About Leaving A Mark

How big a black mark did you get for the little stuff? Or was it all the same. Do the right thing, you get a tick. Do the wrong thing, a black mark. That would be consistent. But no sliding scale? Even in working life, you have to work to a scale of responsibility. At school you were raised on it. Report cards. The terror of that end of term, when you were due to take home to your parents that double sided sheet of A4 paper, containing the various comments from teachers about your work, and scoring you against the rest of the class. Providing the teacher could remember who you were of course. If you hadn’t come to their attention in some way (and I guess generally I managed that) you could get a generic ‘Could do better’ written in the comments field. They could be pretty significant. Or used to be. As mentioned today, you don’t even have to pass anything to go on further in school. We did. If you failed more than 50% of your years subjects, you were kept back. It was a good thing. Unfortunately today, there is no ‘fail’ for most kids, so how do they judge an achievement? Even when they play those electronic games, they don’t have to actually achieve a skill standard. They just have to know which ‘cheat’ applies to where they are. I am very disappointed in that. How can they improve themselves as people, when they don’t have to achieve. We reward incomplete work. We even reward offenders. So what am I worrying about. If as a kid, I did something wrong, I got punished, physically and /or psychologically or financially (yes, occasionally all three).

But offenders today do something really wrong and they get ‘privileges’? They get special diets, special accommodation and lifestyle demands. They get access to an education that many working people can’t afford. It’s called rehabilitation. I don’t have a problem with that, but rehabilitation should come after the punishment. You don’t rehabilitate someone during their surgery if they are injured. No rehabilitation happens afterwards.

I have become convinced that in Australia the people who suffer most from crime, are the victims. There is little, or no real support for them. Many offenders are recidivist, repeating their offences again and again and again, until as a last resort (apparently) they actually get punished. And even the word punishment is dubious. They are not put into chains and shackles. They are not made to work in demeaning labour as criminals used to be. And they get paid. A pittance, but they get paid. They are fed, sheltered and medically cared for, well beyond what an average citizen is. So where is the punishment. And recently major serious offenders have been given ‘day’ release from prison to go shopping? What is wrong with this? Everything. Where is the punishment? The victims, depending on the situation suffer massive psychological, financial and often physical trauma. What do they get? A rise in the cost of their insurance premiums for one thing. And that’s just the start.

(Continued tomorrow)