‘A 10-year-old in western Europe is probably the safest demographic since man first walked upright, but try telling that to your brain’
I’d like to have a soldier stationed outside the classroom door,” my son’s teacher told the parents’ meeting. “And I’d like him to be young and handsome.” My children’s primary school in Paris is a few minutes’ walk (or a frantic sprint) from the sites of last year’s terrorist attacks. Across the city, the new term has started with drills on what to do if terrorists get into the school. The teacher announces “Intrusion”, turns off the lights, puts something in front of the door, and everyone hides under their desks.
My kids don’t seem traumatised. One of my sons came home chuckling at the memory of his fat middle-aged teacher trying to squeeze under her desk. Still, his generation will be shaped by the spectre of terrorism.
Every society tries to make the trade-off between security and freedom. I grew up in the 1970s and 1980s at the tail-end of a western era that prioritised freedom. According to Google, mentions of “freedom” exceeded mentions of “security” in English-language books every year from about 1830 through to 1985. When I was eight, living in a small Dutch town, all the children in my class cycled to school alone. Our parents rarely knew where we were (and probably didn’t care). Freedom was the spirit of the times.
Statistically, in fact, we were in much greater danger than children today. My two schoolmates who died of cancer might well have survived now. And when I was eight, Dutch traffic deaths were more than triple today’s level.
By the end of my childhood, society began getting more protective. In 1985, mentions of “security” surpassed “freedom” in books, and the word has steadily expanded its lead since. We entered an era of compulsory seatbelts, bans on public smoking and laws against drink-driving.
“Oh ye of little faith”….