<rant>
What is it with young people standing around, blocking the pavement and generally getting in the way?
I'm convinced that, in 99.999% of cases (if not more) there is no intention to inconvenience others - they will always shift out of the way when asked, often apologising as they do so.
So why do they do it in the first place? Are people no longer taught to think of the effects of their actions on others during the daily round of living on this planet, in this society?
One day when I was at school, we were informed that all members of the house must attend a meeting in the house common room during the final fifteen minutes of that day's lunchtime. As I had lunch at home (about ten minutes walk away) this caused major inconvenience for me, but I made it back in time.
Our housemaster told us that, the previous afternoon, he had seen a group of boys who were members of the house walking down the High Street, four abreast, and had observed that elderly people had been forced from the pavement into the road (and it's a busy road) to allow them to pass. He delivered a coruscating denunciation of these self-centred gits, making it clear that they - and all of us - must be respectful of others when using such public spaces as pavements, and that although the fact of wearing the school uniform at the time meant that they had brought disrespect upon the school, that was not the important point - said important point being that such disregard for others was a shameful way to conduct oneself.
I didn't have enough (well, any) friends to have ever inconvenienced people to such a degree - I tended to be forced into the gutter by OAPs as I made my way back from the Borough Library - but he was right. When the Government wants to promote "good citizenship" within the educational system, they can throw away all the consultants and educational psychologists - explain to young people why they shouldn't block the pavement (please note that I said "why", not "that") and the rest should follow.
Well, maybe.
</rant>
What is it with young people standing around, blocking the pavement and generally getting in the way?
I'm convinced that, in 99.999% of cases (if not more) there is no intention to inconvenience others - they will always shift out of the way when asked, often apologising as they do so.
So why do they do it in the first place? Are people no longer taught to think of the effects of their actions on others during the daily round of living on this planet, in this society?
One day when I was at school, we were informed that all members of the house must attend a meeting in the house common room during the final fifteen minutes of that day's lunchtime. As I had lunch at home (about ten minutes walk away) this caused major inconvenience for me, but I made it back in time.
Our housemaster told us that, the previous afternoon, he had seen a group of boys who were members of the house walking down the High Street, four abreast, and had observed that elderly people had been forced from the pavement into the road (and it's a busy road) to allow them to pass. He delivered a coruscating denunciation of these self-centred gits, making it clear that they - and all of us - must be respectful of others when using such public spaces as pavements, and that although the fact of wearing the school uniform at the time meant that they had brought disrespect upon the school, that was not the important point - said important point being that such disregard for others was a shameful way to conduct oneself.
I didn't have enough (well, any) friends to have ever inconvenienced people to such a degree - I tended to be forced into the gutter by OAPs as I made my way back from the Borough Library - but he was right. When the Government wants to promote "good citizenship" within the educational system, they can throw away all the consultants and educational psychologists - explain to young people why they shouldn't block the pavement (please note that I said "why", not "that") and the rest should follow.
Well, maybe.
</rant>
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