English Component

Weapons are powerful things. Kids often lack the proper judgment to use them well. I think child soldiers in general are a bad idea, especially the way they’re trained as Ishmael Beah described them in A Long Way Gone. A drug-addled, adrenaline fueled, grieving kid should never be given a weapon or forced to kill people.

Ishmael gave a good image as to the damage it causes to the psychological structure of the victim. No one should be given a source of power when what is right and wrong isn’t clear to them. The only possible result is devastation on all sides.