The policy policy 4 Mar 2010 Australian Prime Minister for the Obvious has said that there should be a “zero tolerance” policy against bullying. In other news, a 13 year old Victorian girl who held a kitchen knife to the throat of a 12 year old girl – allegedly – is not to be charged by police, but has been cautioned. Both my kids were bullied. My son was assaulted every day of his secondary school life, sometimes on school grounds in front of teachers, and at other times at the bus stop just outside the school. All his schools, for we moved him to alleviate the problem, assured us that they had no bullying. Why? Because they had a “policy” against it. It slowly dawned on me that there is a certain mindset among bureaucrats, especially among educationalists, who are bureaucrats par excellence, that I call the “Policy policy”; and it is this: If you have a policy, then no further action is required. The policy is to have a policy. Actually doing something about the problem is thereby avoided. We see this in everything. Rather than actually do something, say, police work which requires resources and effort, about terrorism, have a policy against it that you can use to shift the effort and costs to travellers. Rather than deal with actual violence in the streets, have a policy that police cannot apply. Instead of dealing with actual mentally ill people, have a policy. Discrimination? Have a policy, but whatever you do, do not actually impede it. The policy policy allows governments to look like they are doing something, when in fact they are not interested. It allows managers and administrators to say they have taken action, when at best they have said they would take action and at worst they have merely said something. It allows teachers to turn a blind eye to physical assault – the kind that would land an adult in jail – because they are kids and we “have a policy” against bullying. And it’s bullshit. If I had my time over as a parent of school children, I would not only insist on criminal charges being laid against the children (and they should be dealt with as children, and none of this equal bullshit about trying them as adults), and any adult involved who failed in their duty of care to my kids. That would include the headmaster and teacher at the private Anglican school – Woodleigh College – where my daughter was whipped 50 times by her classmates with a branch. I would insist on there being criminal charges of neglect and accessory after the fact, because the teacher and headmaster tried to cover it up and refused to act on my daughter’s complaint. I very nearly assaulted them when I went to have a piece of them. Here it is a decade later andI am still in a white hot fury. I defy them to sue me for defamation, because I’ll have their guts for legal garters if they do. And then, contrary to the Australian Way as it is, I would sue. I would sue the school, the parents of the children, and where necessary the police and government if they failed to take their duties seriously and institute charges when presented with evidence of crimes. I would ensure that it cost everyone much more than it cost my kids to be bullied. Maybe then the policy policy might bear some fruit. Beware the policy policy – it is a substitute for action, and possibly the greatest threat to our liberties we have faced in our times. It is how censorship of the internet if being justified in Australia. It is why the PATRIOT Act allowed the rollback of civil rights and rule of law. Instead of actually charging terrorists and testing those claims in a court of law, the US has illegally held whoever it wants with impunity, because they had a policy. Once you give bureaucrats power by a policy they will abuse it – it is only a matter of time. So, ignore what political idiots say, and look at what they actually propose to do. Do not be misled by the policy policy. Australian stuff Censorship Freedom Politics Pop culture Social dominance
Ecology and Biodiversity Miscellany 23 Dec 2008 Damn it’s hot. Around here, snow is at a premium, which means our solstitial celebrations are less active than those oop north. Anyway, I got interviewed last night on national radio, the ABC’s National Evening show, talking about the early ideas of philosophy to presenter Rhys Muldoon. Nice fellow. It… Read More
Epistemology What should evolutionary psychology comprise? 25 Jul 201125 Jul 2011 Recently there have been a number of posts and comments on evolutionary psychology. A new paper in PLoS Biology argues that human brain evolution since the “stone age” (really?) has been rapid and multifaceted. And there are renewed calls for evolutionary psychology to change. As usual, John Hawks has a… Read More
Evolution Species, framing, and stuff 24 Mar 2008 So here’s a neo-Thomist talking about species, and not getting it due to (i) prior metaphysical commitments, and (ii) not understanding Aristotle – dude, he never called anything a species, not in the biological sense. Eidos and genos were just ordinary words he coopted for the Metaphysics and Posterior Analytics…. Read More
As a recipient of personal targeted abuse from fellow students (and two teachers) at both my primary and high schools through the 80s and 90s (and even at a TAFE afterwards), I can empathise with the rage which can still be called forth when recalling both the events and the subsequent inaction. Some of my school friends copped it a lot worse and felt equally powerless or ignored, which only compounded my own feelings. Hard to know what effect it all had on my education, let alone my psyche. From what I’ve heard, school violence is more or less responded to the same as when I was a student, i.e. basically not at all. I think you’re right – I think actual criminal complaints and civil lawsuits might be the only way to hold bullies, schools, ed departments and governments accountable. Involve the law – even threaten to – and people tend to take notice.
Wow. That’s really intense…. almost brought me to tears. I’m with you 100% re: negative reaction about policies. I just laugh maniacally when I see “affirmative action” and “equal opportunity” in the same sentence. Yay, we have a *policy* that is logically inconsistent. Even better, we get to do NOTHING about institutional sexism/racism/classism that continues to prevent any shift in the power at the high levels. Change requires *action*. Policies legitimize inaction.
You left out the “we’re planning a policy gambit”. This means that the polioticians (spelling deliberate) can waste lots and lots of time and public money researching background material on which to base the “to be formulated policy”. Nice versions are the cross party delegation trips to Germany, Guatamala, Guinea or where ever to study how they deal with “the problem” there.
look at what they actually propose to do I agree 100% with what you wrote, except I look at what they actually do. They propose many things and then go and do other things. In the long ago when I was a schoolkid, my schools didn’t have written policies but bullying meant you got the belt or resulted in you being expelled. Teachers actually walked around the playground at break times. The belt is now banned in most places and expulsion gets the head in trouble with the local government.
John, How old is your daughter? If she’s not long past when she became an adult under the law, the limitation period may not have run out. Some jurisdictions don’t start limitation periods running on children until the child becomes an adult. Litigation is a time and money sink, but it’s not always more trouble than the benefit, so I thought I’d point that out, if you hadn’t thought of it. BTW, I work a policy job (government procurement – dry stuff) and was bullied for several years in elementary school and that at a time when policies weren’t in vogue but being strapped for any transgressions was, so I’ve got other thoughts, but that would be for another comment.
Certainly in my backyard it’s when you take legal action that the policy becomes usefull. If its out dated and badly constructed it forms the basis to drive a legal steam roller through it at high speed.
We had that problem in our school. After two and a half years of “policies” and “hand-wringing” by the principal, I finally blew my cork one day and ripped her down one side and up the other. I also let her know, I would not, under any circumstances, tolerate this BS one more second and if it happened the boy better be suspended immediately else it was going to be police (assault) and lawsuit time as the district DID have an anti-bullying policy which she was not enforcing… Amazingly, once she saw her career having the potential of going down the toilet, it all shaped up. The boy was suspended three times in one week and he discovered that once his bullying had consequences, it wasn’t worth it…
Until I read it here it (stupidly) never occurred to me that bullying is analogous to criminal assault among adults. That’s how normative the Lord of the Flies culture of schoolgrounds is, I’d say. It’s amazing that we can have two sets of completely different standards–and that the difference favors the group who can supposedly handle themselves rationally. I’m sure the difference amounts to the fact that most adult criminals don’t have advocates who will excuse their behavior (as bullies do, in the form of parents). Who wants to believe his or her child is acting barbarously? Like so many other moral failings, this one is political: the offenders (or their parents, more accurately) are important constituents. Some policies, of course, are scrupulously enforced, so that children are suspended for having the wrong over the counter medicines. If we could only make bullying as grave an offense as the possession of drugs, perhaps zero tolerance would start to take on some meaning. I remember well the feeling, from elementary school until the threshold of adulthood, that there was no such thing as justice. Much of my adult life has been devoted to an awareness of this error. Thanks for writing this.
“Who wants to believe his or her child is acting barbarously?” Me. I have three of them, if I don’t do something when they play up, as all kids do from time to time, it is just trouble down the line at home as well as school. They behave well because when they have not in the past the situation is resolved and dealt with on the spot. We just resolved a bout of 8 a.m pre-school feuding between two small members of the household. I don’t know how parents can live with the behaviour of their kids and ignore it. It must drive them up the wall, as if they are behaving badly in public they will be far worse at home. It is poor parenting pure and simple that is nearly always the cause of this.
The point little hat’s should stick to making academic arguments and attacks. They are at liberty to read the same sources as I am and make an argument based on fact rather than hearsay.
You are 100% right about policy policy. My son was bullied all the way through primary school. He had four sets of glasses destroyed and eventually gave up wearing them. I constantly complained about the bullying and nothing was done. I adfopted the apporoach that bullies are cowards and eventually told my son that if they started something he was going to get some lumps anyway so the best thing to do was hit back and keep hitting. Result: When he and his friend came to the defense of a seven year old being attacked by a bunch of 10 year olds they turned and attsacked him and his friend. My son was knocked to the ground and repeatedly kicked. The little s@*t doing this said “This is what I do for a living. What are you going to do about it”. My son responded by biting his leg. Result my son fasced suspension for biting. Complaint after complaint to the principal was fobbed off. She was proud of her school and didn’t want to hear the truth. Eventually after one particularly nasty attack on my son and his friend in which these little thugs accused them of being gay I put a complaint in writing. This included threats of legal action. I called his friend’s parents and suggested they do the same. The result was two letters simultaneously arriving on the Deputy Principal’s desk. She was far more responsive than the principal who fortunately was away at a conference. She called in the offenders. They confessed to their crimes and she told them to put it in writing. Thier parents were then summonsed to school and the boys told to read out their confessions to them. Result no more bullying. The really annoying thing about this is that the same gand of thugs was doing this all the way through and one of them ended up as school captain. Was he still captain after his crimes were exposed. Of course they couldn’t really punish him now could they. In the first month at high school he had a knife shoved in his back and was forced to eat a lolly. Fortunately it was only that. asll this happened in front of the classroom teacher. Complaints to the principal saw immediate action and suspension of the offender. The school had a policy which it actually acted on. The principal also gave my son some good advice on how to deal with bullies and he had very few problems from then on.
Yes I think I will go down this route. As I feel I have a problem. I don’t want to put up with the hassle of going to court. Folk psychology does not really go very far in such places though, it is not a difficult thing to do or demonstrate, it takes one word to do it; it’s just having to live through it again and put up with it all once more. But it seems that it is going on again anyway. I like the language of science, it’s so clear in it’s use of language, the manner in which it defines things. Some people have difficult reading such expert language. Never a wise idea I find. One should read things with care before making false accusations in a bid to cover you’re ass. Myths have a purpose they are not an irrational creation. But they just fall down in certain places where evidence is valued. All you have to say is one non-magic word.
“My son was knocked to the ground and repeatedly kicked. The little s@*t doing this said “This is what I do for a living. What are you going to do about it”. My son responded by biting his leg. Result my son fasced suspension for biting.” I had the same experience as a child, being kicked while on the ground and with biting his plant leg the only means I had to make the other kid (2 years older and a foot taller) decide to quit kicking my head. In my case, I got called into the principal’s office when the other kid’s mother complained. Based on her story, without even asking the other kid never mind me, I got strapped for the biting. On the positive side, I did produce a glorious bruise all the colours of the rainbow because I’d had to chew away at his leg for some time before he got the idea, and on an army base there is nothing that will destroy a kid’s ‘street cred’ like being bested by a smaller kid and then having your mom complain to the school about it. When I was in elementary school, the strap was resorted to early and often and it did nothing whatever to reduce bullying. I suspect partly because the bullies often got worse at home but probably more because of incidents like the above, driven by the entire cluelessness of administrators about administrative fairness. Certainly, I know no reason to think that more use of corporal punishment offers any solution. It’s things like that that make the policy policy approach popular. People want something done immediately and categorically to “end the problem”. Since there is no problem of any significance that can be ended immediately and categorically, you get instead immediate and categorical policy. Unless there is folllow up asking what, specifically, will be done to implement it successfully, to include educating folk on how to sort out what has actually happened on the schoolyard, the new policy is doomed.
I am starting to feel like I did at uni. again. I am getting realy quite concerned about some of the things Ive been seeing online. It looks like the info is coming from a member of staff in my old department i had a particular problem with. I had a problem when I started. I missed a couple of classes and got some sharp treatment. I was not given the chance to answer because the member of staff did not want to listen to excuse. I was really rather angry, normal I would have ignored it but my whole family had full blown flue for two weeks, it was a very vicious virus and we had all got extremly ill. Both myself and my two year old son caught post viral I.B.S. my other son was of school for six months with milder post viral infection. I was in severe pain my 2 year old was also in agony. I wrote to the head of department with a covering leteer from my G.P. The matter was investigated but no fault was found. My head of department agreed to act as my study supervisor. He liked my project. He told me I had been very unwise in complaining. Other staff proved very difficult, I was not allowed to speak in class. My other supervisor did not like what I was doing, threatned to fail my work, and refused to give back essay marks despite being repetadly asked by the head of department. I just found I could not work. I had only managed to hand in one essay, Post viral I.B.S just got worse and became horrificaly sore. I spent 9 months in bed in howling pain, could not eat very much lost loads of weight. It finaly started to get a bit better. I just wanted to get my m.phil finished. As I knew I had problems I emailed my director of studies asking to meet before I matriculated as if he still had problems it would be impossible to work. He refused until I had matriculated. I e-mailed him again said basicaly what my consultant had told me. That Had an illness that was like being in prison. It realy was and I was just getting out in the world for the first time. I was still very weak and ill and in quite a lot of pain. I was worried that my department was not reading the material I was using correctly. I just compiled a lot of sources I had, stuck them down without any explanitary notes and handed them in before the meeting. What I did not know that the head of department my other supervisor, was off ill suffering from severe stress. My study supervisor just started reading me the riot act. In the meeting I started to feel like I was being submerged underwater, got realy dizzy. By the time I got home I was just all over the place. Tried to lock all the doors and windows. I thought the Person I had problems with at the start of the course was going to come round and kill my kids. I spent two days like that. Wrote some well freaky e-mails to members of staff. Did not sleep for a couple of days. Managed to get some sleep. Woke up. Felt fine except it felt like I had been clubed on the back of the head with a baseball bat. Went to my g.p I was worried sick. I thought I was going to get put straight in a mental hospital. Explained what happened, he just said I had suffred from an acute case of shock. A perfectly normal reaction to a difficult set of circumstances. He said he would write to the university straight away. I said no. I was worried after the fist insident that I would ruin any chance of future study and I wanted to complete my degree. That was a very stupid move on my part. But I was still in shock. I arranged to see the head of department. It was a ‘transcribed’ meeting. I explained what happened. I had to as I had sent some very odd e-mails. Being back in the department just brought the shock back. I had suffered from panic attacks as an undergrad when my son was born. That had been sorted. She did not know what post viral meant and I did not mention I had already seen a doctor. It was a very unpleasant meeting I was told I was suffering from stress. That nothing had happened and I was seeking to blame the department for my problems. I was asked to leave, I agreed. Member of staff in another department, told me not to withdraw from the course under any circumstances. I saw the proffesor, a plan was drawn up. I had to contact the secratory to make arrangements. She got back said she would have to check things out with the department. I never heard anything further. I still had post viral I.B.S. it just got worse again, got very depressed and just did nothing as I was to ill. When I started to get better, I tried to resolve the situation as best I could wrote to many e-mails. Desite what had happened I put my study ahead of everything else. They had promised to return my if I quit the course. I had not done that but they had effectivly blocked me from studying anyway. I asked for my fee’s back. they would not even do that. I could have sued the pants of them at any time. I just did not want to do that. Partly out of fear. One member of staff in particular was realy not happy about my initial complaint at the start of the course. It seems to be happening again online. I am starting to feel realy ill. Back of my head going numb like before. I just don’t know what to do. If I write to the department they will just ignore it, court is just an ordeal to go through again. I am worried sick. I am not sure if it is related but three weeks ago some one shit in my front garden. Even brought their own toilet paper. It seemed a bit of a symbolic act. It may just be chance but it is giving me the creeps. If this continues I think I am going to end up sicker than I was before. I have just started to get beter over the last year. Ive suffered quite badly from depression since university. 5 years ago. Its been tough for my partner and my kids. I am just at a complete loss as to waht to do. My department will just treat me as a nut if I get in touch. They have come to believe their own myths. As they have just got away with it before someone clearly feels they can just destroy my life, my health and affect the whole of my family. For what? He was out of order at the start of the course. I made a complaint. Nothing happened to him. Why on earth is this going on. He knows full well just how sick I was and what happens when I get really stressed.