EDITORIAL — Violence and kids

Just before Holy Week, two Grade 8 students were stabbed dead by schoolmates in Las Piña City.

The two 15-year-olds were on their way home from school when waylaid and stabbed by three schoolmates. The main assailant was a 15-year-old in Grade 9, while his accomplices were a 14-year-old Grade 7 student and a 16-year-old Grade 10 student.

The stabbing stemmed from an argument the two parties had over a light switch in a classroom.

This was not the only recent incident involving violence among students. Last March 26, another Grade 8 student was stabbed dead by her classmate in Parañaque City.

Before she was stabbed, the 14-year-old victim told her mother she was being bullied in school. But after the incident it was the suspect, also just 14 years old, who turned the tables on the victim and said he stabbed her because of her constant bullying of him. The incident is still under investigation.

Yes, we can argue that these are two separate and isolated incidents and grade school students aren’t exactly stabbing each other every week. But the fact that these incidents happened should still be a cause for concern or even alarm.

Is there something making kids more prone to be violent, to act on their impulses without regard for the consequences? Does it have something to do with what they see every day? With what media is readily available to them?

It’s a sad fact that kids today are more exposed to violent material and content compared to kids of yesterday. Not too long ago, mature and violent content on TV was limited to schedules when it was time for them to go to bed. They also had no access to movies considered violent or R-18.

But times have changed; anyone with a gadget can watch what he or she wants, even without parental supervision or guidance.

Is this a major contributing factor? With the many factors today, we cannot say that it is.

What we’re certain about is that some children need more guidance than others, especially when it comes to the consequences of their actions.

Life isn’t a video game where you can reload a save if you made a wrong decision, or a movie where a director says “cut” and all those who “died” comes back to life. It has scenarios that cannot be undone and actions that have to be accounted for.