KEY POINTS:
The middle-class howls heard after the Government announced its plans for army-style boot camps for wayward youth this week were predictable, if predictably unhelpful.
Finally, after weeks of centre-right announcements that left little room for even opposition condemnation, left-leaning commentators and the blogosphere had something tangible to hang
on the Government - a draconian plan to discipline that international experience had, apparently, proven wrong.
Here at last was a move that proved John Key's team was the far right the left has feared all along - with 12 and 13-year-old "criminals" their first targets.
The Defence Force will run the three-month children's camps with nine months of mentoring and support promised thereafter.
Labour attacked the boot camps as having previously been found to have a 92 per cent reoffending rate and producing "better, faster criminals".
But as one former National Service army instructor wrote following the announcement, such a scheme can help young people - many of whom have never experienced any form of discipline or consistency in their lives - gain self-confidence, obtain self-respect and grow in the knowledge of their own ability.
The idea does have merit, and not only for those children whose lives are careening off track at a young age.
Teens of all ages, classes and ethnicities often lack any experience of commitment and discipline.
The neglected, and often also the over-parented, share a common lack of boundaries.
As the proliferation of TV shows and books on practical parenting show, child-centric families are as capable of producing immature, unfocused and confused teenagers as are those who care little what their children are doing.
But the unfashionable notion of discipline is, in fact, a great comfort to the young.
Knowing exactly what is expected of you and conforming to a group ethos can be of great benefit, even over a period of just a few weeks.
That "short, sharp shock" so derided by those who believe counselling, not correction, is what is needed, can be a life-changing event for those who have never experienced boundaries before.
As one Wairoa police officer involved in similar boot camps said this week, when teenagers turn up each day dressed in identical gear to do identical activities "it doesn't matter where you fit". That kind of group training produces as many psychological changes as physical.
Just this week Key has been lobbied by other community groups proposing a national "youth corps" - a programme for those between school and further education or the workplace, who for a year or less can work on eco, infrastructure or other public projects.
As unemployment grows and the cost of tertiary education becomes prohibitive for many families, a government-sponsored "gap year" could benefit many, providing skill training, discipline and new experiences for teenagers who are facing the uncertainty of an economic climate in decline.
