Social dilemma

The story of a young French boy who was deserted by his mother and left alone for two years until a kind neighbour stepped up and contacted authorities is horrible and hopefully very rare, but who knows.

The fact that he was a good student allowed his circumstances to go unnoticed by his teachers, something that it is implied teachers should have recognised but it’s not that easy.

Many teachers with large classes at the primary level and multiple classes at the secondary tend to first know the troublesome students because they call out their names more often and the more academic individuals as they ask more challenging questions. The middle group can easily be lost in the crowd, sometimes intentionally. Teachers are expected to deal with numerous social and medical issues in the classroom so a good pupil often isn’t checked for living conditions.

How to solve this problem? I don’t know, as police have a lot on their hands, medical people may not ever meet them, counsellors wouldn’t be called in until the situation had already been identified and with a long delay as there is a shortage of counsellors and police, medical people as well as teachers. This is a problem for society and it is certain he is not the only one living in difficult circumstances.

Dennis Fitzgerald,

Melbourne, Australia