FJAG
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daftandbarmy said:...
Col. (ret'd) Michel Drapeau said ...
Fixed that for the National Post. It's really not that hard to be accurate.
The problem for RMC is that it starts with exactly the same raw material as every civilian university - hormone charged and brain dead high school students who, for the most part, are experiencing their first freedom from parental supervision. To cap it off there is a hierarchical structure within the cadet corps which gives individuals whose leadership skills are still underdeveloped authority over more junior cadets who themselves feel unempowered.
There are already programs in place within DND and within RMC that should be addressing this problem, however, based on this and other reports, these seem to still be failing the mark.
I disagree with Drapeau about there being a system of inculcation that "you shall not complain". While there is clearly a program to build self confidence and self reliance which generally teaches you to handle problems yourself, there is at the same time a clear system that allows and encourages complaints of this nature. IMHO, the problem isn't so much that the system discourages complaints but that most young people aren't prone to going to "higher ups" to solve these types problems but generally deal with them through discussion with their peers. They generally decide amongst themselves what has crossed the line and generally, for low level issues, tend to "suck it up and carry on". It's a tough problem to solve.
I must admit, I was not surprised with the figure of 68% "had witnessed or personally experienced what was described as unwanted sexualized behaviour" - it's entirely too prevalent in our society - but I'm absolutely dumbfounded by the report that "28 per cent of female respondents said they had been sexually assaulted during their time at the military colleges — nearly twice the rate among students at post-secondary institutions in the rest of the country" and that "Fifteen per cent of female officer cadets reported having been sexually assaulted in the past 12 months, compared to 11 per cent in the general population." I haven't read the actual report, however, if those statistics are accurately reported, heads, many heads, should roll at RMC.
:clubinhand: