Plato and the Police: Dogs,Guardians, and Why Accountability is the Wrong Answer

Attention to significant commonalities between the position of teachers and police officers, we suggest, illuminates problematic aspects of their position within a democracy. Demographically, both the teaching force and the police force are disproportionately white, yet the commonalities extend beyond race. We suspect too little attention has been paid to other social categorizations, namely social class and gender. Toward this end, we explore the significant commonalities between the position of teachers and police officers and suggest that aspects of their position within a democracy make accountability a problematic tactic for addressing systematic failures. In this article we turn to Plato's discussion of the guardians for his ideal Republic because Plato squarely faces a problem that still dogs us: How are those persons given the right to uphold order to be prevented from turning on the polis they are meant to protect? The answer we offer rests on a theorization of a middle position and on a democratically situated ethical response to the other.     

Child sexual abuse in Shelby County, Tennessee: a new epidemic?

Following the introduction of a comprehensive child sexual abuse program in 1985, there was a significant increase in the number of validated incidents of abuse involving minors. However, following the initial increase, the number of validated incidents of abuse remained relatively stable at about 30-35 per month. While the overall validation rate was 57%, it fluctuated widely from as low as 21% to as high 92%. The validation rate rose from 1984 through 1987, declining in the latter part of 1989. The validation rate appeared to reflect the number of validated cases and not be dependent upon the number of reported cases. The number of cases validated was not significantly correlated with time, but was moderately correlated with the number of cases reported (estimated Spearman correlation coefficient was .45 with p less than .05). However, after adjusting for time, the partial correlation between the number of validated and the number of reported cases was no longer significant. The percent of validated cases (the validation rate) was correlated with number of cases validated (estimated Spearmen correlation coefficient was .84 with p less than .0001), but not with the number of cases reported. Validation rates were higher for girls than for boys, 71.1% and 31.8% respectively. The majority of the perpetrators (78%) were known to the children and had access to the victims. In over half the incidents, family members were implicated as the perpetrators.     

Interlibrary cooperation in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: the holder-of-record system

The Saudi Arabian Ministry of Defense and Aviation, which contracts for management of military hospitals, responded to the libraries' needs for more complete and extensive journal holdings. Better journal coverage was achieved through improved communication and cooperation among neighbor libraries, and through systematic implementation of a holder-of-record system. Interlibrary loan activity was more evenly distributed, and 70% of requisitions which previously had to be handled by foreign libraries can now be filled in Saudi Arabia.     

DEVELOPMENTALLY TESTING THE TELEVISION COMPONENT

This paper is a summary of a follow‐up study which gauged the reactions of an Open University Course Team to the developmental testing of the broadcast element of their course. The particular problems encountered in modifying the television component are identified and the paper concludes by suggesting the conditions which appear to be necessary for the broadcast component of an Open University course to be fully developmentally tested, and if necessary modified. The Journal has already published studies, by Frances Berrigan (Vol 3, No.2) and Margaret Gallagher (Vol 3, No.1), on the topic of developmental testing.