I feel it is vital for children to learn to know themselves as individuals capable of thinking for themselves. They are tribal by nature and tend to follow anyone displaying leadership, but some seem to have degenerated into packs looking for prey. Their homes are failing to teach them self-worth and self-respect, so they can't stand alone on their own feet. They look for an identity in the pack.
So (without government funding) I feel children in school need to be talked to by their teachers as individuals. In class they can be invited to stand up in turn to talk about some issue and end their account with a personal opinion. Or this may take the form of a debate with others invited to speak in response. The rest of the class will be expected to listen with respect.
In private maybe children could be asked how they feel about any problems in the school or elsewhere, anything said in private being completely confidential. Where classes are unruly this might be the only way to start with.
Hopefully in this way children can be challenged to think as individuals and have the originality not to follow a crowd for the sake of it.
See "The Crowd is Untruth" Kierkegaard
So (without government funding) I feel children in school need to be talked to by their teachers as individuals. In class they can be invited to stand up in turn to talk about some issue and end their account with a personal opinion. Or this may take the form of a debate with others invited to speak in response. The rest of the class will be expected to listen with respect.
In private maybe children could be asked how they feel about any problems in the school or elsewhere, anything said in private being completely confidential. Where classes are unruly this might be the only way to start with.
Hopefully in this way children can be challenged to think as individuals and have the originality not to follow a crowd for the sake of it.
See "The Crowd is Untruth" Kierkegaard
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