Talking Point: My Reaction to High School Unrest and Students Burning Down Schools in Kenya

Image of Itierio Boys High School dormitories after students burnt them down over missing out on a EURO 2016 match. Source: Daily Nation.

So High School students have gone on a rampage all over Kenya burning down schools like they were piles of dustbin paper, and everyone is answering back with so much the same fire: "You students are stupid! You are childish! You are evil! You should be jailed and denied food!!" etc etc. And I'm just sitting here wondering, "Haiya! What, exactly, are we doing!?"

As a youth leader, I am amazed at how little we know of how young people today really think and operate (which is the age bracket where High School students belong anyway.)

Everyone seems to be shouting at these High School students, condemning them and giving them "lots of advice" and threats for burning down their schools. That is good (according to us), but it is irrelevant to them. It won't help a thing. This is because they don't care to listen to our advice: it is ours and they are just not into taking our advice. They won't listen. No, not for the time being.

"So, what should be done?", you ask.

Okay, what I share below is not a conclusive solution, it is not even a solution but an eye-opener, and it is also a good place to begin when trying to find the solution to this problem. It is some sort of backdoor solution for anyone who would care to read.

I'd recommend this as a start: on friendly terms, just grab the hand/s of one or two outspoken young people from an affected school, and genuinely (without making them feel that you want to "advise them" because at this stage, they just hate advice!) ask them exactly what went wrong. Be specific by asking them what they think is wrong with their school, their parents, their fellow students and with the school administration. Insist that you want them to be open about everything and that their answers will not be used against them when push comes to shove.

Be sure that you'll pick out a few things. Some will be relevant while others will be useless. Then tell them that you'll think about it and call them to discussion some time later.

Note: You cannot solve student issues without involving students. That's like solving Christian persecution without involving Christians; and especially the affected ones. So involve students (especially the ones ranting the most) when trying to solve issues surrounding and involving them.

But keep this in mind;

1. Because you listened and seemed to care, they may choose a different way of retaliation the next time they think of doing it. But be sure that they'll still do it somehow. That's how evil works. Be ready for it because the only language this generation seems to understand is: "I want it now! If you are not going to give it to me RIGHT NOW, I am going to kill someone or kill myself!! So give it to me RIGHT NOW" Get that very clear from me.

2. Students are burning down schools because that is what our generation does to solve matters: we are not good at resolving matters through dialogue but via streets. We've taught them street language and that's exactly what they're reciprocating. They're simply giving back to society what it has taught them.

3. Students are tired of being commanded around. They want to be listened to and they want to be heard; if you are not going to give it to them, you'll pay for your "ignorance". So if you're not going to give them a chance to talk and be heard, they make you "pay for it" through arson, violence or bad behavior. (Sometimes girls get pregnant or run away from home "just to 'punish'" their strict parents. It is madness, right? Unthinkable, yes? Yes, but that is how this generation works.)

4. Students are tired of being treated as kids. Yes, they are kids. But they'll revolt anytime someone tries to call them kids or treats them in a manner implying that they are kids. They want to be involved in decision-making. They want to be part of the deal without being sidelined in any way. I know parents and teachers would strongly disagree with this but that is what it is with this generation. I've seen it all the time: the moment I start treating 12-year-olds as I would treat my age-mates is the moment they start listening to me. Yeah, I have tried it out and it has worked. Just as it is with what we are seeing in our political arena, if parents and teachers won't embrace dialogue with students - no matter how childish they think it is - it is very likely that schools will keep burning. Mark my words.

5. Young people are inclined to think as a team. Always. And these teams don't die as fast as people may think. Those who know the truth of this point misuse this strength in youth by inciting them to engage in violence. However, having said that, some people still think that because students are young, they are not able to articulate an idea as a team and die for it. They are wrong. All revolutions have depended on youthful people to survive. History proves this to be very true.

Okay, as you consider this point, you may be falsely inspired to say, "So if we grab and punish their violent leaders we'll have solved the problem!!??" No, you won't. You can't kill a movement by detaining its leaders. In fact, that's how you fuel it. (That is why it has been hard to kill Christianity by the way. Christianity thrives on the blood of martyrs - Jesus being the first martyr.) It is because the moment you catch the responsible catalyst, another catalyst will be born to counter what you did to the former. And the movement will become stronger, more determined and more violent than the previous one. (Come on people, we should at least school ourselves a bit more on revolutions and how they work. Revolutions only die when you kill the idea or dogma running them, not the people behind them.)
So, get the idea that inspires them first, then you'll kill the movement and the acts thereof. 

At this stage, you may need to ask the students a very direct question: "WHY, REALLY, ARE YOU BURNING YOUR SCHOOL!!??" and use their answers to understand how and why they behave this way. This will then be the template upon which you lay the foundation for your solution-finding.

6. Don't get into the conversation to tell them what is wrong (come on, they've burnt schools and they already know that they've done it) and why it is wrong (why burning their schools is wrong.) They already know those facts, and they don't care. Let me say it again: this generation knows all the bad things. We have been really good at pointing them out, anyway (the bad things). What they don't know is WHY they are wrong and why their opinions are irrelevant as far as such bad things are concerned.

Here is a perfect example: young saved people know that sex before marriage is not good. They KNOW that it is sin. God forbids it but they're still having it anyway. Why? It's not a big deal to them. They don't care about your opinion or God's opinion, they only care about their own. That's our generation, man.

Our biggest challenge therefore is not to tell them what is wrong but why their opinion is not relevant for the time being and why our opinion matters i.e. why burning a school because of a lapse in entertainment (or whatever petty reason there is) is wrong and why it is also wrong to think that burning it will solve a thing. See?

7. Evil is taking course and it has it's teeth engraved in relativism.
Note: Relativism is the belief that different things are true, right, etc., for different people or at different times i.e. probably most High School students in Kenya feel that burning their schools is right so long as their prospected end result is achieved.
These High School students' actions are just a proof of the fallen evil world we live in today. Evil has taught the minds in this generation that violence is sweeter when done as a team.
Anyways, they are not the only ones. We all do it. We skip church to "punish" the pastor or our church leaders. We refuse to pay chama dues to "punish" a certain member of the chama. We do shoddy work to "punish" out bosses. Married people and guys in relationships do funny things to each other in order to "punish" their partners. We are all evil. Very evil. And we all seem to love evil.

When students burn schools, they are just expressing their evil nature and the reality of an evil world - a fallen world for which Christ died. Part of the solution may be to guide these kids in a manner that they'll embrace good Christian values which have no arson or violence in them.

*******
You now realize that at the center of everything I am saying above is dialogue and genuinely seeking to understand the problem before trying to solve it. Parents and teachers need to understand that right from 2010, things changed. Completely. The kind of pupils and students we now have suffer the highest level of moral degradation. They operate only by one law: this is my life, take it or leave it; whatever you think of me, I don't really care!

It is from that aspect of relativism that we have had phrases like: "my dress, my choice", "my life, my opinions", "my this, my that". No one wants to listen to advise anymore.

That's the world we live in today.
What are you doing to change it as far as young people are concerned?

PS: 
Here is the mystery about this generation: we want to be heard more than we are willing to listen to anyone.


Bonface Morris.