Off to boarding school

“Authority boost” against youth violence in France

Sad conclusion to a shocking act of bloodshed among teenagers: A 15-year-old is carried to his grave in a Paris suburb.(Bild: APA/AFP/DIMITAR DILKOFF)

France is declaring war on the rampant youth violence with more severity and quicker punishments. "We need a boost in authority", said Prime Minister Gabriel Attal on Thursday in the Paris suburb of Viry-Chatillon, where a 15-year-old was brutally beaten to death by other young people at the beginning of April. The act was one in a series of similar, sometimes fatal, violent attacks among young people in France.

"Authority is all too often questioned by a minority of our adolescents," said Attal, identifying a spiral of unrestrained violence. Young people must learn again to respect the simple rules of the Republic, values and duties. To this end, parents should be held accountable, but also supported if they are overwhelmed with raising their children.

"Far away from their neighborhood"
One option is to send difficult young people to boarding schools. Before a young person slips into delinquency, it would be suggested that parents send their child to a boarding school "far away from their neighborhood and from the people who have led them astray".

Prime Minister Attal marked his hundredth day in office at the scene of a deadly act of violence among youths just outside Paris.(Bild: APA/AFP/BERTRAND GUAY)

The Prime Minister, who will have been in office for 100 days on Thursday, also announced a fight against drug trafficking and Islamist indoctrination in French neighborhoods. Young girls should be able to go out on the street without a headscarf or eat what they want without being attacked.

Headscarves, Ramadan: shocking violence against girls
Following a brutal attack on a 13-year-old girl in Montpellier, her mother suggested that the attack could be linked to the fact that her daughter, unlike other Muslim schoolgirls, did not wear a headscarf. In Alsace, a 13-year-old girl was beaten after getting off the school bus because she had allegedly not fasted during Ramadan.

"The battle will be won in the classroom"
Attal, who held the education portfolio before his appointment as prime minister, also announced a strengthening of schools as a place for educating and shaping young people. "The battle for authority is won in the classroom," said Attal. Pupils should stand up when the teacher comes into the classroom, notorious disruptors should in future expect an entry in their school reports, which would also play a role in a later application for a place at university.