Czech adolescents faced with greater insecurity and a crisis of values

The tragic classroom killing of a teacher in Svitavy this week has received widespread coverage in the media here. It has also engendered much speculation about rising levels of violence in Czech society, particularly among the young.

Czech adolescents faced with greater insecurity and a crisis of values

The death of teacher Bohuslav Sibl - who was beaten and stabbed to death by a student in front of his class on Monday - has sent shockwaves throughout Czech society. Some sections of the media have been pointing to worrying violent tendencies among the nation's youth. Professor Petr Macek, who is a sociologist specialising in adolescent behaviour at Masaryk University in Brno, says that the reasons for the attack in Svitavy probably had a lot to do with the specific dynamics of that particular case. At the same time he also notes that levels of aggression have been rising in Czech society, and that young people clearly were not immune to this trend.

Although some have blamed this rise in aggressive behaviour on the popularity of action films and violent computer games, Professor Macek thinks there are other reasons for this phenomenon. One factor is the stress and anxiety young people face these days as opposed to the old certainties that prevailed in the communist era. In some ways, the changing social conditions since 1989 have also brought about a crisis of values:

"The situation is different: I think young people today have to be more responsible for themselves; they have to be more autonomous when making decisions. Of course, perhaps it is also related to a high level of anxiety about how to cope with this freedom and uncertainty. Today, they also have a problem with rules and norms. They don't have any clear patterns of standards and rules for their behaviour - they don't have a stable system of values. This can also produce some insecurity."

Professor Macek stresses that it is not just young people who face these problems, but that the situation is something that all of Czech society has to come to terms with. As regards identifying and dealing with young people who might be experiencing difficulties in coping with the world around them, Professor Macek says that there is only so much psychologists and social workers can do:

Photo: European Commission

"I think it's down to educating teachers and parents as well. For instance, the number of psychologists going to schools has increased. We have new possibilities for helping young people - we can assist them by phone, on the internet, or by using other media. So on the one hand we have more possibilities for communicating with young people and for learning more about their personality and identifying their problems. On the other hand, maybe we have less really personal "face-to-face" communication, and we are less interested in particular problems and specific situations. We should also recognise that it's not an easy situation for teachers either. These days, unlike the past, they are also subject to greater "existential" pressures in regard to their jobs and their future. So I think problems can be identified on both sides."