<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR>Ragging: School didn't get to the root of the problem
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->I READ with concern yesterday's article, 'Uproar on Net over birthday-prank clip'. The administration of Anglo-Chinese Junior College (ACJC) said the birthday girl and her classmates involved in the ragging incident did it in good fun. It said the students involved had been counselled on possible hazards of such activities and told there were more appropriate ways to show friendship among peers.
While counselling seems a good remedial strategy, I do not feel that ACJC has appreciated or addressed the root of the problem. There are three issues I would like to highlight.
First, ragging, with whatever intentions it is carried out, is not socially acceptable or responsible behaviour. It does not matter whether it is done in 'good fun' or with punishment in mind. When viewed from a power relations perspective, according to French philosopher Michel Foucault, a fair and just relationship only happens when there is freedom to respond to a set of actions done to one. In this case, the ragged one adopts a helpless position while the raggers are in control. If schools do not sensitivise the next generation to the ideas of justice and fairness in their dealings with other people, one can only shudder at how the future looks for the nation. A top junior college like ACJC is supposed to produce a next generation of leaders who will take us into the new era. I wonder if this form of power relations (or lack of it) will be translated into the socio-political arena.
Second and somewhat tied to the first point, ragging is a form of bullying with an emotional impact on the victim. It does not matter if the birthday girl laughed with her tormentors, as claimed in the report. This is because the laughter of a victim, who has no control over a situation, does not indicate her willingness to be bullied. I do not claim to be an expert in psychology, but having had six years of teaching experience in Singapore and a year as head of department in character development in a junior college, I can safely say that most teachers will acknowledge that ragging is bullying. For an extreme form of ragging, we do not have to look further than our history textbooks. There are well documented cases during World War II in which Japanese captors, out of ill-intended 'fun', tortured their prisoners. Some captives pretended to enjoy the process in hope that their captors would be lenient and this is simply a self-preservation mechanism.
Third, the issue is with the clear and strong message ACJC has sent out to all students in other junior colleges and schools: 'Ragging is no big deal. There is no serious consequence to this action. You will be sent for counselling.' The college's light treatment of this incident will have serious repercussions in other junior colleges. I can imagine teachers, especially those involved in student welfare, discipline or character development, having a hard time rationalising with their students involved in ragging, that ragging is simply not good fun. Goh Sao-Ee
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->I READ with concern yesterday's article, 'Uproar on Net over birthday-prank clip'. The administration of Anglo-Chinese Junior College (ACJC) said the birthday girl and her classmates involved in the ragging incident did it in good fun. It said the students involved had been counselled on possible hazards of such activities and told there were more appropriate ways to show friendship among peers.
While counselling seems a good remedial strategy, I do not feel that ACJC has appreciated or addressed the root of the problem. There are three issues I would like to highlight.
First, ragging, with whatever intentions it is carried out, is not socially acceptable or responsible behaviour. It does not matter whether it is done in 'good fun' or with punishment in mind. When viewed from a power relations perspective, according to French philosopher Michel Foucault, a fair and just relationship only happens when there is freedom to respond to a set of actions done to one. In this case, the ragged one adopts a helpless position while the raggers are in control. If schools do not sensitivise the next generation to the ideas of justice and fairness in their dealings with other people, one can only shudder at how the future looks for the nation. A top junior college like ACJC is supposed to produce a next generation of leaders who will take us into the new era. I wonder if this form of power relations (or lack of it) will be translated into the socio-political arena.
Second and somewhat tied to the first point, ragging is a form of bullying with an emotional impact on the victim. It does not matter if the birthday girl laughed with her tormentors, as claimed in the report. This is because the laughter of a victim, who has no control over a situation, does not indicate her willingness to be bullied. I do not claim to be an expert in psychology, but having had six years of teaching experience in Singapore and a year as head of department in character development in a junior college, I can safely say that most teachers will acknowledge that ragging is bullying. For an extreme form of ragging, we do not have to look further than our history textbooks. There are well documented cases during World War II in which Japanese captors, out of ill-intended 'fun', tortured their prisoners. Some captives pretended to enjoy the process in hope that their captors would be lenient and this is simply a self-preservation mechanism.
Third, the issue is with the clear and strong message ACJC has sent out to all students in other junior colleges and schools: 'Ragging is no big deal. There is no serious consequence to this action. You will be sent for counselling.' The college's light treatment of this incident will have serious repercussions in other junior colleges. I can imagine teachers, especially those involved in student welfare, discipline or character development, having a hard time rationalising with their students involved in ragging, that ragging is simply not good fun. Goh Sao-Ee
