The Kids can be Batman or the Joker

I was sitting in a workshop this morning which addresses various techniques of intervention to use with problem kids. Admittedly, today’s session was a bit boring until it began to address the kinds of kids I deal with on a daily basis. The profile presented showed a kid who is in essence was following the road of a sociopath. The presenter went on to explain that this type of kid is often the hardest to deal with simply because his behaviors are almost never followed with any feelings of remorse. For example, in the least extreme case this student may be a thief. His response to such an act would be that the individual he stole from should not have left his valuables unprotected, therefore alleviating himself of the blame.

This of course struck a strong chord in me because this is the type of student that I encounter everyday. It also brings insight to why all of my rants and appeals to these individuals are often met with blank stares, interruptions and wise cracks. It was also noted that these individuals exhibit these behaviors as a coping mechanism to deal with the many traumatic events of their lives…a fact that was very evident to me before I took this class. However, it does not negate the fact that it would behoove the individual to always be aware of the causes.

Now here is where it gets real: I could not help but realize that many of these individuals have no problem admitting their crimes if given the right amount of publicity when doing so. When I witnessed the thief in question intricately describing the strategies of his many capers it reminded me of an episode of 20/20 where a mass murderer in infinite detail tells the interviewer about his many heinous crimes. My question then was are we teaching this generations future sociopaths? My instructor then replied that although many of our students do indeed possess sociopathic tendencies, they don’t all have to be criminals. And to further illustrate her point she said “A sociopath doesn’t have to be a criminal…he could become Dick Cheney or any American CEO.” A very sobering thought indeed!

Now what does this all have to do with comics? Anyone who is familiar with the whole Batman saga knows that he himself could be considered a sociopath in his own right. He dresses in a bat suit and through techniques of extreme violence and intimidation guards Gotham City. His arch nemesis the Joker on the other hand uses the same techniques to keep the city in constant terror. These characters are in essence two sides of the same coin. Which brings me closer to the frightening realization that as I sit in my classroom from day-to-day in front of groups of potential future sociopaths, I have been given the charge and the dilemma of influencing them to become batmen and batwomen as opposed to future jokers. Laughable? Maybe.

Maybe I’ve just read too many comic books. But one thing is certain. We live in a country that is 5 percent of the world’s population and 25 percent of its prison inmates. This is appalling! So if a man in spandex and a cape can help me cope with such a fact then so be it.