Issue 15 SJC News 2020

This week we welcomed back all students on Campus and there was a real buzz of excitement in classrooms and the yard as boys caught up with friends. Watching groups hanging out in the yard made me reflect that our school is a really calm and peaceful place where, for the vast majority of the time, there is mutual respect, appreciation, support and tolerance.

Historically boys’ schools were places where order was maintained through a regime of hard and fast rules and penalties. The latter often quite arbitrary and quite brutal. At a 50 year reunion last year an old boy presented the school with the leather strap that some brave soul had stolen from a teacher half a century ago. St Joseph’s is very different today and our response to wrongdoing is based on the principles of restorative practice.

We still have clear rules and expectations and a series of penalties prescribed should expectations not be met but things are not as ‘hard and fast’ and we are much more aware of mitigating factors. I don’t know whether this is cause and effect but students are much more cooperative and meet expectations more readily than those of a generation prior.

If we look to society in general we see something similar, with crime statistics steadily reducing in most categories (despite what the tabloid press and some current affairs TV shows would have us believe). Calls for heavier penalties and longer periods of incarceration for all sorts of crime to ‘send an example’ ignores clear evidence that the size of the penalty has little effect on the likelihood of someone committing a crime. Rather it is the likelihood of being caught that influences decision-making.

The link between severity of penalty and deterrence used be widely accepted to a quite extraordinary extent. In the early 1800s in Britain a child could be hanged for stealing. A female relative of mine was transported to Australia in 1791 aged 14 for (allegedly) stealing a horse from a Parson. (She maintained she just went for a ride).

Of course it is important to ensure that young men come to understand that there are consequences for breaking rules. If we don’t we are not equipping them well for adult life. There is a constant tension balancing this need for accountability with the fact that adolescent decision making is often impulsive and the adolescent brain a work in progress. I think that today at St Joseph’s generally we are striking the right balance.

A reminder to all members of the community that expressions of interest in membership of the College Advisory Council (Board) are being sought. The form on which to do this can be accessed via this link

which should then be emailed to [email protected] .

Year 12 VCE students this year have an additional process in place to ensure that no student is disadvantaged as a result of the impact of COVID-19 on him and his household. Called CED (Consideration of Educational Disadvantage) the process commenced this week. It is on a tight time frame and requires input from each boy in consultation with his family and from the College staff.

I commenced this article writing about peace and finish with a prayer from Pope Francis:

Lord, make us instruments of your peace

Help us to recognise the evil latent in communication that does not build communion

Help us to remove the venom from our judgements

Help us to speak about others as our brothers and sisters

You are faithful and trustworthy; May our words be seeds of goodness for the world:

where there is shouting, let us practice listening;

where there is confusion, let us inspire harmony;

where there is ambiguity, let us bring clarity;

where there is exclusion, let us offer solidarity;

where there is sensationalism, let us use sobriety;

where there is superficiality, let us raise real questions;

where there is prejudice, let us awaken trust;

where there is hostility, let us bring respect;

where there is falsehood, let us bring truth.

Amen.

Stay well

God Bless