IP: What Does "Nail the Bastards" Teach Children?

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

> X-Sender: martha () mail wiredmag com
> Date: Fri, 21 Sep 2001 08:45:04 -0700
> To: farber () cis upenn edu
> From: Martha Baer <martha () wiredmag com>
> Subject: Fwd: What Does "Nail the Bastards" Teach Children?
>
> dave, if you think this relevant for IPers... thx.
>
>
> > From: Eerofes () aol com
> > Date: Thu, 20 Sep 2001 18:35:52 EDT
> > Subject: What Does "Nail the Bastards" Teach Children?
> > To: Eerofes () aol com
> >
> > [If you find this useful, I'd appreciate your passing it on--especially to
> > educators, parents, and editors of publications focused on education. 
> > Thanks! --eric rofes]
> >
> >
> > What Are We Teaching Children Through Our Response to Terrorism?
> >
> > or
> >
> > What Does "Nail the Bastards" Teach Children?
> >
> > By Eric Rofes
> >
> >     In the aftermath of last week's terrorist attacks on the World Trade
> > Center and the Pentagon, the effects on children have never been far from
> > people's minds.  We all ponder how this deep grief at voluminous death,
> > terrible destruction, and the loss of our individual and collective sense of
> > secuirty is experienced by children.  We've seen photographs of children who
> > died on airplanes traveling home from family vacations. We've pondered the
> > ways in which this catastrophe might transform forever young people who have
> > lived their entire lives under an assumption of safety.  And we've grappled
> > with the proper responses of parents and teachers to the anxious questions of
> > young children.
> >
> >     But what are we teaching our children through our nation's response to
> > terrorism?
> >
> >     The rush to retaliation--whether one finds such a response 
> > appropriate or
> > inappropriate, and whether retaliatory efforts in the long run are effective
> > at restoring security to the nation or are not--encourages children to adopt
> > and "eye for an eye" strategy when dealing with conflict.  A nation, under
> > powerful assault, unifies behind a president vowing to wage war against the
> > enemy.  At least for the few days following the terrorism on the East Coast,
> > words like "revenge," "retribution," and "vengeance" shifted in our national
> > vocabulary and became word of pride, power, and glory.
> >     I recently observed a third-grade teacher talking with a student who'd
> > responded to a playground bully by fighting back.  The boy sat in his chair
> > as recess was ending, arms folded tightly, lips locked, as the teacher tried
> > a variety of tactics to convince him that one punch did not deserve 
> > another. The teacher, having exhausted all of her arguments, asked the 
> > boy which of
> > the alternatives that she had presented he would choose next time.   The boy,
> > arms still clenched, looked up at the teacher and replied, "None--my dad told
> > me that, if anyone punches me, I have every right to punch him back."
> >
> >     As a nation, we've spent the past five years, trying to make sense of
> > young people, mostly boys, who--after experiencing years of ostracism and
> > persecution by classmates--bring weapons to school.  They aim guns at both
> > persecutors and others who joined in, quietly snickered, or simply stood
> > silently by, while they suffered at the hands of their peers.  The treat the
> > bully, again usually male, and those who harbored him equally.  These boys
> > felt anger, it simmered into rage, then erupted into a vengeful act of
> > retaliation.   They strike out, not irrationally as many would like to
> > believe, but, strategically, and under the influence of a cold fury, that
> > blinds them to the realization that their enemies have succeeded in
> > transforming them into a monster that is a mirror image of themselves.
> >     This is the ultimate mission of both the bully and the terrorist:  to
> > undermine our sense of civility and reverse our long-held values.  They
> > declare victory, not only when they wreak havoc on our lives and our
> > security, but also when they force us to remake ourselves in their own image.
> >
> >     If the nation is committed to rooting out terrorism in the world and is
> > prepared to wage war to do so,  it is best articulated  to children as
> > neither retaliation nor as a way of proving ourselves.  We should be cautious
> > of tying national identity--and manhood--to who wins in this boxing ring.  If
> > our nation must move to war, let us be clear about the reasons:  our leaders'
> > belief that we will be able to, in the words of President Bush, "rid the
> > world of evil," only by the use of violence.   But let us take neither glee
> > nor pride in such grim actions.
> > Eric Rofes is a professor of education at Humboldt State University in
> > Arcata, CA and a former sixth-grade teacher.
>
> --
>
>
>
>
> [NB: Wired's domain name has changed. In the future, please do not email 
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>
>
> ..........................
> Martha Baer
> Senior Editor, Wired
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