Not Child's Play

What about the idea of a ringleader, banning together an organized group like this at such a young age?
In situations of inadequate adult structure, for example, child soldiers, it's not at all uncommon to have a gifted leader who's 9 years old. Within crime syndicates in Mexico City, there are shrewd and seasoned gang leaders who have not yet reached the double digits in age.

So it's not a shock?
It's a shock because you would think that when children have an ordinary structure in terms of their families, the street they live, community organization, in terms of schooling and supervision after school. When those situations are being met, you don't have bizarre situations where 9-year-olds meet gangs. In theory, a 9-year-old can be a tough customer as an insurgent. In extreme circumstances around the world, both historically and currently, children in the age of one digit have frequently been shrewd soldiers and strategized attacks that have led to death.

How much would it matter whether kids had conditions like ADHD?
I think that children who have developmental vulnerabilities may require a great deal more structure and that funding being inadequate, public-school systems everywhere are suffering terribly to meet the needs of youngsters.

Isn't this kind of apparently planned attack still rare?
Absolutely it is rare. What is common is for a 9-year-old who's mad to mumble to himself, "I'm going to get her." It is very rare for a group of youngsters to [apparently] make purchases and to work together in a premeditated manner to achieve some alleged life-threatening result. It's very unusual, and it bespeaks to a serious lack of support somewhere.

Isn't it more common for them plot against a peer rather than an adult?
Well, sure. Out on the schoolyard, they'll slug each other. I'm not saying that's ideal. Children push and shove and trip one another rather regularly, under the best of circumstances. And while it's deplorable, it is universal.

Is it more unusual to see kids act out against an authority figure?
It's much more unusual for reasons that are both practical and psychological and intangible. It's partly that kids might talk big under their breath. When it comes down to it, the whole weight of the adult world rests with the teacher's authority. And this is something that few children would have the folly to buck.

What's the solution—so we don't have this kind of thing happening in other schools?
Since you don't know what the diagnosis is, you don't know what the treatment plan ought to be. The treatment has to look at the total fabric that childhood is embedded in. Children need homes in which they feel grievances can be dealt with and frustrations can be tolerated. There has to be a way for children to see their parents dealing with grievances in a way that is not homicidal and explosive but is problem solving. The school has to have a teacher who says if you have a problem, come to me. This teacher may have done all these things. This is an episode that raises questions, but at this point in the evolution of this news story, we have questions but we have no answers.

© 2008