[keltic63]

Originally Posted by Zerbie

Keltic??!?! You are a major part of the solution to this problem! I don't know why you take this personally when you have been an active part of the solution for years. If your school has the anti-bullying programs and teachers are intervening, then so is your school. No one is beating up on teachers and schools who ARE addressing the problem, and no one is saying they have ALL the blame! Parents are a MAJOR part of the problem, but yes, so are teachers and so are school districts.

I don't understand why you aren't feeling righteous anger towards those in your profession who turn a blind eye and deaf ear to these problems. There are MANY who do just that. THOSE are the teachers who need to start stepping up to their responsibility for kids, not the ones who ARE helping already.

As long as school districts are a part of the problem, I am going to say so. If yours doesn't need to change, Keltic, that's amazing. We need more like that, and that's the whole point.

Certainly there are those that allow bullying to go on, and perhaps some neanderthals who encourage it. What I'm trying to say here is that even for those that have proven programs in place, we can't replace those with the ultimate responsibility for teaching the kids values, the parents. Not to mention the parents who think that it is ok to bully LGBT people, or who harbor some other prejudices.

Originally Posted by Rick336

You make a good point. It's good to see another teacher's perspective on this issue. And I agree, parents do need to take responsibility for the behavior of their kids. All of the blame can't fall on the schools.

Parents should teach their kids the importance of values.

But, sometimes the problem with that is that many parents give mixed messages about values.They might tell their kids that stealing is wrong but then the kids see them cheating on their taxes. They might tell their kids that lying is wrong, but then see them lying to their minister about why they didn't attend the church fundraiser.

And even the church can send out confusing messages. Example: "Ours is a god of love and infinite benevolence, and if you do not embrace him he will make you burn forever in hell."

When kids are growing up and learning about the world, a lot of what they see and hear is contradictory and confusing. How do they know what to believe and what not to believe? It's no wonder they don't trust or respect authority.


Rick

moreover, we see parents coming to school and lying about their kids' behavior in an attempt to harm the teachers. Just happened to me last week. mom sent a scathing email, with details about what I did in class to humiliate her son. the only problem is, NONE of it happened as she described it. how could she go into detail about something she wasn't even present for?

Originally Posted by Daniel

The public school classroom that is. And there is only so much that teachers can do. Kids? They walk in with the attitudes that are- by-and-large - gotten from their environment at home for good or ill. Changing that? Oh. A bully might modify his/her behavior slightly at school. But if there isn't anything to make that change 'real' at home, it's just window dressing, nothing more. Once that kid is out the door everything changes. Without a great deal of effort, the behavior reverts to it;s default setting.

Some bully for the sport of it. Others because they are themselves bullied. While others bully because they are in pain- a lot of pain, and it gives them the sense of being able to control their feelings. Trouble is, it just adds fuel to the fire. How to stop? That takes skill. And more than what most schools can provide.

Kids are a reflection of what is going on at home. That's what I learned during my time teaching. And there is no way around that. Gets parents on board, that is, if they aren't drugging, boozing or zoning out, and all things are possible.

Too bad parents don't have to attend with their kids.

parents attending with kids? it wouldn't hurt to have some sort of requirement in which the parents are educated about the goals of the school and what is expected of them as part of this "free" education being provided to their children.

That said, we can only work with the students we have and meet them where we are.

I also believe, firmly, that not only will the suicides increase with the far right fundies saying the horrible things that they do, but gay-bashings will increase as well.

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win. -Gandhi

I believe the fight is on.