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Sympathetic to Wittgenstein and Kant

 

Here is part of a conversation I had with 17 year old in England. She used to want to help me with my work. When she was 14 she said my work inspired her to want to help people. We used to have long talks about her feelings and her relationship with her father and mother. She is person who was cutting herself at age 13. And who tried to kill herself at age 14. Before I go on, I will show you this part of the chat.

steve says:
i was going to ask which writers u like now, philosophers i mean
i saw the future once; i was drunk says:
they're not writers
steve says:
what are they then
i saw the future once; i was drunk says:
philosophers
i saw the future once; i was drunk says:
well im very sympathetic to wittgenstein and kant

She once used to have sympathy for humans and children and animals. Now she says she is "sympathetic to wittgenstein and kant." Instead of being interested in feelings and people anymore, live people in pain, she is studying philosophy in her highschool and is interested in the intellectual theories of dead people.

Her school's website boasts of its high scores on the standard tests and of its music and drama and sport programs, and its plan to put in new "synthetic turf pitch" for its cricket matches or soccer or something I suppose. The website also boasts that the school has "just become one of a select group of schools named by the Chief Inspector of Schools as, ‘Best of the Best’"

Notice that all of this has nothing to do with developing either a young person's emotional intelligence or their desire to help others.

She wants to go to Cambridge and study philosophy. I asked her a few questions about her feelings and she got defensive. Notice how defensive she got right away even when I said "writers". She felt the need to correct me and say they were "not writers."

Here is some more of our chat.

i saw the future once; i was drunk says:
i really do not like ayer
steve says:
how come
i saw the future once; i was drunk says:
because he is an extreme empiricist
steve says:
which means....
i saw the future once; i was drunk says:
too hard to explain on msn
steve says:
yeah i imagine
steve says:
well can u tell me why u like the first two
i saw the future once; i was drunk says:
would take too long to explain, would have to go through their theories
i saw the future once; i was drunk says:
why are you asking me
i saw the future once; i was drunk says:
is it to test me, to see if i actually am studing philosophy

So here we see that a) she can't summarize the ideas of these people in her own words, or even say why she likes them or doesn't like them in plain English. And b) she makes a negative, defensive assumption that I am testing her to see if she is really studying philosophy.

I truly wish I were just making this up as an example of what can happen to an intelligent, sensitive self-harming 14 year old with a couple more years of "education" and being to told to "just get on with it" as is so common in England, but these are the exact copies of our chat.

So this is what society does. It takes someone who could have helped other suicidal teens. Who could have been a huge help to a 13 year old who was just starting to cut, and it turns them into people like this. I even started to tell her about Jen who actually is a 13 year old who cuts, in the same country as this person in the chat and she showed no interest. She showed no empathy, no caring, no concern and no sympathy. But she told me she was "sympathetic to Wittgenstein and Kant."

She also told me she has scored very well on some important school tests in England, called "A levels" and "GSCE's".

So would we say the schools in England have done a good job educating her?

Steve Hein
April 22, 2005