posted
At Bootcamp, OSC introduced the idea of the Goat. (Not to be confused with da_goat)
The Goat is a person who the rest of the collective looks to abuse every chance possible. Sometimes this is because the Goat is an idiot among geniuses, or a genius among idiots. Sometimes, the Goat is a clown, and actively seeks attention. Whatever the case, the Goat is seen as responsible for any problems within the group.
In this case, the Goat is an individual, not a collection of like minded people. And yes, I'm looking for answers to apply to a personal issue, but I'm not going to go into that just yet.
How do you get people to stop being the Goat?
Posts: 14554 | Registered: Dec 1999
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posted
You mean a scapegoat? Man, that's a hard one -- it seems like in our society, whenever there is a group or crowd mentality, human nature of the group picks one out to be scapegoat.
Almost every gradeschool classroom has one. I don't know of any cures that have been found.
posted
OSC prevented us from taking advantage of the Goat syndrome by saying outright, "Don't be a goat. Don't create a goat. I won't tolerate it in my class."
We were all hypnotized by the Hawaiian shirt. . . couldn't resist. We were pretty peaceable, if I remember things right.
Posts: 14554 | Registered: Dec 1999
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posted
Scott, that is a really good "trick" of OSC's called being explicit about your expectations.
I find that many teachers will assume that students, even older ones, know what they expect in behavior. Some honestly don't. Tell then exactly what ou expect, remind them of what you expect, and give consequences when they cross the line.
Some kids fall into a victim role easily, and to be honest, they are always the hardest ones for me to deal with. They lapse back into the behavior so quickly.
Good for him to call it what it is, and to not let it happen in his class.
Posts: 10890 | Registered: May 2003
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posted
The way to get rid of the goat is for everyone to take responsibility for themselves. The goat exists when people refuse to be accountable for their errors and instead try to pawn them off on someone else.
posted
People need to evolve. I'm reading this book now about how girls pick on certain other girls and it's just depressing. I wasn't like that when I was a kid.
Posts: 9942 | Registered: Mar 2003
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