alt Hacker NewsEven then... the social cohesion in this country has lapsed so much in my half century of life that I can't help but think maybe we could use a little propaganda to come together more as a country.
I can't help but remember one example of my youth to my son's youth a few decades later. When I was in school, the position on fights is if you have the ability to intercede to stop it, you have a responsibility to do so... by the time my son was in school it was, "don't get involved, get a teacher or call the police."
It's just such a stark contrast to me that it's hard to fathom where things are now a couple decades further still from when I was a young kid in later elementary school and Jr. High. Without a shared society and cohesion, we're largely doomed as a society. I realize that some people actually want this, but I really don't.
I want our nation and our people to be successful.
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Trump forced the Boy Scouts to eliminate the Citizenship in Society badge.
Just saying.
I too am very concerned about a collapse of cohesion, mainly focused on agreement that "lies are wrong", "people given authority should be held to higher standards", "taking bribes should be punished" and "dictatorship is a bad idea". These principles are in trouble these days, as a shocking segment of people have spent a few years demonstrating they don't care. [0]
In fact, those same issues apply to your school scenario! (For the sake of argument, let's wave-away other factors like larger school-sizes, general nostalgia, easier access to deadly weapons, etc.)
Consider: Why are kids being instructed to run off and get a teacher?
It's not because eagle-eyed Mrs. Frizzle is trusted to take in the battlefield at a glance, unsheathing the old yardstick by the whiteboard, this tan-colored Excalibur falling upon the necks of the wicked in defense of the just. Well, at least not where I went to school.
It's actually the opposite, school authorities [1] are summoned because they are not trusted! They are not trusted to carefully investigate and rule fairly when it comes to the former-bystander "doing the right thing." Or, for that matter, trusted to prevent retribution and escalation.
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[0] Or at any rate, they weirdly place those principles beneath other stuff like "gay people can't partner up" or *checks notes* "the largest deportation operation in US history".
[1] Teachers, staff, but also indirectly the parents of those involved.