘boot camps’ is living testament to a failed wider education system where alternatives such as charter schools are not tolerated by officialdom despite offering solutions – at least in part to complex problems.   

Ill-disciplined youth (and their parents) , euphemistically called care givers, don’t give a toss about public opinion as long as the welfare benefits keep coming, so nothing changes. The message from Government is - what is happening is not really ok, but then, it’s not your or our fault either.

It is incorrect to compare the existing conscription in Switzerland with the National party’s so-called boot camp proposal. Nevertheless, it is appropriate to draw some comparisons.                                             

Twice a year the Swiss require some 8-10,000 men and women to begin a course of instruction (see discipline). Confinement and suppression, control and conformity, stress and punishment, bonding and the hierarchy of esteem, aggression and objectification, field craft and fitness along with the side effect of building mutual loyalty - are all part of the Swiss military culture.  Switzerland is a melting pot of cultures which is not unlike NZ. The Military service helps preserve and build on a feeling of cohesion and patriotism. In 2013, the Swiss held a referendum on whether to abolish conscription. 73% voted in favour of retaining conscription.

By comparison, compulsory military training was abolished in NZ in 1959 after serving our country well for 63 years (1909-1972.) In 1962 however, a different system of national military service was introduced. 2000 young men were annually balloted for military training. That system lasted until 1972 when it, in turn, was abolished. It was rare to hear of any participants condemn their time under military authority as a waste of time. Indeed, the system was lauded as a great experience. No doubt some found the experience uncomfortable, but it would appear the vast majority found the experience worthwhile. For some, a career in the armed forces became a logical step.

The nonsense offered as a reason to “give boot camps the boot” is stated that they would simply be a breeding ground for future criminals. For far too many, our current education system almost encourages truancy, which in turn soon leads to peer review of their car conversion skills (which will always need refining).  The breeding ground for a life of crime is already well developed and from a much earlier stage as the world-famous ongoing “Dunedin Study” of children through to adults and beyond shows.  The problems start to manifest themselves from 3 years of age according to this internationally lauded study. The Government seems to believe that it’s just a case of kids being kids. If that is so -the Government is ignoring the work of this study which shows that 20% of the population accounts for 80% of the crime.  There is no reason to cast these unfortunates aside thereby encouraging their promotion into gang life where discipline is unheard of as they aspire to a life of escalating crime. 

Perhaps the Government should embark on a crusade of teaching these youngish individuals to learn to appreciate and understand that finer things of life can be earned with an education and consistent work, which also earns respect of all their peers.  And yes, it does start with the parents and likely their grandparents as well, so when can we expect a circuit breaker as more welfare handouts has shown to fail both the giver and the receiver.

If more money being thrown at problems was the answer, our country would be the model for the rest of the world to follow. We are sliding backwards in so many areas of our life that revisiting examples of even moderate success (with so-called boot camps) is surely better than the undeniable certainty of failure by doing nothing.

Gerry Eckhoff is a former councillor on the Otago Regional Council and MP.