Michel Foucault's Discipline & Punishment focuses on the transition into the modern system of punishment, away from public embarrassment into a gentler and more measured approach. We Americans welcome Canada into the league of nations going the other direction. Speeders in Oshawa, Ontario are now being given the choice between getting a speeding ticket or having to sit through a poorly-written essay on speeding from a teenager. One driver broke down crying after having a teenager exclaim she was now dead because the driver chose to speed, though we're not sure if the crying was due to the emotional impact of the text or the labored rhetorical strategies most teens employ. Nevertheless, we think this is a great strategy as there's no one more self righteous than a teenage girl on a power trip.
Seriously, what's a better deterrent than that? Though we joke, the stern talking to happens at an intersection with numerous collisions within a kilometer of about 3,500 school children. Their best quarry so far has been an embarrassed and horrified vice-principal from another school. Finally, someone has managed to harness the awesome power that is a teenager's inability to shut up for more than four seconds. (h/t PhkMark) [Toronto Star]