Suzanne Zeedyk Profile picture
Mar 18, 2022 8 tweets 4 min read Read on X
Folks keep telling me they value all that I've been exploring about #BoardingSchools. So here's a THREAD on t emotional formation of political leaders, drawn directly from @BeardRichard book #SadLittleMen.
Your childhood can leave you dangerous. Image
2. STALIN. "By the end of his boarding school days, he had adapted to hide his damaged self."
And when he asked his mother why, as a child, he was beaten so frequently?..."She replied 'It didn't do you any harm.'" Image
3. MUSSOLINI. "He is portrayed as a monstrous buffoon, posturing, speechifying ....Angry, experiencing privation, as a child he is supposed to have said, 'One day, I shall astonish the world.'" Image
4. HITLER. "His early life was a strange existence characterised by roles. He had a bottomless mendacity & was not honest even to his most intimate confidants. He lied to his friends, family, himself."
"Historians have asked: What are the social forces that created Hitler?" Image
5. DAVID CAMERON. "He retreated from his days at No 10 personally unscathed. He turned his back on the mess he'd made of Brexit with t serenity of a public school boy....He'd been a bit naughty but no harm done. The arrangements to protect his interests were securely in place." Image
6. JOHNSON. "His political bluster was mock-heroic. Or was he? The candidate he beat to become OxUnion presidnt didn't think so. He warned others not to be deceived. 'This guy is a killer.'"..."His non-stop pantomime both exaggerated & obscured t class & era that made him." Image
7. "Yes, English private schools could plausibly have bred a tyrant." That's what @BeardRichard is trying to tell us. That's what he is trying to get us to look out for -- the creeping normality that historians use later to spot t birth of fascism. 'Later' isn't helpful today. Image
8. "What's t basic unit of cruelty? Therapist @JoySchaverien has identified it: 'They hide their feelings and, through projection, attack the child less able to hide theirs.' Along with a useful remoteness, a social disdain, we can flirt w/ extreme solutions to a hostile world." Image

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More from @suzannezeedyk

Aug 26
On Sunday, I did something unusual for me: I went to the shops & bought a *hard copy* of @heraldscotland because I wanted to read @NeilMackay Big Read in print & sit with its message: "Adults, we need to step up." A THREAD
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2. "They fuck you up, your mum & dad. They may not mean to but they do." @NeilMackay cited the same Larkin poem in his article with me earlier this year. I'm glad. We hide from this idea. We are ashamed, offended, askance. We are overwhelmed. So we leave our children to suffer. Image
@NeilMackay 3. "One of the most important things we can do for our childrn is validate their feelings." Yes. When human children feel heard, their stress-biology changes. So does their behaviour. @garethkthomas said this all last week on Twitter. Lots of teachers felt offended & overwhelmed. Image
Read 9 tweets
Jul 28
Yesterday I talked about the links between childhood fear/distress and the appeal in adulthood of authoritarians like Trump. Some respondents thought this was a silly idea. I'm far from the only one talking about this, tho. So I thought I would keep talking about it. THREAD Image
2. Here are researchers Milburn & Conrad talking about their recent studies. Quote: 'We talk at length about childhood punishment and its effects on the development of authoritarianism along with its negative impact on the political system."
thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/authoritariani…
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3. Here's more:
- "Our research points to a distortion of adult political attitudes as an addition to the list of negative outcomes from spanking."
- "The effects of childhood punishmnt on authoritarianism remained significant after controlling for parents' political ideology." Image
Read 13 tweets
Jul 27
I hear many people asking: "WHY do people support Trump? WHY are so many Americans willing to support his extreme positions (like the collapse of democracy)?" That willingness begins with childhood experiences. Let me remind us what happens in many American childhoods. A THREAD
2. Corporal punishment. It is still legal in state schools in 17 of America's 50 states. It is actively practiced in 12 of them, mostly in the South. Approximately 100,000 children & young people (mostly African American boys) are subjected to paddling every year, by this: Image
3. What about private schools in America? Corporal punishment remains legal in private institutions in 46 states. Only New Jersey, Iowa, Maryland & New York have banned it for all children. Lots of Christian parents send their children to private schools. @no2hitting Image
Read 11 tweets
May 9
"What is it that we still don't get?"
This is t title of an insightful article writtn by Cliffe & Solvason in 2022 an academc journal called 'Power & Education' @PowerandEd . That quote is frm me.
This is a THREAD highlightng the important qstns they ask.
journals.sagepub.com/doi/epub/10.11…
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2. "In t opening speech for @TIGERSEYAcad 2017, Zeedyk asks 'what is that we still don't get?' Her point is that EY educators are often still not gettng the importnce of relatnshps, at policy or practice level."
Yep. I still think this. Well done @TIGERS_UK for opening up debate. Image
@TIGERSEYAcad @TIGERS_UK 3. "The dilemma Zeedyk alluded to emerges clearly when human development is closely scrutinised....Relatnshps are key to a child's learning, developmnt & resilience - inside & outside EY provision."
Delighted to see the theorists cited: @grahammusic1, @MoralLandscapes, Trevarthen Image
Read 7 tweets
Jun 25, 2023
A #BabyThread about the sophistication of baby teasing.
This latest post from @DanWuori has been getting lots of shares & many of you have tagged me. I thought I would highlight some of the nuances so noone misses its fabulous complexity. THREAD.
2. So what can we see? Well, first, there aren't just 2 of them in on this joke, but 3! I am guessing that Daddy is filming the interaction, because there are two points when the baby looks directly at the camera as he says 'Dada'. With that look, he pulls Daddy into the joke.
3. Second, this is an example of what developmental psychologst Vasu Reddy calls 'infant clowning'. These are "acts which infants repeat deliberately in order to re-elicit laughter from others". He's learned something of emotionally managing his mama.😀
https://t.co/6gB4L1QBWKcairn.info/revue-enfance1…
Read 10 tweets
May 28, 2023
How the new challenges faced by women footballers help us in thinking about responses to increased “school violence”. An analogy I didn’t have time to draw on today in my intvw w/ @Fionasstalker on @BBCRadioScot . THREAD. Image
2. A piece in this weekend's @guardian describes the increased hamstring injuries faced by top female footballers. Playing more often in elite matches places new demands on them. "Coaching methods are failing to keep up." The article explains how coaching has to adapt & change. Image
3. The @guardian article explains clearly how hamstrings work. We get a helpful schematic drawing & a Quick Guide. "Injuries tend to occur during sudden movements. Footballers are at high risk." So we've linked t biology (physiology) of hamstrings to real life (football). Grand! Image
Read 13 tweets

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