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How have UK schools got so bad? (sh.itjust.works)
submitted 8 hours ago* by to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world
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Teacher numbers are falling, provisions and resources seem to be, widespread delinquent behaviour has been reported to be on the rise, and it seems like they’re refusing more and more to enforce the rules on such behaviour, but if you turn up with the wrong haircut or wearing trainers, all hell breaks loose. Obviously I can’t speak for every single individual school so some may not be like this, but I keep hearing about these issues. Are they real? If so, what is the cause? And what can be done to fix it?

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[–] 1 point 6 hours ago (5 children)

There's two approaches you can take to any social problem:

  1. Moral judgment. People are acting this way because they are amoral/culturally degenerate/etc. Solution: Send them to church / jail / introduce corporal punishment in schools, etc.

or

  1. What are the causes and conditions that contribute to this behavior? If teenagers are getting pregnant, do they have access to birth control and sex education? If teenagers are joining violent gangs, do they have a reasonable hope for a future (and are their fathers all in prison (see 1, above?). If there is a lot of homelessness, are jobs, menal health care, and housing available? Etc.

You'll find if you like feeling good about yourself (if you're doing well), the first option is very emotionally appealing. But if you actually want things to get better, 2 is your only option.

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  • [–] [S] 1 point 6 hours ago (4 children)

    I do prefer option 2 tbh

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  • [–] 1 point 6 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago) (3 children)

    I'm going to link you to a post that describes the causes and conditions of the current weltanschaung that might escape sociologists. It's not science, exactly, but I find it a good potential cause for all the social rot we're experiencing.

    https://sh.itjust.works/post/67063299

    From another, related angle, we're entering into some global chaos at the moment. The myth of perennial progress, holding our collective psyches together since the dawn of the Enlightenment/Industrial era, is falling apart. Scientific progress has stalled and, even if it hadn't, there is no spiritual sustenance to be drawn from examining ever smaller segments of space-time.

    I've been reading about Gnosticism and alchemy, and apparently this is a recurring pattern in history. If you look at 1-2 AD Europe, you'll see much the same despair; the Roman Empire was falling apart, the future was uncertain, institutions were failing (and, I might add, internships (ie college) were incurring lifelong debt)... from that chaos we got the highly structured worldview of Christendom, but before that we have a lot of work that is more spritually resonant with the despair of today.

    I'm reminded of that Yeats poem: Things fall apart, the center cannot hold.

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  • [–] [S] 1 point 6 hours ago (2 children)

    Why thanks!

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  • [–] 1 point 5 hours ago (1 child)

    Yeah, sorry to be such a downer. I'm at war with myself. On the one hand, I want to be data driven and learn and make changes that improve the world (or at least cosplay that), and on the other hand, I think the world is an interlocking set of systems that play out regardless of anything we do; AND anything we do can be just be seen as an expression of that systemic playing out.

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