The term “killing field” usually isn’t associated with our suburban school yards, and more often than not when they are, it isn’t good news. A few schools in Queensland have been described with these words by the company that they hire out their grounds to on the weekends. The company in question is Urban Assault, a business built around providing a paint-ball tournament within urban areas such as shopping districts, school yards and skate parks. Thrown into the national media ring, these schools are now under pressure to cancel their contracts and fore-go the money being earned.
The issue in question is the idea of schoolyards being used as battle grounds. Tens of thousands of dollars and countless professional hours are spent each year trying to educate students on the importance of non-violent activities around the playground, and these schools are now allowing realistic war scenarios to be played out right there on campus. With the potential to undermine all the work that has been done, community members and parents are worried that their children are going to be normalised to such behaviours.
There are some positive outcomes to the paint ball activities happening around the state, with the primary outcome being extra funding being funnelled into these specific school budgets. Urban Assault simply ‘hires’ the grounds for a sum of money which is then directly spent by the school. With stringent guidelines as to who can play including written consent for those under 18, and a rigid military-like protocol for game play, the battles themselves are more about strategy and heroism than violence and killing. The skirmish sessions seem to be resting on a very sharp knife edge.
For those old enough to remember back to 1999, the developed world was shocked by the news of 12 students and 1 teacher being shot dead within their own school at Columbine in the United States. 21 other students were injured by the gunmen and a further 3 injured indirectly from the attack. The two students who performed the slaughter were both deemed to be suffering from mental illnesses, and were heavy gamers. Being persuaded by such activities as pretend military scenarios- generally video games but also real life [such as paintball skirmish], the boys then disembarked and opened fire on the school. There is fear that getting students to learn the ins and outs of warfare, especially within their own school, opens the doors to replay such terrifying situations. Other school tragedies include the recent Queensland stabbing, the Bath School Disaster, the Virginia Tech Massacre and the Texes U Massacre.
It is normal for all students as they are growing to play both the ‘good cop’ and ‘bad robber’ roles, this has been the same for all generations in the playground. Is this army-like behaviour simply the new generation of kids, or is it something that we should be trying to stamp out immediately? Do our playgrounds have room for developing and testing skills required to covertly kill and attack other students?
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