Skip to main content

Schoolyard Scraps - is the principal helping?

Over the years I have had several ‘conversations’ with ‘school principals’ over the rights of a child to legally (and ethically) be able to defend themselves from physical assault …
Sure - I get it that schools have a ZERO BULLYING POLICY - but there needs to be a clear distinction made between that and a ZERO SELF DEFENCE POLICY! The fact is that a ZERO SELF DEFENCE policy is a breach of human rights - as well as a policy that would stand clearly outside the scope of the law. The simple fact is that common law and legal defence trumps school policy.
- if the assault was an emergent event, there is simply no time to go and call a teacher - if it was as easy as that, all assaults in the world could be prevented by just politely asking the criminal to wait, while we call the local police and solicit their assistance. The bottom line is this - we all have a legal and intrinsic human right to be able to ‘defend ourselves’ from physical violence.
- the school policy of ‘zero tolerance for physical assault’ has already been breached when a child is assaulted by a bully - and that is where the civil right of being able to defend ourselves kicks in
- for those few school principles who do not understand this basic legal right - I ask the following - if they were physically assaulted in their workplace, or in their own house, would they simply lay down and accept the assault or would they try to defend themselves? Any reasonable person already knows the answer to this question
- the school has a duty of care to protect our children from physical assault on their premises. When they have neglected to take appropriate action, and students are forced to defend themselves, it raises certain legal questions? For this reason, it is good for parents of victims of bullying to keep records (written email to principles, etc) that show a history of what their child has had to deal with. This can be useful if it ever comes to charges being laid (against the school for example)
- when a child does need to defend themselves against physical assault, the best possible strategies are grappling-based strategies. When the bully can be physically controlled without the need to resort to striking, this offers the best all-round solution. The two most salient reasons are these:
. that the bully is less likely to want to physically assault the victim again after they have been physically controlled to the point of helplessness
. through grappling and control-based strategies, the minimal amount of damage is inflicted upon the perpetrator (unlike striking-based strategies)

Some simple questions for school principles:

Are they saying it is against their policy for students to defend themselves? Let’s be very very clear on this? Because the answer might raise several legal arguments. All Australian citizens have a legal right to be able to defend themselves from physical assault.
Are they training all students in situational awareness to the point of providing the kind of capability that would allow students to report impending incidents? Because if they are not, how can they reasonably expect a student to report something that is ‘evolving’ so that a teacher can prevent the assault before it occurs?
The school might well have a zero tolerance for bullying policy and so should each and every child. A clear distinction needs to be made between Zero Tolerance for Physical Assault - and Physical Strategies for Self Defence. In my view, a principle who is incapable of making such a simple distinction , isn’t equipped to do his or her job.
Note: I havn't even started on what this pathetic failure of bureaucracy will mean for the future of our young men and women. What kind of people we will become when we are taught by our teachers that we cannot, should not, defend ourselves. What? Our grandparents would be ashamed! I for one - won't stand quietly for this shite!#standuptostandout

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

We are ‘pattern spotters’ …

We are hardwired to seek and out and recognise patterns … in all facets of life. Some people see the virgin Mary’s face in a loaf of bread or in a slice for toast - there is nothing divine about this of course, it is just that ‘facial recognition’ is crucial to human/infant survival - and so we grow up very, very sensitive to finding ‘faces’ of all kinds, in nature, even in hot cross buns and clouds. It naturally follows that we spot patterns in things/areas/landscapes that we are interested in.   I like seeking out the patterns that exist in BJJ. Without such patterns, BJJ can seem like a huge pile of unrelated techniques - very messy, very, very confusing - particularly for the novice (but actually for many black belts as well). In fact very often, the more people learn, the greater their confusion becomes.   Once we identify certain patterns, certain concepts, a lot of the confusion goes away and things ‘fall’ into place. For example: Take knee-slice passing - there are many,
3 comments
Read more

Martial Artists as Role Models? Not necessarily!

Martial artists are no more likely to be good role models than a chef, a baker or any other artisan … It’s the individual that may or may not choose to live and ethically and morally upright life - sometimes that particular kind of person is a chef, sometimes a carpenter … and every now and then, a martial artist. As martial arts coaches - as is the case of teachers of all sorts - we do have an opportunity to present ourselves as good role-models for others; but this should n ever be assumed. I have seen some extraordinarily bad behaviour from some very prominent martial artists. As a consequence, I now have zero expectations on that front. In my own Academy, I choose to avail myself of the unique opportunity that I have; the opportunity to influence others positively and in a way that, might just result in some of my students living more positive, joyful and fulfilling lives. I try never to preach one thing - and yet do another; I try to be congruent with what I say and how I live my
2 comments
Read more

The Torrent ...

We are living in the age of information ... our ancestors didn't have enough information, but today we may sometimes come up against the problem of being bombarded with too much information. A torrent of info is the 'new norm' for the youth of today ... but how to sort the fact from fiction, the useful from the useless? Different challenges. But hey ... I'll not say 'no' to information ... we just need to develop the skill of being able to 'make distinctions'.
2 comments
Read more