Seed boarding school suicide - ambitions too costly?

Is is sad to learn that a suicide took place at Seed Boarding School in Washington DC. Even here in Denmark we have worked for more than 4 decade trying to figure out how to prevent certain areas to produce a larger part of the prison population and groups of people with low-income groups from concentrating themselves in urban blocks hard to control by the authorities. In Denmark there are now illegal alternative justice systems and gangs controlling parts of the large cities like they were the police.

In fact the gang war which took a violent turn forcing the United States embassy to warn tourists was only settled by a ceasefire negotiated without the participation of the authorities. Solutions are needed and they are needed right now.

In Denmark they now discuss simply to tear parts of the cities down forcing the poor part of Danish population to parts of Denmark called “The Rotten Banana”. It is parts of Denmark where they now only can afford the maintenance of dirt roads. Parts of Denmark where there are so many ruins that the villages got money from the state to tear buildings down as none are expected to live there anymore.

Some have suggested youth curfews as they have them in other countries. Some state that it was how Iceland fixed it. The problem with curfews in Denmark are that they will not work because the government will not invest the amount of money needed and you cannot mobilize the entire population as they did in Iceland because Denmark is a country where the population travelling in two pace. The difference between rich and poor in Denmark has increased over the last 3 decades. Basically the distance between the politicians and 60 percent of the population is so big that it is almost as they were living on two different planets. Parents only have surplus for their own kids. The time used for work and commuting allows no room for parents to use 2-3 hours every evening patrolling the streets as they do in Iceland.

A youth curfew without massive investment in sports combined with rolling the failed school reform back seems impossible and without those two factors youth curfews are impossible to impose. Iceland is the only country where youth curfews have worked and it was because parents were mobilized on national basis and the government invested massive in sports. Otherwise it would just be felt like Denmark once again was occupied by a foreign power like Denmark was during the second World War.

Then there is the possibility to create boarding schools like Seed. Danish research shows that children who have parents with an academically background are more likely to do something with their high school degree. That is the reason that Denmark now tries to prevent children with poor parents from choosing high school. Instead the government hope that they will be trained to do manual labor or work in shops. According to the government there is no reason to waste 3 years at high school if you do not want to study at universities.

Could you ask parents to let their children live at a boarding school close your home where they will be fed, have fixed bed times and study hard with guidance from well-educated people? That is what they do at the Seed boarding schools. It seems to work.

But there is a limit and I fear that they have bypassed it. What if the child has no motivation and comes from a background where the parents are on welfare or only have part time jobs. Should you then force the child? Should you put the expectation on the child when you know the destiny they were born to live, will not be on the first class?

I say no and I say it based on the research learned over 4 decades. In Denmark we offer student grants and it should make it possible to battle social heritage. Fact is: It doesn’t. Children still grow up for the most part following the social heritage their parents have ending up in the same situation as an adult.

I believe that the option of a boarding school system like Seed should be established in Denmark but NEVER it should be something you force children to attend. It is a question about expecting something from life. If you do not expect something, then you do not get disappointed. If you learn to settle you become happy.

I am sad that the girl saw no other option than death. I do not know whether she was pressured to attend the boarding school nor do I know if she felt unrealistic ambitions on her behalf from her parents. But the risk exist.

So remember: There might be solutions but you do not have to choose them. “Hygge” as we say it in Denmark is what life is about, because we are an entire generation who have learned the hard way that living a life with hard work reaching out for new goals all the time will not secure you early retirement, you can enjoy while your health allow it.

I will pray for the family who have suffered the tragic loss of a daughter.


Source:
12-year-old student found dead of apparent suicide at SEED school in D.C. (The Washington Post)

Worked selling treatment but was let down when she need treatment

Sarah Mulvey created the most awful television shows as result of being pressured and bullied to get more viewers.

She created "Brat Camp". It was a show where teenagers were sent to various treatment programs, so they could become better people. If you forget the world famoush glamour model with connections in the soccer world the results were very mixed. One participant died shortly after he turned 18 of a drug overdose.

When the concept was sold the result was even more tragic. ABC Family purchased the concept where teenagers were sent to Sagewalk. It made the parents believe that wilderness therapy was safe. In 2009 Sagewalk closed after at 16 year old boy died in the program.

The kind of television she created was dangerous. She and the managers who pushed her hard failed to see that teenagers carry a social heritage. And this social heritage should be respected. You cannot coach, teach or provide any kind of therapy which can push a teenager past the potential they are given by birth in a special social class.

Teenagers return broken in spirit as result of therapy which are inflicted upon them without their consent.

Years later it was Sarah Mulvey who need treatment. She entered Causeway Retreat. Here she was failed just as much as the teenagers she made victims in the TV-shows.

It is not justice or payback, it is just sad.




Sources:

• Father of C4's Sarah Mulvey claims treatment centre let her down (The Guardian)
• Channel 4 executive Sarah Mulvey 'overdosed after bullying' (The Telegraph)
• Sergey Blashchishen - 2009 (Today a child died memorial blog)

A rather odd court ruling

A court in India acquitted La Martiniere for Boys principal Sunirmal Chakravarthi and three teachers for their role in the suicide of 13 year old Rouvanjit Rawla.

The poor boy took his life in fear on the strict conduct code at the boarding school.

The school used corporal punishment despite the fact that the Supreme Court in India had banned the use of it. Denmark and India are in dispute over the extradition case of the humanitarian and author Niels Holck. I will not decide what is wrong and right in the extradition case, but it seems that the society in India has very little respect of the court system in general. So why extradite a person to stand trial in a country where the court system is disrespected?

Anyhow during the trial against the teachers one of the teachers told the court that he had used corporal punishment on the poor boy. He had used a cane. Still the court concluded that there was no evidence of torture.

According to the teacher there is no pain involved using a cane. It would be the first according to the people who are so old that they can remember corporal punishment in schools. The entire concept of using a cane on another person is to cause pain. It is torture. It is why corporal punishment has been outlawed in most countries. Even in India.

So why reach such a conclusion?

We cannot answer this. We feel that his family was robbed of a fair ending to their suffering. They lost a child because the boarding school didn't accept the previous ruling of the Supreme Court.


Sources:

• La Mart principal, teachers cleared in Rouvanjit case (Times of India)
• Remembering the children who died alone (Memorial blog from the untouchables)
• Factsheet - La Martiniere for Boys (Fornits Wiki)