Should Children Be Prosecuted For Their Actions?

There are an estimated 250,000 child soldiers in our world today. They are recruited through the government as well as rebel groups. But not all children are used for combat but they are used for a type of some other job such as cooks or spies. Children are recruited because they are easy recruitments. Children are nowadays being forced to become a child soldier as they have lost their families and have nowhere else to go. During the children's time as a child soldier they are influenced into taking drugs and killing. As a result they are forced into combat by their commander. On one side of the argument, many believe that child soldiers are not responsible for the actions they perform. On the other side many believe that child soldiers are replicas of child criminals; child criminals are prosecuted. Over the course of the past decades child soldiers have been responsible for some of the most brutal acts in wartime. Tackling this issue is hard as most of the countries containing child soldiers don’t have a functioning government that is willing to take action. Thus child soldiers should not be prosecuted for their actions.


Children are easy recruitments as they do not have power against rebel groups so that makes them easier to transform them into child soldiers. According to SOS Children's village large amounts of children are being kidnapped and once they reach military bases they have to follow all orders from the commander or else they will be killed. Child Soldiers International states that children are more vulnerable to recruitment if they are poor, separated from their families, displaced from their homes, living in a war or combat zone or have a limited access to education. In some cases children have lost their families and they seek help from military bases but then are pushed into the act of being a child soldier. However many children “volunteer” often as a result of economic or social pressures that have been created during war or they believe that they group offers an income, food or security if they become a child soldier. There are many consequences of being a child soldier that could potentially be life threatening. This includes being killed or receiving a serious injury that could affect your body for the rest of their life. One other reason why rebel groups choose children is because they do not have a sense of danger unlike adults which makes it easier for them to be in war as they do not fear anything.

Children are put in very difficult situations during this time and it is hard for them decide what to do because they have no support from family or friends. Their option is to seek help from military bases because they believe that the group will offer basic needs such as food, water and shelter. But they get tricked into becoming a child soldier. They can’t turn back from the option because they don’t have a family to go back to or a place where they can be safe. Imagine if you saw your family being killed and the only thing you could do is watch them die. Your first reaction would be shock and then you go to a military base because that is the only place you can go. You were taken away and transformed into a child soldier. The only thing you would see is guns and brutal violence. Would you want to be in a difficult situation like that. An example of this is Ishmael Beah, an ex child soldier. He faced a challenge similar to this. He had gone to a military base to seek help for his family. As he made his way back home he was stumbled upon the civil war in Sierra Leone. When he arrived at his house he saw that his house was burning down and he knew that there was no chance of his parents being alive. He was furious, all he could think about during his time as a child soldier was his family. Even Though these children are put in difficult situations and they are forced into being a child soldier. Some may argue that these children have made their decision on becoming a child soldier and joining rebel groups. They join rebel groups as an act of patriotism or to level out their family’s deaths. So not all children are forced into war. Children such as these knew what they were doing thus should be taken into custody.

When children are kidnapped they are influenced by the acts of taking high dosages of drugs and alcohol. This means that they are not in control of their actions. They are a completely different person to what they were before. This is caused by the children being forced to child soldiery.


“The commander forced us to watch Rambo to prepare us for war”. -Ishmael Beah


This means that the children are not just influenced but forced into violence. With all these problems another challenge that the children face is they way that they are attached to violence that is around them. More often than not children have no say in whether they enlist or not and once recruited the children become brainwashed through the use of drugs and alcohol. The drugs and alcohol make the children become more compliant enabling them to commit atrocities which they never would have before. Sometimes the children are not just influenced but addicted to drugs and alcohol. This means that that they are not in control of themselves.


In conclusion children should not be prosecuted for their actions because they are easy targets. They do not have power over the commanders. Two they are being forced because of social or economic pressures. Three they are influenced by high dosages of drugs and alcohol. Which means that they are unaware of their actions.

Ups and Downs Of Facing Realty

In life people share similarities with each other. Both texts “Wonder and “Tangerine” share the same idea of seeing a different world than normal kids. A desire to wanting a better life. We can understand and acknowledge that August and Paul share similarities and conflicts. They are made fun of because of their personality. We can also notice the fact that August and Paul both desperately wish that they were different and had a normal personality. August is made fun of because of his abnormal face and also the fact that he was isolated from the real world. Similarly in Tangerine, Paul is made fun of because of his sight and the fact that he wears thick goggles that people find strange. You can see that both August and Paul want to change the way they look to fit in like the other kids. But they need to learn that changing the way you look and act is not the solution to fit it. It is facing reality and to deal with what you have in your life.

In the beginning of the book, RJ Palacio represents August as a shy and low-spirited character because of the comments that people state. These comments are stated referring to his face. Even Though August has gone through many surgeries to try and fix his facial abnormality people still make fun of him. Similarly Paul started of as a shy boy but he wasn’t as depressed as August. Paul was quite high-spirited when he moved to Florida. Paul has the ability to stay as himself during school unlike August who tries to be different to what he would usually do.
“I’m sorry but there's not way we can justify putting a visually handicapped student in the goal of all places where he could get his head kicked.”(Tangerine) says a boy at football tryouts.

As Paul gets ready for his football tryouts there is a thought at the back of his mind whether he should do it or not and the reason he didn’t want to is that people wouldn’t like him to be on the team as he is visually handicapped. But he didn’t let obstacles stop him from getting on the team. In the end he does get on the team. In Wonder August doesn’t want people to judge him for who he is. So if he has an opportunity to make new friends, he doesn’t take it because he is worried that they won’t like him. On the other hand Paul is open to anyone and doesn’t let people tell him what to do because he is visually handicapped.

When RJ Palacio uses the concept of masks to symbolize that August wants to cover up his face from the real world so people won’t see his face. But Paul doesn’t want to cover up his face because he wants to reveal his true self which ideally is the right thing as you will not be judged because you try and put a mask over your face because you are worried. You shouldn’t be worried of reality, reality should be faced as your trueself. Towards the end of the book Paul ends up making friends and having great success on the football team. All you have to do is face reality for who you are and be who you are. Paul ends up gaining much more confidence than he had at the start of the book. Similarly August also gains his confidence and makes friends because he faced reality and didn’t care about what people think of him he just wanted power like all the other kids. August was always worried that people would look at his face and think that he was an alien from outer space, so he put on an astronaut helmet to cover up his face. Just like how real astronauts need their own space inside their helmet. August is the same, he needs to have his own little space away from all the people who would think August’s face would be similar to an alien's face. In both texts “Wonder” and “Tangerine”, August and Paul are trying to make friends, because they are both different from other kids they have a struggle in trying. For example in Wonder August is finding it hard to find new friends. As being the new kid in school not many people know him for his personality. Everyone knows him because of that boy with an abnormal face. Similarly in Tangerine Paul is the new kid and people don’t want to be friends with him because he is visually handicapped.

“Where I usually walked with my head down trying to avoid being seen. Today I walked with my head up looking around”- August (Wonder)

As August is in his halloween costume and he is walking in school, he feels a different emotion, an emotion that he has never felt before. He felt excited to be in school because no one knew it was him underneath the mask. In school August is known as the freak of school. When August is underneath a mask, people don’t seem to notice that he isn’t at school as August. This clearly shows the lack of respect that a majority of people give to August. But for Paul he is treated equally like all the other kids.
“I wish everyday could be halloween, we could all wear masks all the time. Then we could walk around and get to know each other before we got to see what we looked like under the masks.”- August(Wonder)

It is noticeable that August doesn’t want people to look at his face because it is abnormal and he doesn’t like his face himself. This is because he has no confidence in himself. He believes that because his face is abnormal he is different from all the other kids. But in reality August is just like one of the other kids. But in Paul’s case, he does have self confidence because he has a growth mindset so he is open to anything. He doesn’t care about what people have to say about him. He just likes being himself. Being who you are will bring out your true character. Towards the end of the book August does change his mindset from fixed to growth. The result from this change is that this brings out his character and August in general becomes a better person. August also makes more friends as a result of being himself in school. Paul has also developed in a way that he doesn’t see himself as an ordinary boy he thinks himself as an extraordinary boy.

In both “Wonder and “Tangerine”, RJ Palacio and Edward Bloor show how desperate August and Paul would want to change the way they look as they strongly dislike it. But both August and Paul finally stayed themselves, for once they appreciated who they were rather than dislike everything about them. August and Paul share similarities and conflicts but never were they so similar that they are basically like twins. The thing that both August and Paul learned is to be themselves and it will teach them to appreciate them for who they are and as well as other people.

The Effects of Using Technoogy

Everyone believes that technology plays a big part in our lives whether we use it to text our loved ones or use it to can be useful in a way but it can also be a major distraction. People like to minimize their daily electronic life to experience the real world and not to be trapped in the social black hole and staring onto a screen. There a lot of great social opportunities and you are going to miss them if you stare down at a screen all day.

Have you ever used your phone so much that you just don’t want to get off it? It is just too hard to let go of it.

One reason why people should stop using their screens too much is that they will start to act different such as use their phone when they are not supposed to, fellow 8th grade students at UWCSEA says

“I use my phone 2-3 hours a day and sometimes I use my phone when I am in school and it distracts me when I am in class. I use my phone to manage my social accounts.”


Kids create many social media accounts to interact with each other whether it is friends or family. They use their social media in the wrong way as well. There are many types of social websites or such as facebook, instagram, snapchat, etc. If kids have the time they will just take their phones out of their pockets and check their social media. It isn’t bad to check social media but you can manage your time well to social media and not access your social media uncontrollably. Another distraction kids face these days are the games that they download. Kids can’t stop looking at their screens when playing games. When on public transport people, especially kids stand around at the exit staring at their screens. They don’t notice that there are other people around them. They are in their own world. It's not good to see kids in this generation staring at a screen. They could be doing something useful as well. Phones should not be overused as kids are trading their friends and family for a useless screen that is there only to waste your time and to entertain and make your life fun. But all a phone does is make you pay for it and phones take up most of your day.

“The internet is so big, powerful and pointless that for some people it is a complete substitute for life.”- Andrew Brown

What Andrew Brown is trying to convey in the quote, some kids use their phones like it is their life. All kids need to manage their time on their social media accounts and not to spend ridiculous amounts of time looking at a screen. There won’t be any problem if they manage time well. Spending about 30 minutes to and 1 hour is a reasonable time that a child should spend using their phone on a daily basis. A rising problem kids are facing is that their phones are keeping them awake at night.

A 8th grade student has unveiled that their phone keeps them awake at night until 1 in the morning almost everyday.

Using your phone at late hours will cause you to get less sleep and that might cause drowsiness the next day and you will start to have behavioural problems. Changing how much time you use on your phones will be helpful but using your phone for excessive amounts of time will cause to be different and trapped in your own world.


Using your phone at the wrong time is not correct, you should use your phones when you are free and not doing anything. Using your phones during school, no matter how much your phone distracts you. Even Though you would just take your phone out of your pocket if you are bored. It may seem okay to do that but in reality it is not correct. You can do something more useful rather than procrastinate on your phone.

“Everybody gets so much information all day long that they lose their common sense.”

- Gertrude Stein

Gertrude Stein has revealed that children will start to have social and behavioural problems whether it could be at school. Some children get separation anxiety when separated from their phone showing a different attitude without their phones. Teenagers need to learn that there is a lot more things in this world rather than a magical screen. In reality children are stuck on a phone. What children need to understand is that we should look up sometimes at the real world and not at a screen that tells us what is going in the world.        

By: Adhvay Krishnan :)