students are forced to endure bullying

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Please see this English text ...

In a recent press release for Chaucer Private School, the school's headmaster stated that, while tuition fees may be substantial, there are latent costs of the public school system that parents should consider. At public schools, the headmaster argues, students are forced to endure bullying and teasing from their peers.

what is 'latent costs' ? I don't find a match in google search.

'students are forced to endure bullying and teasing from their peers' ....not clear with this also . peers bully !!!!! ..strange ....never heard of this kind of things .....is it true in US schools ? who are these peers ? are they senior students ?

I studied in a religious school ...may be because of that did not face any such environment.

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@tintin,

Quote:

Please see this English text ...

color=#0080FF]There is no meaning in English for this use of see, Tintin. A doctor can see a patient; a person can ask, "Will you see me [time adjunct]?; but we don't use 'see' like this when requesting that someone look at some text.

?? Please see my report. ??
[/color]

In a recent press release for Chaucer Private School, the school's headmaster stated that, while tuition fees may be substantial, there are latent costs of the public school system that parents should consider. At public schools, the headmaster argues, students are forced to endure bullying and teasing from their peers.

what is 'latent costs' ? I don't find a match in google search.

It means extra costs.

'students are forced to endure bullying and teasing from their peers' ....not clear with this also . peers bully !!!!! ..strange ....never heard of this kind of things .....is it true in US schools ? who are these peers ? are they senior students ?

I studied in a religious school ...may be because of that did not face any such environment.

It's true in pretty much every school in most countries of the world. I'd say that in school, 'peers' are normally considered to be relatively close in age, whereas in the workaday world, peers' ages can be quite variable. I'd also say that the notion of peers varies by country.

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@tintin,

'latent' in this context does mean extra but also 'underlying, not immediately noticable or manifested obviously'.

So when the guy is saying that there are latent costs in sending your child to a public school he means that even though it might appear that there are no costs- there are 'fees' your child will pay - one is the possibility of being bullied.

I think he overstated it a little - students aren't 'forced' to endure bullying - in that it's not compulsory (unless you get a mean gym teacher) but sad to say, in this day and age, bullying (at least verbally) has become more and more acceptable as a means of communication and interaction between people that it seems to happen on a regular basis - kids learn what they see and they see this sort of thing at home and on facebook - etc.

In terms of peers - in this context it's not something like 'a peer of the realm' which would mean higher up or superior or 'head girl' or 'head boy' if you went to a school where there was a headmaster. It means people who are at the same stage in life and doing the same thing you are.

The religious school aspect is interesting. I wonder if there is less bullying in a religious school (by anyone except the nuns - my friends who went to a parochial school when I was growing up told me they got hit with rulers and stuff like that - the teachers weren't allowed to hit us in public schools).

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there was a recent case in Massachusetts of a girl from Ireland who moved to the States and dated a popular athlete briefly. The clique of "popular" kids thought she was out of line and getting ideas above her station and harrassed her incessantly, at school, out of school, on the net, any way they could think of. Some of them apparently raped her too. It was so brutal and unstopping that she committed suicide. This week some of the kids were indicted as criminals. This was a good deal more extreme than normal, but it does happen. I have to agree with aidan, I hear about bullying in schools around the world. This is peer to peer bullying, but there is also teacher and administrator to pupil bullying of students. The stereotypical case which comics make fun of is the nuns in parochial schools whacking students with rulers and escalating from there. I didn't go to parochial schools so I don't know how much of that, if any, is true, or a general picture, or true of some schools and not others.

Here's a link to the Massachusetts case:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-campaigners-take-on-highschool-bullies-after-irish-girl-is-driven-to-despair-1931659.html
I wouldn't say it's typical at all, but it does happen and it has sent shock waves thru S. Hadley and the state and beyond.

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@tintin,

Aidan is right.

latent
"adjective
1.present but not visible, apparent, or actualized; existing as potential: latent ability.
2.Pathology. (of an infectious agent or disease) remaining in an inactive or hidden phase; dormantto lie hidden; see -ent

"Related forms
la·tent·ly, adverb

"Synonyms
1. dormant, quiescent, veiled, Latent, potential refer to powers or possibilities existing but hidden or not yet actualized. Latent emphasizes the hidden character or the dormancy of what is named: latent qualities, defects, diseases. That which is potential exists in an as yet undeveloped state, but is thought of as capable of coming into full being or activity at some future time: potential genius, tragedy. Potential may be applied also to tangibles: High-tension wires are a potential source of danger.

Their peers means their equals; people of the same rank or the same standing.

The concept sought (better spelled sawt) to be expressed
is that the BULLIES are the people who FORCE their victims to tolerate the abuse in question.

David

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@aidan,

No...our school was run by Monks ...its a boy's school ..no girls. Headmaster is the administrator and he is a Monk. He used to take culture classes though he is an Economist . We learnt so many facts from him . He has travelled so many countries in the world and posses multiple Masters degree from many Global Universities . He is a very nice person.

Regarding peers , we do have mutual respect to each other. We learnt together,studied together . Today, friends are scattered ...but we do have contacts and visit our religious school whenever there is a meet. We were in a nice environment , peaceful place . I never heard of this kind of bullying stuff there.

Thanks to all for sharing their experience.

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@tintin,

I am sorry, this may a dumb question ...but I don't get the connection between latent cost and bullying . How they are connected ?

Could you please explain ?

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@tintin,

tintin wrote:

I am sorry, this may a dumb question ...but I don't get the connection
between latent cost and bullying. How they are connected ?

Could you please explain ?

The idea is that altho this cost is not in cash, not in tuition,
it is present in a less visible form: falling victim to bullying, in the future.

David

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@tintin,

Quote:

I am sorry, this may a dumb question ...but I don't get the connection between latent cost and bullying . How they are connected ?

They are not connected, Tintin. They are two separate things.

There are extra/latent/hidden financial costs to public school and to make the private school seem better, the headmaster argues/makes the case that students are subject to bullying, something that he suggests doesn't happen in the private school.

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@JTT,

Not so sure about that. The name Chaucer Private School, and the title of headmaster makes it sound like the school system is English. If that's the case, 'public" means 'private', and supported by tuition. English Public schools are university prep.

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@JTT,

umm ....It seems to me you mean there is a latent cost to stop bullying in that school ? is this something like that ?

Can we assume that ? or What are other possibilities ?

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No. He's saying that while a private school has an obvious cost--i.e. the tuition (and room and board, if it's a boarding school), public education, while it is free (apart from the portion of everybody's taxes that funds it) there may be another not-so-obvious (and not monetary)cost in things like psychological trauma from cliquishness and ostracism and bullying in the public schools.
Considering the things one reads about social snobbishness, cliques, hazing rituals and such over the centuries in the English public (i.e. private) schools, I'm not sure his point is valid.

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No. He's saying that while a private school has an obvious cost--i.e. the tuition (and room and board, if it's a boarding school), public education, while it is free (apart from the portion of everybody's taxes that funds it) may have other not-so-obvious (and not monetary)costs in things like psychological trauma from cliquishness and ostracism and bullying in the public schools.
Considering the things one reads about social snobbishness, cliques, hazing rituals and such over the centuries in the English public (i.e. private) schools, I'm not sure his point is valid.

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@roger,

I don't understand what you mean, Rog.

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@MontereyJack,

In a recent press release for Chaucer Private School, the school's headmaster stated that, while tuition fees may be substantial, there are latent costs of the public school system that parents should consider. At public schools, the headmaster argues, students are forced to endure bullying and teasing from their peers.

====================

I believed that the headmaster was making two separate points, one, there are extra financial costs that are hidden within the public system that don't show up until later, eg. cost of a uniform, books, blah blah blah.

I thought, from the text, that he was making a separate point, sort of an "Additionally" there is an issue of bullying in public schools [and I'm not prepared to debate that for at least two reasons; Roger's raised an issue that might make my knolwedge of the situation suspect and secondly, to me, it's a non-issue as regards the language question].

After reading MJ's response, I see now that the headmaster could certainly be including bullying as a cost that had to be considered. To determine whether my initial supposition is correct or if MJ's is the ticket, I think we need to fly the headmaster over to A2K headquarters and grill him/her.

EDIT: I've changed my mind. I'm not going to do anything to diminish my hard fought for reputation as a PC Thug. MJ and Roger, you're both full of **** and your opinions are less than worthless. So there!

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@JTT,

I am speculating, and it would be nice to know for sure, that the school is in England. If so, there could be some special meaning to the word "public".

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@roger,

It is true that in England, they used to use the terms 'public' and 'private' to describe the funding of schools exactly opposite from how the funding for American schools was explained- but those terms aren't as widely in use in that way in England today.
Now they use the terms 'independent' and 'state'. An independent school is what we know as 'private' in the US.
A state school is what we'd call a 'public' school in the US.
So whether or not that aspect enters into it is dependent upon how current this article is.

Here's an excerpt from a current article written to help parents make choices about their child's education in England today.
As you can see they now are using the word 'private' to describe education as we would in America - to indicate an education for which parents are paying tuition.

Quote:

Independent v state school education
Finessing the state and independent sectors

All those scary newspaper statistics about the long-term costs of keeping your child in nappies and birthday presents pale into insignificance when set beside the £100,000+ you’ll need to educate a child privately from nursery school to university.
Paying for a private education from finger painting to Freshers’ Week is no longer the necessity it was once. There may be more people than ever before opting for the independent sector, but those without private means or surplus wealth are often choosing to pay selectively.

I do think that the headmaster in the excerpt from the opening post was using the term 'latent costs' t0 include or link bullying as a cost your child will pay - specifically because he did not use the word 'additionally' or even start another paragraph to indicate a change of subject.

I also think Monterey Jack had a good point about the fact that bullying is/was an integral part of the whole old English public (private) Laughing

- tuition-based- schooling.
From what I hear from people who went through it (in all-boys' schools - I don't know any women who went to all-girl schools) it was rampant, but it was different in that it was systemized. There were rules and expectations for the bullying - so unless someone went outside of those parameters - it wasn't called bullying- oh but these guys seemed to have payed some 'latent' costs, from what they tell me.

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@tintin,

Quote:

No...our school was run by Monks ...its a boy's school ..no girls. Headmaster is the administrator and he is a Monk. He used to take culture classes though he is an Economist . We learnt so many facts from him . He has travelled so many countries in the world and posses multiple Masters degree from many Global Universities . He is a very nice person.

Regarding peers , we do have mutual respect to each other. We learnt together,studied together . Today, friends are scattered ...but we do have contacts and visit our religious school whenever there is a meet. We were in a nice environment , peaceful place . I never heard of this kind of bullying stuff there.

Thanks to all for sharing their experience.

Thank you for sharing your experience. It sounds as if it was wonderful - exactly what you needed.
And it's interesting that you used the words 'mutual respect' in describing the relationships you had with each other as peers. I think that is important in determining how people will treat each other in any situation. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be such an expectation of 'mutual respect' in very many subsets of society today- and that's every which way - from child to adult/from adult to child/from child to child/ from adult to adult....sad.

I went to public (no tuition paid) school in America and I loved my schooling too. Wonderful, wonderful teachers and good peer relationships - but again- that was during a time when respect was an expectation - particularly from children toward adults. I guess when you're in practice exhibiting respect toward anyone at all - you're more inclined to practice it toward everyone.

My children went to a private school founded on religious principles for two years (my daughter had an issue that wasn't being addressed in her public school and I liked it so much for her, I sent my son there too). There was more respect expected- I would say, in that it seemed like more of a family atmosphere which was good, but in other ways it was more rigid than I liked, and I felt they were being exposed to only a narrow view and population - and I didn't like that or think it would be good in terms of preparing them to function in a more diverse world- so I returned them to public school.

It was good though - I'm glad they got the chance to see both sides.

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@aidan,

Glad you showed up to clarify all that. I was tempted to invite you but didn't really think it was that important. Thanks.

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