Humiliation
A feature of the system, not a disciplinary accident. Humiliation is not an unfortunate side-effect of poor communication. It is a deliberate institutional mechanism designed to compel obedience, reward passivity, and mark those who resist. Whether through tone-policing, forced disclosures, or behavioural shaming in classrooms, humiliation functions as a control strategy. This tag collects accounts of how humiliation is normalised, ritualised, and defended in educational systems.
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The cancellation
When the principal cancelled the volleyball game, she did more than remove an afternoon of play from a group of eager children, she transformed what should have been a moment of joy and collective affirmation into despair and humiliation, converting what should have been an opportunity to connect and excel as a team into a…
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The orange shirt I folded
I was folding laundry late one night, brain running on the kind of background grief that rarely quiets, when my hand closed around the orange shirt. I moved to set it aside—automatically, instinctively—because I remembered September was coming, school would be starting, and Orange Shirt Day would follow quickly after. That shirt would be needed…
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Flourishing as an ethical imperative
Like many of you, I caught CBC’s Ideas episode the other day, where philosopher Angie Hobbs spoke about the ancient Greek concept of eudaimonia—a term sometimes translated as happiness or welfare, but more richly understood as human flourishing. In a world flooded by crisis, it may seem indulgent or impractical to contemplate the good life,…