Monday, April 5, 2010
At what point do we need to step in as educators?
I understand this has to do with a high school student and is a little off topic from our readings for the week, but at what point in the older grades of Early Childhood Education do we need to step in to stop the bullying and taunting? Trying to relate it back to our reading, how do we make a safe environment for all the different children we will have in our classroom. I understand many have the view that "kids will be kids" but at what point is it crossing the line. This is a video clip from Fox News on the South Hadley, MA case in which a high school freshman, Phoebe Prince was "bullied to death." School should be an environment where students feel safe, where did it all go wrong?
A quote from USA Today states, "These bullies are so subtle and cunning it's hard for school staff to know if what looks like bullying really is, and what to do about it. "Some of it is so under the radar that without training, you can't see what's in front of you," says Marlene Snyder, a Clemson University expert on bullying."
What steps are we as future educators taking to ensure we receive the proper training to recognize bullying and the damage it can cause, especially for teh younger children?
It is stated that "school officials failed to stop it, even though the bullying was "common knowledge" for months. Phoebe's mother twice complained to school staffers, and some bullying was witnessed by teachers. The school's inaction, while not criminal, was "troubling," Scheibel said."
Below is the article from USA Today...
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2010-04-04-bullying_N.htm
I understand some of you are parents, and how would you feel if your child came home and confronted you with issues of bullying at any age?
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5 comments:
Thanks for posting this Amy. I heard this on Ace & TJ last week, and was completely shocked about this story. When I read what you wrote and watched the video I was even more bothered. What was said on the radio was that teachers did know about the bullying through the mother and from seeing it happen, but never did anything. I cannot understand that at all!
I tried to put myself back in high school, and although I was pretty shy and didn't really get in fights with anyone I know there were those people out there. And I never stood up for them, but I know for a fact that if something happened in our school to the "bullying" effect, that we were immediately given some sort of consequence.
I just can't help thinking, how would you feel if you knew you were one of those people? That you were always saying awful things to someone and that made them do something harmful to themself.
Or the person that never stood up for a student so that they would feel comfortable to come to school? I would hope that all of us will won't the environment we build for our classrooms to be comfortable and inviting.
This is an awful circumstance, and I feel bad for this school district because they have some major remodeling to do.
I agree with you Kelsey, I wonder if it begins with us as pre-K through 3rd grade teaching the students what is right and wrong from the get-go.
It becomes a serious issue in high-school when people are literally, "dying" to fit in, but it also begins with laying the right foundation.
No matter if you grow up in a big city, or in a small town, everyone wants to be accepted and liked.
It is important that we teach our students from a young age the importance of accepting one-another.
I think we will definitely face bullying, even as teachers of the younger grades. Even 5-year-olds can be very mean and vicious when they see someone who is different. Teachers and school counselors should step in. Often times, the children doing the bullying have problems of their own that also need addressing. But I wouldn’t necessarily encourage children to step in to defend other children who are being bullied. It would be better for them to tell an adult. One tragic example… at my high school, a boy started picking a fight with another boy while waiting for the bus outside the school. Another boy stepped in to defend the victim. The boy who started the fight pushed him to the ground and stomped on his head. He almost died, but survived, with severe brain damage. It was devastating for his family. I’m not saying this happens all the time, but it just shows how bullying and violence can escalate quickly in a school. Maybe this could have been prevented if a teacher had been nearby.
I do not know if any of you remember the video we watched where the Japanese children were taught to deal with problems on their own but they stated that this was efficient for the younger grades but bullying became a problem when the children got older. With this being said, there has to be a fine line between allowing the children to work things out on their own and you stepping in. I do think that it is important that a child learns to deal with classmates but if it is happening on a consistant basis then some action needs to be taken. Bullying will take place whether we like it or not so we need to be ready to take action if possible. Kids will be kids but that is not an excuse to not take control of a situation. As msot of our professors have stated, "it is better to over report than under report".
I agree Ashley, but it has come to the point where many teachers are turning their heads at bullying because they do not want to get involved. Maybe for fear of making waves themselves with the administration, their own safety or because they just don't want to take on one more problem onto their already full plate.
Julie so sorry to hear about such a horrible thing to happen to that boy, but it does go to show you that bullying effects everyone, and happens all the time around us. I was bullied as a child, and even though I learned to be tougher and move on and not take things to heart, there are children that are much more sensitive that will let it effect them. I think teachers need more training to better recognize when to step in, and what can be done to teach students the effects of their taunting.
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