Stark Futility

LeMonde this morning has an report (FR) on how attempts to address school violence have become cyclical -- or rather, causes the government to run in circles. Since the 1980s, "a dozen" different government white papers seeking to tackle violence in schools have been published. Yet as several recent high profile incidents in France show, they do not seem to have had too great of an effect. While the scale on which France must confront this issue is minimal compared to the US, its suggestions about the limits of government's ability to effect reforms are instructive.