Number 94 : November 1998 |
Dear Theo,
I cannot get to Mensa at Braziers, which is a pity because the topics for discussion interest me hugely. I enclose a note of two sides for the first topic. Can you see that they get introduced one way or another, please.
"Why does our society, through its ... education system ... produce many of its members who go in for criminal behaviour ?"
The big rise in crime per head of population, after fluctuations caused by the 1939-45 war, seems to have begun in the late 1950s and to have increased at an accelerating rate until the 1990s and is showing some signs of flattening out at present. No doubt there are many interacting causes. This short article suggests two.
First there has been peace in Western Europe since 1945. Such wars as have been fought have been short and limited. Effectively there has been no occasion for armed forces (or any other forces) to do what they are trained for. Some young males seem to have a need for violent, lethal occupation. In earlier years they could join the Army or Navy with likelihood of active service in war until they were old enough to enjoy a peaceful life. Nowadays some become mercenaries in other parts of the world, others turn to violent crime for excitement and probably gain.
Secondly, at school and university in the 1920s and 1930s there were a great many rules of behaviour that seemed stupid and pointless. Rules about dress and where one must or must not be at particular times : petty rituals like doffing one’s cap to a teacher, etc. Teenagers and those up to mid-20s are rebellious against authority and tradition. They have a need to express this rebellion by breaking rules, and trying to escape detection, and punishment. From about 1950 onwards most of these rules were swept away. The only ones retained were aligned with the general criminal law. So if a schoolboy or undergraduate wants to break a rule he can now only do so by criminal behaviour, with serious consequences for the victim. No one was a whit the worse off if an undergraduate failed, or refused, to wear a gown after dark. But he got quite a lot of satisfaction from flouting the rule, showing his rebellion to the proctor, and testing whether he or the bulldog was fleeter of foot. We should earnestly consider bringing back "silly" rules.
Frank Walker