I think rahter than continuing our present society's over-emphasis on victoim-mentality policy-making, I would hope to see teachers and other responsible adults sensitive to indivudal students' reactions to perceived policies. One Little Johhnie might feel victiminzed where another one feels, instead, a sense of being part of a cohesive whole, despite "suffering" the same "inequitable" treatment. Kids are kids-- they need people to SEE them as individuals (sometimes hurting inf=dividuals), not as identical, predictable, powerless victims.

They tried to legislate something else once and it didn't work either-- the Berlin Wall. Everytime they tried to "improve" its function in the society they desired to form, the effort backfired in more deaths until finally enough people gave up on the Wall as a "good idea" and down it came.

Sometimes, "fairness" policies aren't the highest and best thinking we, as human beings, can come up with, either. At best, such policies can only correct injustices in the short-term, while enacting a hidden cost that has to be paid by all involved when the policies extend and reinforce stereotypes.

~Susan