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Headline: They kiss and grope and don't care if you watch
This article is about the area between blocks 623 and 628 in Bukit Batok Central. Students have been seen geting intimate in that area. Their behaviour has riled and shocked residents. This area used to be occupied by old people who chatted there, but now, it has been overrun by students, mostly in secondary school, who drink, smoke, and 'make out' in the open. Several students who were interviewed showed obvious indifference to their appalling behaviour. When a resident shouted at them to ask a student couple to stop kissing, they actually dared to glare at her. They seem to be oblivious to their extremely unwanted behaviour , as can be seen by their response to the reporters question. When asked if they thought they should be doing this, someone said 'I'm old enough to know what's wrong or right. This is my choice (to smoke in my uniform). I don't think it's anyone's business to interfere.' Another girl that was 14 years old said: 'They(her parents) think I'm attending supplementary classes at school when I'm actually with my boyfriend. I'm going to marry my boyfriend one day, so I say it's okay if we get close to each other now.’ These answers showed the ignorance of these youths.
In my opinion, this should never ever happen. As a teenager myself, I understand very well the pressures during this period of time where we have just started to get our freedom. Our parents have let go of us much more, and a lot of decisions are made on our own. Among these pressures, there are 2 which stand out as the most common, and happen to be the two which are addressed by this article. They are peer pressure, and intimate relationships with the opposite sex ( also known as ‘bgr’- boy girl relationships).
As a teenager, nothing much matters to us except for having fun, hanging out with friends and being popular. Without the proper guidance, whether from teachers or from parents, we can easily get into bad company and we get ridiculously irrational. This often means that the teen’s sense of judgement is badly affected, which may lead them to think that smoking is ‘cool’ and it makes them hip and fit in with his/her friends. The few friends I have who smoke told me that they thought smoking was cool and that was why they started.
The other factor is intimate relationships, which is also linked to peer pressure. At that age, many teenagers think that since their friends have a boyfriend/ girlfriend, they should also get one. They may also want to get in a relationship so that they can show off to their friends, as they think that it makes them be envied.
