SOCIETY often seems to have a schizophrenic attitude to providing recreational facilities for young people. Complaints are loud when no facilities exist but they can get even louder when it's proposed to spend public money on creating some.
In the Hunter in recent weeks this dual viewpoint has been on display in the debate over Newcastle City Council's Loft youth venue and InZine magazine and again in discussions at Lake Macquarie City Council over a proposed skate park for Swansea.
Supporters of the investment in youth facilities argue that young people are important members of the community and deserve to have money and effort spent on their behalf. Many others may agree with those general principles, but find fault in particular projects and proposals. Their reasons for this opposition are varied.
In the case of The Loft some argued that the venue cost too much and that its programs were not reaching a wide enough clientele. The InZine magazine was judged based on an issue which crossed the line in discussions of suicide and depression to be subject to insufficient adult oversight.
When it came to the Swansea skate park, adult opponents of the $543,000 project said the site was unsuitable, that the park would become a magnet for undesirable activities and that its location would be too difficult to supervise.
About 20 young people made their presence felt in the council chamber, however, explaining that their skating and bike-riding activities in existing public and commercial areas were frowned on, making it hard to enjoy their hobbies and making them feel like outlaws.
Under the circumstances, the council decided correctly when it came down in favour of the skaters. The park may attract bad behaviour, but many Lake parks do that already. Residents who live near some other parks where skate facilities have been installed have suggested that the skaters generally do no harm.
Perhaps the wisest words on the subject were those penned on this newspaper's website yesterday by the lifetime Swansea resident who noted that the broader community had to treat young people with respect if it expected them to show respect in return.
Quality of teaching
IT must be becoming a matter of some concern for the University of Newcastle that the latest edition of the Good Universities Guide has again rated the institution well below average for the quality of its teaching. On a five-star scale the university rated just one star for the second year in a row. The university has observed that this may be balanced by high ratings in other areas including research, graduate starting salaries and ease of access, and noted that the assessment was based on responses from only 56 per cent of students and graduates apparently surveyed during "tumultuous times" in 2006.
Those comments deserve to be borne in mind, but the repeated poor rating for teaching quality prompts a hope that recent efforts to improve performance will be reflected in future surveys.
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