The emotional abuse of our children: Teachers, schools, and the sanctioned violence of our modern institutions.
You never stop to think that sending your kids to school can be a problem, but it can be. From the residential schools of First Nations infamy to the violence of straps and the horror of school yard bullying, schools are not always safe places. The truth is, children can experience physical, emotional, and even sexual abuse at the hands of students, teachers, priests. ministers, reverends, etc.. The research demonstrates that abuse of all forms undermines self esteem, lowers social productivity, causes depression, and contributes to long term social problems. Isn’t it time we recognized the horror and stopped hurting our children?
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Better writing through intent
As a rule academics are not trained to write well. You might even say academics are trained to confuse, hiding their thoughts behind walls of pretentious gobbledygook. It is not our fault. It is part of our training. From the moment we step into our first 100 level class to the the time when we finally hand in our dissertation and head out for a celebratory libation, our only goal is to impress somebody else and make ourselves look smart. It is the nature of the academic beast I suppose but it does not contribute to communication, connection, or education. If we want to change that we have to intend a different result and practice a different approach.
[continue reading...]Recent Posts
- Socjourn Demystifies Sociology
- A Book Review: Railroads in the African American Experience: A Photographic Journey (2010)
- Good Science Trailer
- The emotional abuse of our children: Teachers, schools, and the sanctioned violence of our modern institutions.
- Six myths about the foundations of modern education, and six new principles to replace them
- “So what’s the deal with that?” – Observational Comedy and Sociology
- Thoughts of a Celebration, and a Goodbye
- Redefining Reality: Seeing is Disbelieving
- And V for Victory it is…
- National Academy of Science
Recent Comments
- Vladimir Jerkovic: If schools reflect society in a micro level it may be “normal“ to see...
- Dr. Michael Sosteric: Hi Kristy, that crap does matter when you leave school. It is what you have...
- Kristy: Great article. I really appreciate the soc journal there is a lot of interesting articles on...
- lucy: “f my twelve year old daughter can’t “make the rent” in her classroom, her teacher is...
- lucy: This article has a close relation to the article Dr. Timothy McGettingan wrote, “Seeing is...
- Robert Ostrow: excellent article. robert
- Robert Ostow: Dr. Tim. in the united states there are many useless paradigims of reality. The greatest...
- Timothy McGettigan: Life and decision-making is a complex process, indeed. If we follow the path of...
- lucy: 911 was an inside job. But what I didn’t understand was why would they do such a thing. I...
- Dr. Michael Sosteric: What a remarkably timely discussion this is. I just read this...
- Timothy McGettigan: You are absolutely correct. The anomalies that inspired the Copernican revolution...
- Dr. Michael Sosteric: Yup, makes sense. I wonder though if there aren’t other problems that need...
- Sushav: It seems from your writing that capitalism is to blame for the war and unrest all around the...
- Timothy McGettigan: Good question, Dr. Mike. Agents generate more satisfactory paradigms by developing...
- Dr. Michael Sosteric: I have a question for you Dr. Tim, when you say individuals may be...
Featured Articles
“So what’s the deal with that?” – Observational Comedy and Sociology
Yes grasshopper, Sociology is relevant to modern life. Not only does it make you a better person, but it makes you a funnier comedian. It is true! As this author points out, a sociological sophistication and awareness gives jokes a contextualized comical punch that is absent from your run-of-the-mill comedic styling. And while the author downplays the importance of Sociology to comedy, the connection is as significant and important as the connection between comedy and Sociology. There’s nothing like a little contextualized humor to make the arid spaces of the balkanized academe more open, airy, and lush.
The Secret of North Korea is Within You
North Korea is a secret state that is accepted by the general World society, perhaps because of the fear that they have nuclear weapons — or perhaps North Korea is accepted in the world as it is, because we each accept a living North Korea within ourselves – as secret states of dictatorship, fear and self-delusion, that we keep hidden from everyone, including ourselves.
Stock in Trade: Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work
Did you know that what you get depends on who you are? It is true. Females get different things than males, and the lower classes get different things than the upper classes. No where is this more evident than in the education you get. Working class, professional, or ruling class, it’s not who you know but who your parents are (i.e. their social class) that makes all the difference.
Here are two books that bring the notion of drug and alcohol rehab and treatment into personal control and away from expensive treatment centers. Both books eschew moralistic therapies that focus on character weakness or genetics and instead focus on the actual brain mechanisms involves in alcohol and drug rehab. It is not quite sociology, since environmental precursors (like abusive childhood environments) are not considered, but it a fascinating approach to rehab nonetheless.
Captain America, The All-American Drughead
Greetings today children, and welcome to my neighborhood. Our word of the day today is “hypocrite.” Can you say that? “Hypocrite? I thought you could, and so can Dr. Mcgettigan. Though he is saying it in a far nicer way, he is saying it just the same. We are a nation of contradictions, with a morality based on profit and domination, and a sensibility that dictates the end justifies the means. Dose up with those performance enhancing drugs sir ’cause not even your health and well-being takes precedence over the need to dominate another living being.
The Lightning Strike
Socjourn Demystifies Sociology The Socjourn was recently featured in the publication Open AU. I’m reposting the article here but if you want to see the original article, visit this link. As a side note, the statistics they report are a bit off. In January of 2012 the Socjourn received close to five million webserver hits, not one million as I originally suggested. Not bad for a discipline that has been, up to now, confined to the dank basements of academic inquiry.
A Book Review: Railroads in the African American Experience: A Photographic Journey (2010)History is written by the winners, that is certainly true. Living in a nation of “winners” we never hear the stories of those who lose. We exalt those who are triumphant, tell their stories, and forget the pain and the suffering that has resulted from the struggle. But not always. Dr. Owen Brown of Medgar Evers College, CUNY introduces us to a pictorial history of America where the story isn’t about the winners, it is about the colonial disenfranchised and their epic struggles to survive and thrive in a hostile and racist world. It is a story, told in pictures, that is both enlightening and, we hope, inspiring.
Good Science TrailerHere’s a little advertising video for the book Good Science. It’s a great little book if you ask me and its message, that scientist always look to find out the truth of things, timely and important, especially considering the collapse of POMO theory. But it’s also a challenge. As Tim points out, accessing the truth of things is not always so straightforward. What’s more, in order to get to the truth, scientists often have to be revolutionaries. We never take the world “as it is” but always challenge ourselves, and others, to work towards the truth. Some might call it a calling, I just call it bloody hard work.
National Academy of ScienceScience, science, science. Has there ever been a thing more wondrous and beautiful, terrible and ugly, than science? From acetylsalicylic acid to atom bombs, Prozac to Pontiac, it is impossible to deny that science is at least partially responsible. So find out more about it, and teach your students well. Make Good Science a textbook in your methods, theory, or even introductory class.
Definition Indigenous – The Politics of Indigeneity Definition Indigenous – The Politics of Indigeneity – A book where the authors go and talk to native people around the world. Looks interesting to me, but the publishers need to write better ad copy otherwise the usefulness of books that help us see and define what it means to be indigenous, or aboriginal, will be submerged behind an ugly sea of EPMO.
Good Science for Social Research Methods Interesting, innovative, and fun, Good Science is an important new text for Social Research Methods courses because of its novel analysis of science, empirical facts, and the evolution of scientific truth. Accessible epistemology. Critical ontology! A must for any discerning instructor. Check it out.
Debt, debt, debt, the problem is debt. The world is in turmoil, the Euro in crises, and now the heathen masses are occupying Wall street and demanding change. But what kind of change to demand? What to do to alleviate the suffering? How to fix the current crises? Well, first step is to figure out what the problem is, and that’s easy.
Policing Sexuality In a moment when state policies seeking to regulate sexual expression have emerged under many cultural and religious banners, affecting a wide range of sexual subjects, Julian Lee gives us an invaluable map to understand this moral policing more clearly and comprehensively. Policing Sexuality is exceptional among recent works on sexuality, gender and public policy
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Right-wing Politics in the New Latin America ‘Too often progressives demonise or just ignore the political right. This new collection redresses this deficit with a series of extremely well informed snapshots of the right in action across Latin America.
SPRINGTIME: The New Student Rebellions Ah springtime. The gentle feel of the breeze, the light touch of government cutting, the horrible pain and suffering that results. There’s lots of money out there, trillions in fact, just not in the hands of the people who need it the most. Hey, gotta fund the government bailouts of the rich bankers somehow. Or not. We do live in a democracy after all and protest is an important feature. Here’s a sociological take on a growing world wide phenomenon.
