How far did the rot spread?

This section was setup in August 2018 in order to move the existing related discussions from other sections into this new section to group them together, and separate from the other CH-related topics.

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Scazza
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Re: How far did the rot spread?

Post by Scazza »

yamaha wrote: Thu Jul 19, 2018 10:25 am
Re: How far did the rot spread?
Post by DickT_PeB » Thu Jul 19, 2018 8:53 am

...

There must be so many parents and guardians who sent their children to CH during the period reading media reports with absolute shock, horror and, I would imagine, growing fury.
According to some people on here, parents are complicit who "remove children from their homes" (JJ-J), or "send children away from home to be abused by strangers" (the latter hopefully the nadir of Rockfreak's meagre intellectual output).
Can you stop sniping? Hopefully this is the nadir of your unconstructive input? :D
DazedandConfused
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Re: How far did the rot spread?

Post by DazedandConfused »

marty wrote: Thu Jul 19, 2018 10:24 am
richardb wrote: Thu Jul 19, 2018 10:13 am My own take is that what has got a lot of OBs worked up is: (i) many of us realise it could have been us; and (ii) we know that although it wasn't us, it was probably people who we were friends with at school.

If we all feel like that, what must parents think who actually made the decision to send their children to the school because they thought it was safe?
#nutshell
Absolutely.

I can only speak for my own parents but they have been really upset by it. They made huge sacrifices to pay the fees for me to attend, thus my gratitude has always been to them rather than the school. I asked to attend CH and they struggled financially for years to make it happen for me. I am upset by them being upset, therefore I have played down the strength of my feelings when speaking to them so as not to make them feel worse.
yamaha
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Re: How far did the rot spread?

Post by yamaha »

Current and future parents should be reassured.
We are not talking about a statistical recurrence of random events.
The school could have prevented most of these crimes and handled them appropriately, but decided not to.
Reid will have learned the lessons and CH will be far safer.
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Fertii
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Re: How far did the rot spread?

Post by Fertii »

My son is loving it. Just finished second form. Was offered on the way home at the end of term as to whether or not he wanted to go local. I didn't even have a chance to finish the question before it was rejected. He knows about 'awkward situations' and what to do. He is thriving. His report is nearly totally glowing and he is developing into a nice young man - although not yet a teenager where undoubtedly that will change but....

Did it fail me? No.
Was I aware of what was going on? No - not to the extent that has recently been made public.
Am I surprised at what was going on? Sadly no....certain teachers always were a bit 'weird' and a bit too friendly.
Do I think it happens now? No.
Are there teachers whom I think seem to have, to date, slipped through the fingers of the law? Yes. Probably.

My thoughts truly are with those that were affected and I am truly sorry that they were victims. I had no idea that this level of alleged unhappiness was ever there - I probably was just too busy being an idiot and wrapped up in my own world to be aware of the undercurrents.

Were the management aware of what was going on? It wouldn't surprise me...
richardb
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Re: How far did the rot spread?

Post by richardb »

yamaha wrote: Thu Jul 19, 2018 10:35 am Current and future parents should be reassured.
We are not talking about a statistical recurrence of random events.
The school could have prevented most of these crimes and handled them appropriately, but decided not to.
Reid will have learned the lessons and CH will be far safer.
Although the school pats itself on the back, many of the changes have been brought about by legislative and extra statutory measures which the school has been forced to implement.

The state imposed regime will go a long way to ensuring the safety of current pupils.
yamaha
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Re: How far did the rot spread?

Post by yamaha »

That is good Richard.
I would like to see misprision of child abuse become a specific crime but I think we can be confident that CH has learned a lesson.
Now the issue is if Reid can be trusted to administer these new standards and impress on the school staff that there will be zero tolerance, no second chances, no cover ups.
I believe he will.
bakunin
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Re: How far did the rot spread?

Post by bakunin »

The problem is that in the 90s CH was already going on about the huge changes it had made, as you can see a bit from Poulton's blathering in the CH videos mentioned in the other thread.

Too many factors are the same: enclosed, semi isolated environment (now even more so); reverence of tradition and authority; regimented life; expectation of gratitude; vulnerable children; overvaluing reputation and appearance. Along with what still appears to be a self-serving, blame shifting attitude from the CH administration. It will take a lot of solid evidence to convince me that CH has learned its lesson and can change enough despite 500 years of historical, institutional inertia. Good intentions aren't enough. The headmaster *must* prioritize the safety of the pupils over the reputation of the school, and be determined and skilled enough to make sure the necessary changes are really happening.
richardb
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Re: How far did the rot spread?

Post by richardb »

With safeguarding the change has been forced.

The school has been dragged screaming and kicking into the modern ages
Wuppertal
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Re: How far did the rot spread?

Post by Wuppertal »

yamaha wrote: Thu Jul 19, 2018 1:34 pm That is good Richard.
I would like to see misprision of child abuse become a specific crime
Don’t know about misprision (had to look that up and it seems to imply deliberate concealment, beyond simply failing to investigate), but the omission to take protective action is prosecutable when there is a duty of care. So who knows what could still happen regarding alleged failure to act.
richardb
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Re: How far did the rot spread?

Post by richardb »

It founds civil liability but not criminal liability, although it should be a criminal offence.
yamaha
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Re: How far did the rot spread?

Post by yamaha »

Websters lists one definition as: the concealment of a treason or felony and failure to report it to the prosecuting authorities by a person who has not committed it.

Compulsive behaviors like child abuse, where there is a high probability of the perpetrator repeating, need to be reported to help protect against there being further victims of the perpetrator - let alone to provide justice for the victim's ordeal.

There needs to be a custodial deterrent to concealment that will override concerns about reputation, freemasonry, etc.
rockfreak
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Re: How far did the rot spread?

Post by rockfreak »

I find it interesting that some on this site seem to think that this "can't happen again". That's what I thought when I left CH in 1960 having seen three masters kicked out then. How touching. What evidence do they have that it won't happen again? I'm sure Rhymin' Simon will set it all to rights. I've been sent a warning email from the senior moderator (a yellow card in football parlance) telling me that my post about his intelligence level was a bit, er, over the top. I wonder if Yamaha got a warning email after his insults to Janey Jam-Jar? Perhaps Julian would like to tell us. Or is it that over-the-top comments are OK if in favour of boarding schools but not otherwise?
Some people are still, strangely, trying to say that:"Well I got some benefits out of my boarding school education so maybe I shouldn't complain too much if there was the risk of some old perv trying to get his hand in my pants". There shouldn't be any bleddy risk yer daft bunch of intellectually confused, Daily Mail and Daily Telegraph reading ex-boarders.
richardb
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Re: How far did the rot spread?

Post by richardb »

The reduced risk of repetition comes not from anything the school did but from improved legislative and extra statutory measures.

The Disclosure and Barring Service has a lot to do with it.
Molesworth 2
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Re: How far did the rot spread?

Post by Molesworth 2 »

I am not sure what shows up on DBS results but if some schools still use the system of moving on those who have abused at the school/are suspected of doing so without referring to the police, then surely these offences wouldn’t show up in future DBS checks. Do they only show instances where the police have been involved in some way?
sejintenej
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Re: How far did the rot spread?

Post by sejintenej »

Although many victims have "come out" I have to wonder how many other pupils were persuaded to go over to the dark side and in later life may become like those teachers found guilty.
What happens if a politician drowns in a river? That is pollution.
What happens if all of them drown? That is solution!!!
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