London student reported to police: “Enchanted by anarchism and individualism” • Hacker News Board

Re: London student reported to police: “Enchanted by anarchism and individualism”

#81

Post by walshemj » Sat, Sep 07, 2013, 8:40 PM UTC

SiVal wrote: post #34

This sort of thing is alive and well in US schools, too. The official policy of the Seattle Public School system is to stamp out racism in all its forms, and notice how many forms there are. (Note in particular the Cultural Racism section that includes, "emphasizing individualism as opposed to a more collective ideology" as a form of racism that, by official policy, is to be stamped out by the government education sy…

I think that Mr. Szemalikowski may be an eu national from countries where social hierarchy is much much stronger.

When I worked for a tiny companay in the UK our two polish developers where absolutely shocked that our MD would take his turn in making the coffee/tea.

Re: London student reported to police: “Enchanted by anarchism and individualism”

#82

Post by Nate75Sanders » Sat, Sep 07, 2013, 8:41 PM UTC

SiVal wrote: post #34

This sort of thing is alive and well in US schools, too. The official policy of the Seattle Public School system is to stamp out racism in all its forms, and notice how many forms there are. (Note in particular the Cultural Racism section that includes, "emphasizing individualism as opposed to a more collective ideology" as a form of racism that, by official policy, is to be stamped out by the government education sy…

You used the present tense, but then linked to a Wayback Machine link.

Re: London student reported to police: “Enchanted by anarchism and individualism”

#83

Post by walshemj » Sat, Sep 07, 2013, 8:43 PM UTC

alan_cx wrote: post #75

Ensorceled wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, lots of high school students are insufferably pompous and selfish. They are just growing from children into young adults. A high school head teacher should be able to handle this. Also, as an adult, you should also be able to handle this without becoming annoyed and judgemental.

" lots of high school students are insufferably pompous and selfish" So are a lot of teachers and heads.

but most high school students grow out of that phase :-)

Re: London student reported to police: “Enchanted by anarchism and individualism”

#84

Post by walshemj » Sat, Sep 07, 2013, 8:47 PM UTC

sillysaurus2 wrote: post #18

scarmig wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is kicking someone out of a building that bears more than a passing resemblance to a prison really sabotaging their education?

... Yes. As a self-taught programmer, I believe university is important. It gives quite a lot of advantages (mostly social ones, which are the most important). And undergrad universities select primarily based on school performance, so kicking him out definitely would've sabotaged his higher education. To piggyback on this comment in hopes of finding some assistance: I've been trying to figure out some long-term stra…

And Glasgow is a top 10 University in the UK so trying to sabotage someone because they dont fit in at school is disgusting.

Re: London student reported to police: “Enchanted by anarchism and individualism”

#85

Post by tjaerv » Sat, Sep 07, 2013, 8:49 PM UTC

Is this satire? It reads like satire.

"I must do something. In the last year he has become more and more enchanted by antiestablishment ways of thinking and has even said that there is an inherent risk that every government is corrupt."

Re: London student reported to police: “Enchanted by anarchism and individualism”

#86

Post by walshemj » Sat, Sep 07, 2013, 8:50 PM UTC

carbocation wrote: post #72

AimHere wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Defaming a third party by telephone would more likely be slander than libel, but it's certainly not clear that what went on here would be defamation at all. A defamatory statement must be a false factual allegation. As long as what the headmaster claimed was true, he should be safe from libel or slander lawsuits - saying "I don't like this guy's politics and you shouldn't take him on as a student." is a fair expressi…

Truth is an absolute defense to the claim of libel or slander in the US, but not in all worldwide jurisdictions.

Even if its the truth its still gross misconduct by the head in my book - I bet this is a "free" school with no proper governing body.

Re: London student reported to police: “Enchanted by anarchism and individualism”

#87

Post by fleitz » Sat, Sep 07, 2013, 8:53 PM UTC

aheilbut wrote: post #69

dmix wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Canada this week, my girlfriend is required to visit the dean of a [top Canadian law school] for calling a girl a "bitch" on Twitter. Backstory is interesting, because the girl had bullied her in person at school. GF never identified the girl on Twitter only saying "Some bitch blah blah at school today". But because she mentioned the school name, the dean found out and now wants to talk to her. There's apparently…

Just wanting to talk to her does not seem inappropriate. Lawyers in particular are expected to chose their words carefully and keep decorum. Perhaps it's a teachable moment.

Lawyers are expected to win. If you want to hire a lawyer because of their decorum go right ahead.

Re: London student reported to police: “Enchanted by anarchism and individualism”

#88

Post by arrrg » Sat, Sep 07, 2013, 8:53 PM UTC

ddinh wrote: post #78

dogweather wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where, specifically, is the quoted text?

It's in the section defining cultural racism: Those aspects of society that overtly and covertly attribute value and normality to white people and Whiteness, and devalue, stereotype, and label people of color as “other”, different, less than, or render them invisible. Examples of these norms include defining white skin tones as nude or flesh colored, having a future time orientation, emphasizing individualism as oppo…

I do think schools shouldn't emphasize either collectivism or individualism over each other and I don't think the text you are quoting here advises that, either. Only a pretty narrow-mindes reading of that text would suggest that in any way. At any rate you would have to look at the actual implementation of that policy to really criticise it. As is this text is quite tame.

Please also note that schools can hardly be idiologically neutral. That is not possible - they have to find a way to spproach how they depict individualism and collectivism no matter what.

To connect this in any way to the linked situation is downright absurd.

Re: London student reported to police: “Enchanted by anarchism and individualism”

#89

Post by stfu » Sat, Sep 07, 2013, 8:56 PM UTC

corresation wrote: post #68

dmix wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Canada this week, my girlfriend is required to visit the dean of a [top Canadian law school] for calling a girl a "bitch" on Twitter. Backstory is interesting, because the girl had bullied her in person at school. GF never identified the girl on Twitter only saying "Some bitch blah blah at school today". But because she mentioned the school name, the dean found out and now wants to talk to her. There's apparently…

I don't think expecting basic good judgment of those in law school is 'scary'. Further it is worth mentioning that hateful speech is not protected in Canada, and while you could say that it was but a response, such a tweet is almost certainly in violation of several new anti-'cyber' bullying restrictions.

So in your world "Some bitch at school did x" falls under hateful speech/cyber-bullying?

Well, I guess by now we have to prosecute half of the YouTube and Twitter population. After all all those "first" posters are most certainly making a highly discriminatory remark against all those coming "second".

Re: London student reported to police: “Enchanted by anarchism and individualism”

#90

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Sep 07, 2013, 8:57 PM UTC

guard-of-terra wrote: post #77

petercooper wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not so much laws but there's certainly a lot more stigma to holding unpopular opinions (or even freely expressing 'distasteful' but popular opinions, cf. responses to many UKIP supporters) in the UK compared to the USA - nowhere on the scale as in Russia or Eastern Europe though.

You can say a lot of things in modern Russia and not get any stigma but support. Everybody holds on to radical opinions of all sorts, popular ones and unpopular ones alike. Of course, there does exist the thought-crime статья 282 in the criminal code, but you can't mute popular opinions with it effectively.

[deleted]