SCHOOL ID: TOO BAD IT'S COME TO THIS

Time was, when if you thought of Catholic schoolgirls, you thought
plaid kilts.

No more. Today, it's the lanyard with picture ID, to be worn at all
times on school property. Same for Catholic schoolboys, along with
surveillance monitors, staff equipped with walkie-talkies, police in
the corridors and scheduled visits from drug counsellors. Get metal
detectors and you could clear passengers for boarding.

It's been this way for a couple of years. Now, the Calgary Board of
Education is doing the same thing.

What on earth is happening in our schools? We never needed all this
when we were at school, right?

No, we didn't. But, the kids have changed, the parents have changed,
society has changed. The schools simply mirror all that. If you were
in school administration, security would be part of your job.

Last month, a student at Lord Beaverbrook was attacked by two
knife-wielding assailants in a parking lot near the school. In 2002, a
car was firebombed in front of William Aberhart. Indeed, Herald files
contain reports of nearly 20 violent incidents since 1990, at or near
Calgary schools: stabbings, machete fights, a drive-by shooting and,
of course, the 2000 murder of Samer Jaber at Lester B. Pearson. These
are just the cases that make the paper. There's lower-key stuff on the
police scanner, almost every day.

Certainly, back in the '60s, there were testosterone-charged fist
fights in the playgrounds, and some dirty stuff on the sports field,
especially as I recall, by soccer players seconded to rugby teams.
Knives, machetes, baseball clubs and Molotov cocktails, however, just
weren't part of the mix.

Unsurprisingly, school administrators are sensitive. Nobody likes
admitting to a problem. If an incident occurs off school property,
there's no rush to own it, even if it's just across the street.

But administrators need ID to tell who is an intruder in the
corridors, there to sell drugs or settle a score.

Or recruit for a gang. Last month, Staff Sgt. Doug de Grood of the
police street crime investigations section described to the Herald how
gang members tried to entice troubled youths, not only in malls and
convenience stores, but even at school. They are likely
indistinguishable from other students, being perhaps from another
school, or recent graduates.

This changed world is the fruit of disengaged parenting, absentee
fathers and both partners working. Drugs, relaxed attitudes to
sexuality -- telling 14-year-olds they have choices in this area is
like giving car keys to a drunk -- and pernicious rock videos and
computer games are the swamp through which our kids must wade. Many do
it with lax home supervision: Never has there been more to say no to,
and fewer people ready to utter the word. How would we, raised in an
earlier, happier time, have coped without strong families, given the
same distractions? They say you are what you eat. How much more are
you what you read and watch?

Why should it surprise us that youths who daily ingest a couple of
hours of televised misogyny, coarseness and violence would enjoy a
fantasy game where you get points for killing cops and running down
old ladies -- and might see dealing in drugs as cool -- destroy a car
or take a knife to school? And use it?

There are no easy answers. This is a widespread problem: When a house
catches fire, the whole building fills with smoke. Two things would
help, though.

First, smaller high schools. Lord Beaverbrook has 2,640 students, the
largest in Canada, and more than the population of some small towns.
Although it doesn't follow that the larger the school the greater the
problems, no principal could know so many students.

Thus, when internal discipline breaks down, the external kind, such as
ID cards, is all that's left. It's worth noting that the basic unit of
army organization is a battalion -- 800 men. Schools that size, though
more costly to run, would be more manageable.

Second, politicians from the legislature down to the school boards,
have to preach the word of responsibility to parents, and stand behind
school administrators who are prepared to walk the line.

We have our own war on terror to fight, right here in our schools.