Re: What do teens get up to in oz?
 

Reading this post I am thinking you probably have the same reaction as me when you read some of the posts on this forum :D
I would never compare teens from inner city London or Birmingham to teens from a nice area in Brisbane or wherever BUT I honestly think that given my experience of our friends teens in the UK they really are no different to here. This 1% of teens cannot be allowed to contaminate the way we look at the 99% of good teens and that applies to both countries.

Re: What do teens get up to in oz?
 

I agree that is an eye opener but really should anyone honestly be surprised ? These people come from poor underprivileged areas with high youth unemployment and for whatever reason seem to idolise gang culture from the US almost as if it is something to aspire to.

Re: What do teens get up to in oz?
 

If I lived in Sydney or other cities with these postcode gangs, I would be more aware of it. Here in Perth, you're more likely to hear about the bikie gangs, and occasionally Somalian, Sudanese or Maori gangs. Haven't heard the term "postcode gangs" before.

Re: What do teens get up to in oz?
 

The term is another media thing, they need a label for everything.

Re: What do teens get up to in oz?
 

I dont doubt that there are plenty of gangs around the place, Plenty of them would be Ethnic based.

There is one very major difference though... The Inner City problems of the UK are displaced to the Outer subs here in Australia.

The only place I personally have ever struck gang culture in Aus in on the Trains. I wont let my kids travel on Melbourne trains at night time... We do have a real problem with yoof on trains here. On my last trip of 6 weeks back to the UK, I would have encountered problem areas at least a dozen times.... mostly around corner shops and small shopping strips.

May as well repeat what happened in Chester.... First time visit to that lovely town. get to the center to be confronted with around 12 youths riding bikes in the tourist precinct and swearing their heads of and rushing and riding full bore at tourists and calling out cuuuuuuunnnntttt and that freaked erm... I worked out who the ring leader was... not the loudest, I honestly considered knocking the baarstaard of his bike. It really spoilt the day and left a taint on my last trip that I never want to repeat... they kept this behaviour up for at least 20 mins. Oh well at least CCTV has erm covered. Wondered what they did with the footage and whether they followed it through. No cops in sight..

I never want to come that close to getting involved again, If it means staying away from the UK then so be it. I think the only reason I never lashed out was because I was with my 80 yo plus father. If I had of been with my own family I may have. I would have been seen as the perpetrator as well.

..

I've also never had to streetwise my way through as many shops as I did on my last trip to the UK.... I actually turned around from the local shops in Crawley at 9pm at night. That was within easy walking distance of my Cousins supposedly upmarket house near Crawley Football ground.@ Broadfield...

Re: What do teens get up to in oz?
 

Gosh i have caused quite debate!

I will ignore the negative commments.

They are teenagers, the get the same hormones as UK teens, you get teenagers from hell just the same as any other country. Why would it be any other way
My 17 year old is grade 12, life on 17th birthday went from skateboard, pushbike ( when its not too boiling ) to the car. The car is a worry. Teen hoons kill themself here all the time, its a culture, 2 car loads in area where sons school is in last 3 years.

This post is exactly what i was getting at! Culture! It is not the culture in the uk to have hoon or boy racers/ Yes we do have them but it appears not as much as oz. The uk seems to have a gang culture for teens, hoodies etc and that was the purpose of the post. Yes of course both sides have crime i am not that daft to think they dont, its just so many people say as chris said thank goodness i moved to oz because of the uk kids etc that it makes you believe it must be so much safer there. And yes as a mother i do want to bring my kids up somewhere safer so this is not a silly reason to move?!

Re: What do teens get up to in oz?
 

So why ask for opinions in the first place:confused:

Ignoring the negatives will not make them go away

Re: What do teens get up to in oz?
 

I saw as many boy racer cars wrapped around lamp posts (or the tributes) in the UK as I have done in Australia. It might not be called hooning there - but the actions are the same.

Re: What do teens get up to in oz?
 

Personally I think ozzie teenagers in general are likely to die in their V8 shed-mobiles, have no dress sense, and need a hair cut. And the way the girls talk is annoying. :D

But that's just the Australian culture - annoying.

Re: What do teens get up to in oz?
 

I mean the comments about me personally not the feedback. God this site, you have to justify everything, everyone is so touchy and defensive lol

Re: What do teens get up to in oz?
 

I've struggled to find negative comments towards you personally, one or two wondering if the move is right and one querying another post you'd made. Not negative. Not unless you're touchy and defensive of course. ;)

Re: What do teens get up to in oz?
 

I'd say the OP needed therapy before anything else.

Re: What do teens get up to in oz?
 

Hilarious!

Re: What do teens get up to in oz?
 

Or stop reading the Daily Mail. ;)
If you say so. :unsure: I was just going along with your 'lol'

Re: What do teens get up to in oz?
 

The teens don't bother me it the ferrel little ones that ya have to worry about! :eek:

Re: What do teens get up to in oz?
 

Probably cos the teens here are to stoned to give a crap ;)

Re: What do teens get up to in oz?
 

I haven't seen any strong indication at all that kids are better in Australia. I've seen some very bad behaviour (including criminal behaviour) from teenagers/young adults in Australia and heard some pretty poor things come out of their mouths on trains etc.

As someone said earlier, it is a case of 'same shit, different bucket'. I find that this is true of *most* things when comparing UK and Australia - same shit, different bucket.

If you ever look at stats online you'll find things like crime and youth crime per capita (this is a vital element because it takes differences in population size into account) are virtually identical - in many cases you'll find Australia often actually comes HIGHER in crime lists. Do some reading online - there's been some HORRIFIC crimes committed in Australia over the years but one of the curious things about Australia is that people *seem* to be inclined towards turning a blind eye/ignoring a lot of these things which is the exact opposite of what happens in Britain where everyone takes TOO MUCH notice of the shit that goes on. Aussies have their famous ''she'll be right'' attitude which I feel gets used too much and allows them to think things are okay when they are not.

Nations develop patterns/habits of thought. It doesn't necessarily represent reality. Australia is VERY biased towards a positive appraisal of itself, whereas Britain is VERY biased towards a negative appraisal of itself. It's just how it goes.

The bottom line is that there are shitty areas of the UK and there are shitty areas of Australia. There are areas in both countries that you would not want to live. Just because there is more sun in Australia does not mean there is less crime and unpleasantness.

Cheers!

Pete

Re: What do teens get up to in oz?
 

Well I find myself agreeing with absolutely every part of your post, mostly because it is spot on :D
Amazingly I get accused of being anti Australian because I tell people that virtually every aspect of day to day life is the same here as it is in the UK.
I have read that the average person has more family time here, people are healthier here, kids are happier and more polite here and even that they don't grow up so fast here.
I realise that many are happy just to blindly accept these 'facts' but I prefer to try and balance things, for that I am apparently a hater :rofl:
I also realise that many migrants will want to think all these things are true and will ignore bad news to a degree, that is understandable but naive.
Anyway, thanks again.

Re: What do teens get up to in oz?
 

I havent read the other posts on this thread but I have taught high school in both countries. My perception is there is a hardness in UK kids that isn't as prevalent in Australian kids, who tend to be quite easy going. I can't imagine the riots of London happening in Australia. The UK riots were caused by decades of welfare plus family breakdown plus cultural issues - Australia has been much tougher in dealing with those issues (work for the dole programs plus strict immigration policies etc)
In the high school I teach in Perth it is the english kids that are the most difficult to deal with on the whole. You get horrible Aussie kids too.

Re: What do teens get up to in oz?
 

I guess as with everything it very much depends on where you are in both countries.

Re: What do teens get up to in oz?
 

Having lived in Adelaide
Like most speaking from experience ... it’s like for like , it’s all dependent on the friends they meet and on how there guidelines are set out from home , Australian children don’t seem to grow up as fast , my 16yrs old is more like a British 14yr old, however Australia does seem to have the mentality put in to their youth of perfection and not always in the ways that count , ie sport , body ,eating habits, finding yourself in the outback :ohmy:, once again it comes down to your beliefs.
Having also lived in south Africa where there is a question of safety and crime etc , there is no reason for concern in either the uk or Australia all we can do is our best.
My teanager was at a party last night , ( most likely with alcohol ) then stayed at her friends house with 12 other girls in a tent.

In the uk , she would have likely done the same thing, allthough my eldest in the uk had hit the night clubs by 16, but she has grown up just fine.

Shame sh....... shiner bucket some days.

Re: What do teens get up to in oz?
 

I don't necessarily intend to argue but I have also been a teacher (before I abandoned it!) in the UK and Australia and I was struck by how similar the kids are. The kids in London were definitely tougher but out of London they were no different, in my experience, to Aussie kids.

I don't think you can claim that the riots that occurred in the UK would not happen in Australia and I don't think you can link them strictly to teenagers either. Lots of people were involved in the riots in some way or another - and they were not all impoverished, tough teenagers. That's a nonsense.

And you seem to have completely forgotten the 2005 Cronulla Riots. That DID happen in Australia so I don't agree with your confident statement that things like that could never happen in Australia.

I also don't entirely agree with the ''British kids grow up quicker'' thinking. The Aussie kids are like American kids to my eyes - they are positively HUGE compared to not just British but European kids in general - something in the food or the water or perhaps more sun, I don't know. Physically they are much more mature looking at a younger age and that has got to have an impact on how they see themselves mentally too.

Cheers!

Pete