WHO’S TO BLAME?
The Street Kids Scandal – or Tale of a Fallen Angel
A liberal interpretation of the name Jasmin is ‘scented night flower’; how tragically ironic then to read that a 15-year-old girl – or prostitute as the press preferred to call her – named Jasmin was found defiled and strangled in a gutter at Bondi Beach recently.
Jasmin had been ‘working’ the notorious Darlinghurst Road/Burton Street corner of King’s Cross, when her next ‘client’ – and subsequent assailant – pulled into the curb. ‘Who’s to blame?’, for this and other Street Kids tragedies, the reports always seem to conclude, in a safe, open-ended way. Well of course we all are really, in an abstract sense; our culpability being confined to, say, not demanding more resources and other platitudes.
What a moral cop-out.
Why is it so hard to actually point the accusing finger to those who made, through omission, or commission, little Jasmin’s path to perdition a more steep and slippery one? So, this article is about blame; because until the blame is spotlighted, there will be more Street Kids found in gutters.
Firstly, there were her parents. Now it’s hard to blame parents for failing with their obstreperous offspring. After all, they never claimed to have specific skills in the areas of child-care, psychology; and the legion talents called upon to raise to adulthood the universe’s most complex creation.
But surely it is incumbent on parents to inform themselves, as best they can, on the nature of the infants/children/teenagers they are purporting to nurture. One saving grace with parents is that they usually do want the best for their children; other ‘child-carers’ sometimes see their charges merely as a step in their promotion/remuneration ladder! But how often do the parents well-meaning attitudes fail to translate into positive action?
The community is well resourced with informed people who can help; if things are going off the track, it is the obligation of the parents to seek this help. Even reading some of the literature on adolescent development might have changed the course of events for one ex-teenager at least. One learns to read between the lines in these media reports – ‘… a relatively comfortable and happy childhood.’ Relatively? That description would refer to almost everyone. But in journalistic jargon, how many ‘sins of the fathers’ does this innocent euphemism conceal?
One fact does blink at us like a neon sign – two strong and able Australian parents could not manage (I won’t use the word ‘control’, with its despotic odor) one beautiful and loving 14-year-old girl. And she was loving, as her poignant letters to her mother attest. This shameful failure was confirmed by the parents making an application for her to become a State ward. Now that’s inadequacy. Aboriginal women regarded their children being ripped out of their arms, to be given the same insalubrious status, as the greatest of tragedies! They could never conceive of voluntarily giving up their children.
Second in the blame queue is her school; certainly, she was a spirited child at 14, as many teenagers are. (Some enlightened teachers regard this as a virtue!). Certainly, she was found with a bottle of scotch in her schoolbag with her apple and pencil case. But why did she get expelled for such a trivial offence?
How much more sensible and compassionate to deal with the issue firmly, intelligently, and sensitively at school, where one can actually help the child. Instead, she was judged, found guilty, and pitilessly sentenced. Another journalistic white-wash presented itself in the phrase – ‘… left Wyong High School in Year 8 after being caught …’. Left!? I’ll bet – this child was shoe-horned out by grey unfeeling ‘educators’, defending a grey, unfeeling policy. You can count on this being the case; because that’s the way our school’s work – ‘If you don’t toe the line, you’re out!’
Oh, if only all life’s problems could be solved by just showing them the door. A morally aware school would plead for the chance to continue to help the child, not condemn her. Schools, with their exclusionist emphasis and self-interest policies, must take a huge slab of blame for the Street Kid phenomena in general – and Wyong High for Jasmin in particular.
Every school should have as a first principle in its charter, that it helps, to the absolute limit, every individual child/student in its care; This includes an open-door, non-judgmental policy. No child/student should ever be rejected or expelled. If their behavior is anti-social – or dangerous even – they should be more closely invigilated, with resources made available to achieve this; not cast out to further their career in crime – and psychological self- immolation. In short, never give up on them. An excellent guide to policymaking might be this 3-fold gem – all teachers must have, in relation to the children in their care:
- Veneration for their Past, and their inherent uniqueness – respect for their individuality. After all, as the poet said, we all come ‘trailing clouds of glory’. The venerate element comes from recognizing this glory.
- Protection for the child’s Present – so patently lacking on every level in Jasmin’s case. She was even allowed to fraternize with an uncle who practiced witchcraft. This protection aspect works on every level – environmental, psychological, spiritual – and last but not least, physical.
- Optimism for their Future – how we must assume that each human being will fulfil their manifest destiny; how we develop self-worth in the in children by convincing them of it. Not unworthy forebodings of dole queues and environmental doom to douse their optimism.
From school, this latter-day ‘Juliet’ was in the incompetent hands of the Welfare system. Incompetent? – ‘… was placed in more than 12 refuges and foster homes … and ran away from them all’ doesn’t sound like a smart or purposeful program to me!
One of these foster homes was with a ‘Christian’ family, whose superficial interest in Jasmin was exhausted when they found a home-made bong in her room – shock horror!! Their splintered, blinkered, uncharitable – un-Christian – attitude inevitably led them to, in another of these polite but misleading terms – ‘… ask her to leave’. Ask indeed, the bong-making baggage was thrown out – again!
Yet another Welfare-initiated, but no doubt well-meaning, family she was billeted with, insisted that she attend church once a week. What an outrageous invasion of her spiritual privacy – and personal integrity. Since when is Christianity a compulsory religion? Jasmin Maree even played along for a while, saying that – ‘… she accepted Jesus Christ as her savior …’ – before bolting! In spite of the battering this girl had endured in her short life, her survival instincts were intact – on a spiritual level at least.
So, we have the parents, the school, the Welfare, and the religious community failing the child. Surely it’s time to blame the government. What kind of society do we live in where a 15-year-old girl is permitted to solicit on a squalid Kings Cross corner at 3 am!? Why is legislation not in place obliging the authorities to care for the army of waifs sleeping in clothes bins and servicing the loathsome cravings of predators like Jasmin’s killer.
Finally, the Courts must have the blinding glare of the blame spotlight thrown on them. The ‘predator’ in this sad case was not even tried for murder, but manslaughter – how does girl-slaughter sound?! This pervert with good behavior and a smart parole officer etc., could be out and prowling the Kings Cross curb in his van in a couple of short years. And why not, the fruits are worth the risk of such a piddling sentence.
Is this the way the highest public institution in the land protects our young? Is this the value placed on a girl’s life? But then she’s not really a girl; in the public perception she’s a common “throwaway child”. And she – according to no doubt to the clever defense lawyer – was also an ungrateful daughter; a behavior problem at school; a morally-indigent drug addict; even an occultist would you believe!? The implication being that she probably even deserved what she got!
Yes, our ‘scented night flower’ was all these things, but she was so much more. Her picture in the paper was that of the face of, not a depraved wanton, but of a child angel. Her sunny, cheeky smile was one of hope and optimism. This lamp of spiritual confidence never quite flickered out in the depths of her soul, as she always had, tucked in underneath her bong, her precious ‘sketch pads, crayons, and pencils’. Oh, how an intrinsically therapeutic artistic education might have helped this talented child – as it has done for scores of troubled teenagers. What a key this is to the essence of this beautiful girl who, instead of being supported through the dark seas of adolescence, was failed by, or betrayed, by all those who were privileged to have her in their care. The waste of such a valuable life cries out for someone to blame – in this case, there seems to be ample to share around with almost everyone – yes, even me, for not writing an article like this sooner.
Important Earthschooling Notes
Copyright Alan Whitehead & Earthschooling: No Part of this book, post, URL, or book excerpt may be shared with anyone who has not paid for these materials.
Alan speaks in a very symbolic and esoteric manner in some parts of his books. Although they can be read anthroposophically, passages speaking of Atlantis, archangels, gods, etc. do not need to be taken literarily to be meaningful. The more you read, the more you will realize he uses many different religions to express ideas in a symbolic manner and not in a religious manner. His writings are not religious. In some places his writings are meant to refer to religious events in a historical way. In some places he is using religious figures (from Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Paganism, Ancient Roman and Greek Religions, etc.) in a symbolic manner. However, at no point is he promoting a specific religion or speaking from a religious point of view.
I have kept the writing as close to one-hundred percent original so you will also find that he speaks of Australia often and some spelling or manners of speaking may be cultural. Any words I have changed are presented like this: <word>.
Also keep in mind that these books are written by a Waldorf teacher with decades of experience who also studied with a Steiner student himself, so he speaks to an audience that is dedicating their lives to the Waldorf method without exception.
Because of this, all of his views are not reflected in the Earthschooling curriculum and not all of them may be ones you want to embrace or are able to use. In all of Alan Whitehead’s writings the opinions are his own and may not align with Earthschooling or Waldorf Books. In some cases, we will be updating some of these chapters in the future with additional and/or updated information.
Ultimately, however, as I read through these passages I find I can distill wisdom from even those paragraphs that do not resonate with me.
We invite you to read with an open mind and heart and with eagerness to learn and discuss.
END NOTE
Alan has presented dialogue in his writings in an expressive form, where he tries to capture the accent of the person he was with to give his writing more authenticity and to allow the reader to “be with him” in his experience. In no place in his writings is he using expressive language to make fun of or demean the speaker. So, as a person with a linguistics and anthropology degree I find this enriching and informative to me as the reader. Thus, we have made the decision to leave all expressive writing in its original form.
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