It is reasonable for Government to require some things. For example,
it is reasonable for Government to require adults to refrain from
having ***ual relations with or otherwize abusing children (define
"children" status by an arbitrary age range) -- penalize violating
adults.
The idea here is that those defined as "children" are presumed to be
too immature to make a decision about ***ual relations, and coercion by
an adult into a ***ual relation****p amounts to rape. Also, ***ual
abuse is not the only sort of abuse which generally fits here. The
one-size-fits-all age range does not perfectly fit every "child", but
it fits a high percentage well enough to be serviceable.
Along similar lines, it is reasonable for Government to require
businesses, especially businesses offering service products aimed at
child-minded persons (gaming arcades, etc.) not to do business with
school-age children within school hours (define "school-age children"
by an age-cap consistent with elementary school or possibly higher,
depending on where you expect adolescents to develop some degree of
responsible thinking) (hmmmm.... what age might this be in the RP?) --
penalize violating businesses; return violating children to either home
or school; possibly penalize parents of violating children; allow
schools to internally penalize violating children (after-school
detention, required schoolground cleanup activities, etc.)
The idea here is similar to the thinking behind the
anti-rape/anti-abuse thinking. Many/most "children" are too immature to
reliably make decisions balancing recreational activities which offer
immidiate emotional payback vs. schooltime activities which offer
near-term drudgery which may lead to some long-term payback.
Businesses which exploit this are taking advantage of this immaturitity
to the detriment of the children involved. Parents are considered by
society to have some responsibility for development of their
still-immature children, so it makes sense to (a) inform the parents
of the child's irresponsible action and (b) penalize the parents in
some measure. Schools, by the concept of "in loco parentus" (sp?),
have a measure of delegated parental authority over and responsibility
for their students, and they need some disciplinary tools.
Having said that, I will add that I think that it is wrong-headed
except in exceptional cases for Government (other than school
administrators) to usurp parental authority and to directly discipline
erring children. I would expect to see this sort of thing here and
there in the US, and would expect to see it in greater measure in the
Philippines.
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