The dangers of Anti-Authoritarianism in German's school-system
Although this article is not directly about the German school-system, it is about the theory behind today's German education process.
Mr. JJ Juan from SoloHq.com has written in this interesting article:
http://www.solohq.com/Articles/jj/Responsibility_without_Authority_An_Incredible_Injustice.shtml
It is about Responsibility without Authority, in it he compare a scene from "The Incredibles" (an computer-animated Film by the famous Pixar Studios) to a classroom situation. Take a look at his analysis of the scene in the movie.
Without giving too much of the movie away, it's a rather inconspicuous scene when Mrs. Incredible leaves her preteen son and daughter, Dash and Violet, in a cave before she goes out to explore on her own. Like a good mother she tells her kids to be safe and that Violet, who is the older child, is in charge in her absence. Right at that moment, I know that she has given all the power to Dash. That's right, Dash, the younger son rather than the intended Violet.
We can see here the importance of authority to responisbility and that otherwise it will result in a vicious-circle for Violet, who can't do anything to discipline Dash, because he has not the authority to do so, but also she has to prevent any danger coming to Dash. While Dash is stripped of any fear for consequences and thus gets all the power to pursuit his morally ambigous goals.
Mr. Juan, now, applies this to the problems in a classroom of the teachers who are restricted to none-violence (of any kind!).
Take classrooms as an example. Teachers are given no real authority to discipline their students even though they are held responsible for their students' well behavior. One way for a teacher to deal with this is to assume the authority anyway, for instance, spank the student. The disciplined student would complain to his parents and escalate the issue to the principal's office. The teacher ends up getting blamed for exercising powers she's not authorized to use.Another way is to shrugged the responsibility. Just let the student run rampant for all to see. If the situation is bad enough, the problematic student would be removed and the teacher will no longer have to deal with that responsibility.A third way is to be at the mercy of the student. Nag, beg, plead, bribe, whatever it takes to quiet down trouble. Clearly this is the worst of the three when the situation increasingly deteriorates as the student amasses more power.Take classrooms as an example. Teachers are given no real authority to discipline their students even though they are held responsible for their students' well behavior. One way for a teacher to deal with this is to assume the authority anyway, for instance, spank the student. The disciplined student would complain to his parents and escalate the issue to the principal's office. The teacher ends up getting blamed for exercising powers she's not authorized to use.Another way is to shrugged the responsibility. Just let the student run rampant for all to see. If the situation is bad enough, the problematic student would be removed and the teacher will no longer have to deal with that responsibility.A third way is to be at the mercy of the student. Nag, beg, plead, bribe, whatever it takes to quiet down trouble. Clearly this is the worst of the three when the situation increasingly deteriorates as the student amasses more power.
As you can see responsibility without authority is getting anyone in a position that will sooner or later becomes unbearable.
The German notion of none-violence is the same. The law forbids any beating of the kids by the teacher. This physical restriction is not a mistake and morally right. However, the law has been extended throughout the years. Today, the definition of "none-violence" is more than just physical violence. In the wake of the '69er Generation, the word has also been applied on any form of discipline, even psychic violence. This turns the relationship between teacher and apprentice around, giving the apprentice the power to enslave the teacher, because in the claws of our social system, the school teacher may not reject the student (it would cause havoc among the parents, then the department of education and finally come down on the teacher), nor may he give him detention (which again would bring the parent->department->order - chain to motion).
The teacher is in a situation of helplessness, which gives him no power to even teach the good pupils in the class, thus getting the parents of those children to be angry.
This whole misery is also partly fueled by the dependency of the school on government funds (I don't say that it'd be otherwise if it were private) and the government is dependent on the votes of the parents.
In the end, the teacher is not only a slave to the undisciplined child, but also to the parents, who often see their children through the prism of "father/mother's love", which distorts the picture.
Thus the problem might also be the unrealistic image those parents have of their kids.
We can now divide the problem in two parts. First, there is the unruly child, who cannot be tamed by the teacher, if he doesn't get the necessary rights. And second, there is the delusional way of perception by the parents.
To change the last, we would have need of a total change in social behaviour, thus it is unlikely to happen before the next generation.
The first, however, can be easily done by proposing a new appendix to the laws on "child abuse", that allows teachers to use justifiable methods to discipline their children, without using physical violence, or even reject children to educate, if proper reasons and facts can be brought forth.
Another addition would be the privatisation of schools and giving them the authority to do as they see fit to do in a mutual treaty between parents and teachers.
Commentary: smg.max@gmx.net
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