You cannot teach someone to have empathy. You cannot teach someone to care for other people. You either do, or you don’t.
If they can’t help it, the proper response to them is definitely NOT to treat them like bad little boys who need to be locked away and punished forever while we joke about them getting SA’d in prison.
Evidence for your assertion? Research including meta-analyses of multiple studies shows that empathy is a trainable capacity that can measurably improve through structured education, practice, and social-emotional learning.
Schools, workplaces, and medical institutions use specific programs (such as role-playing, active listening exercises, reading literature, and film-based discussions) to boost emotional literacy and perspective-taking. Schools in Denmark set aside one mandatory hour per week for a dedicated class called Klassens Tid (Class Time) for students aged 6 to 16.
Problem-Solving & Listening: Rather than focusing on grades or traditional academic subjects during this hour, students sit together to discuss personal or group problems, practice active listening, and find collective solutions to issues like bullying or social exclusion.
Around 60% of schoolwork in Denmark is group-based, emphasizing teamwork and supporting peers rather than individual competition. Finland treats empathy as a core competency woven into daily school life rather than a stand alone subject. Students analyze characters’ emotions during reading, mediate their own peer conflicts, and practice emotional resilience through hands-on projects and peer mentoring.
I don’t believe that. Yes, I’m sure you can academically define some quantitative measure of empathy. I’m sure you can put together a scale that will allow you to perform a statistical test on it. But I’m not talking about slightly increasing empathy among normal people. I’m talking about people who are truly psychopaths, those with something broken in their soul.
And the Denmark educational system sounds exactly like the US educational system. We do all that same stuff. If you think K12 education is students sitting in rows listening to lectures, you’re comically out of touch.
I’m talking about people who get absolutely every opportunity to learn compassion and empathy for other human beings. Some folks will go through all the trainings you give them, ignore them, and laugh in your face. Some people just don’t give a fuck about you or anyone else. If you can’t recognize that other people have innate value, there’s no helping you.
If you can’t recognize that other people have innate value, there’s no helping you.
You say that about unrepentant criminals, but your attitude demonstrates a lack of recognition of their innate value as people. Really this is an inconsistent, hypocritical worldview to have and I reject it categorically.
No. I don’t reject anyone’s value as a person. But I can also recognize that some people simply do not want or cannot learn to play nice with others. Beyond a certain point, when someone just doesn’t want to change, the best you can do is to keep them from hurting innocent people.
People like you are why teachers end up getting assaulted. Violent kids end up staying in classrooms long past the point they are objectively a threat to everyone around them. Administrators resist expulsion because they think like you do. You recognize the innate value of criminals, but you fail to recognize the innate value of their victims.
Beyond a certain point, when someone just doesn’t want to change, the best you can do is to keep them from hurting innocent people.
Yes, I understand that. My issue is with what seems to be our best solution, which is to consign these people to essentially torture. If they are truly incapable of learning any better, there’s no point in doing anything to them except keep them from harming others, yet we get off on making them suffer.
People like you are why teachers end up getting assaulted.
And what is your solution, oh wise sage? Some people don’t want to be helped. There is no program or intervention you can do to reach these people. Again, at some point the best you can do is put the needs of the many over the needs of the few and keep the psychopaths from hurting innocent people.
If they can’t help it, the proper response to them is definitely NOT to treat them like bad little boys who need to be locked away and punished forever while we joke about them getting SA’d in prison.
Evidence for your assertion? Research including meta-analyses of multiple studies shows that empathy is a trainable capacity that can measurably improve through structured education, practice, and social-emotional learning. Schools, workplaces, and medical institutions use specific programs (such as role-playing, active listening exercises, reading literature, and film-based discussions) to boost emotional literacy and perspective-taking. Schools in Denmark set aside one mandatory hour per week for a dedicated class called Klassens Tid (Class Time) for students aged 6 to 16. Problem-Solving & Listening: Rather than focusing on grades or traditional academic subjects during this hour, students sit together to discuss personal or group problems, practice active listening, and find collective solutions to issues like bullying or social exclusion. Around 60% of schoolwork in Denmark is group-based, emphasizing teamwork and supporting peers rather than individual competition. Finland treats empathy as a core competency woven into daily school life rather than a stand alone subject. Students analyze characters’ emotions during reading, mediate their own peer conflicts, and practice emotional resilience through hands-on projects and peer mentoring.
I think you replied to the wrong person. I was quoting them.
I don’t believe that. Yes, I’m sure you can academically define some quantitative measure of empathy. I’m sure you can put together a scale that will allow you to perform a statistical test on it. But I’m not talking about slightly increasing empathy among normal people. I’m talking about people who are truly psychopaths, those with something broken in their soul.
And the Denmark educational system sounds exactly like the US educational system. We do all that same stuff. If you think K12 education is students sitting in rows listening to lectures, you’re comically out of touch.
I’m talking about people who get absolutely every opportunity to learn compassion and empathy for other human beings. Some folks will go through all the trainings you give them, ignore them, and laugh in your face. Some people just don’t give a fuck about you or anyone else. If you can’t recognize that other people have innate value, there’s no helping you.
You say that about unrepentant criminals, but your attitude demonstrates a lack of recognition of their innate value as people. Really this is an inconsistent, hypocritical worldview to have and I reject it categorically.
No. I don’t reject anyone’s value as a person. But I can also recognize that some people simply do not want or cannot learn to play nice with others. Beyond a certain point, when someone just doesn’t want to change, the best you can do is to keep them from hurting innocent people.
People like you are why teachers end up getting assaulted. Violent kids end up staying in classrooms long past the point they are objectively a threat to everyone around them. Administrators resist expulsion because they think like you do. You recognize the innate value of criminals, but you fail to recognize the innate value of their victims.
Yes, I understand that. My issue is with what seems to be our best solution, which is to consign these people to essentially torture. If they are truly incapable of learning any better, there’s no point in doing anything to them except keep them from harming others, yet we get off on making them suffer.
Go fuck yourself.
And what is your solution, oh wise sage? Some people don’t want to be helped. There is no program or intervention you can do to reach these people. Again, at some point the best you can do is put the needs of the many over the needs of the few and keep the psychopaths from hurting innocent people.