Background to Paper

The media has been filled over the last couple of years with stories of violence in our schools. Situations are often described and meant to imply that since the advent of our democracy in 1994, education has made great strides, yet one gets the overwhelming feeling, based on media reports that our system and quality of education is crumbling. Statistics are often bandied about as to the high levels of child and sexual abuse in our schools. Criticisms are levelled at abusive and under-performing educators. As you may note, the author has refrained from using any statistical reference that would describe the state of our education system for a few reasons.  Among these is that the author, as an expert in research, development and training often finds the various research “reports” problematic in its methodologies, depth and lack of scientific analysis. Incidences and statistics are often quoted in an ahistorical context. Children and educators alike are often criminalized, and societal phenomena are often described as school-based and occurring in that context only. Furthermore, the often poor or unhelpful solutions lack a depth of historical insight and understanding of human behaviour, especially where it relates to oppression and the human response.

(see "Interesting Articles" icon on "Main Menu" section –  upper left hand side of this page for the rest of the article/s)