Maria Arpa
More on education this week…
My comment about observing detention as a form of violence made it into the Daily Mail this week and it has created quite a storm. The response by readers is as interesting as it is perplexing. I’d like to invite you to read the short article in question and the comments left by readers.
Of course, the Daily Mail wrote an article with a ‘slant’ in order to generate a response. The tone of the responses is what I am most fascinated by. Here is my own personal take:
- Many of the comments are personally insulting. It is surprising how easy it is for people to create a negative image of someone they don’t actually know.
- It’s interesting that not one person, upon reading something they disagree with, thought to ask for more clarity in order to form an informed view. Neither did the naysayers attempt to learn more about a topic which is clearly outside of their comfort zone.
- It is disturbing that some of the readers have jumped to conclusions and invented narratives that are untrue, and more so, that they have little awareness of the mechanism behind them.
- The strength of feeling in the comments demonstrates how passionate and desperate people are about the state of our schools. It is, however, unfortunate that they choose to express their point of view with insults, blame and judgements.
I am passionate about supporting an education system that produces well rounded, inclusive members of society and also supports the teachers to be safe and fulfilled in the classroom. Much of the restorative work that been done in schools has been shoehorned into a punitive system which, in fact, sets it up to fail. Restorative practice demands a whole school approach.
I discuss it in detail during this interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTYSpRz9J68
What I’d love to hear is how do you experience this ‘reactive society’? Where anyone, even those who are there to educate our children, can become hostile, insulting and resort to attacking, when all that has happened is they have read something that they don’t agree with.
With love, light and gratitude. Maria Arpa -x-
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