Students and stupidity

For the second time in a month, schoolchildren have caused fear and confusion by exploding what are described as ‘crackers’ in or near school premises. In the first instance which happened in Karachi, a group of disgruntled students threw ‘crackers’ at a private school from which they were fee-defaulters and had been excluded from an examination. At around the same time, there were two other incidents in which small bombings were carried out by terrorists in the city. Unsurprisingly, the police at first treated the ‘cracker’ throwing as a case of terrorism, only discovering on close investigation that it was not.

In the second incident, a student at the government Boys Higher Secondary School in Faisalabad exploded crackers soon after assembly ended. Pandemonium quickly erupted. Both staff and pupils thought the school was under attack and fled in all directions. The police were called and the student was taken into custody after being caught by staff and locals. When asked why he would do such a thing, the student replied that he was merely curious to see what the reaction would be, and thought he would gain the approval of his friends for playing such a prank. Whilst both incidents have different motivations behind them, they do share the common factor of gross, and dangerous, irresponsibility. Put bluntly — they should have known better, but self-evidently, did not. In the first instance, it is more than possible that lives could have been lost with the police responding to what they would, not surprisingly, see as an act of terror. The second incident demonstrates a chilling misperception as to the consequences of one’s actions. In both instances, the ability to differentiate between right and wrong was absent, the critical skill that applies the handbrake and makes an emergency stop when a line has been crossed. Both incidents demonstrated a willingness to put others at hazard and in the latter, an expectation of peer approval. Once again, deviant behaviour is played out and perceived as normative. We may expect more of the same in a society increasingly bereft of moral structure.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 27^th,  2016.

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