Stop Bullying: Schools Can Hold Hope
Twitter wars of the adults have become unhinged. Now instead of pointing to adult behavior as a model for proper behavior, we have none. It is up to schools to make a difference.
Twitter wars of the adults have become unhinged. Now instead of pointing to adult behavior as a model for proper behavior, we have none. It is up to schools to make a difference.
We can read these stories of abuse and follow the press about the uncovering of these cases with shock and shake our heads. Or we can take a look inside schools and see how we teach children.
We are in a difficult time. This time is one that we have no frame of reference. The polarization of sides, beliefs, values are extreme and are flaunted. We are called as educators to be awake and active.
Then there are those children who choose to use bullying behaviors to meet their own needs. We need to develop alternative pathways for them.
If we can teach children that they have power, and help them develop a voice, then less of them will enter the world of adulthood seeing and believing that power over another is the sole path to feeling powerful.
Silveria's value based message wasn't tentative nor half-hearted. He told the gathering that they should be "outraged", that small ideas and horrific thinking needs to be replaced by a better idea. What would you do?
How will we maintain civility in our schools without acknowledging civility is being challenged daily by Trump's speeches and tweets from the holder of the highest office in the land?
It has become a coming of age ritual for too many children as they find their way through name-calling and bullying while learning how to navigate the world of emotions.
As educators, we may hope to be colorblind. But is there something beyond being colorblind that will make us better and stronger leaders for children of all colors and cultures? Too often we see our good intentions rather than the real lives of others.
Guest blogger Devorah Heitner writes: If we simply drive the conversation underground, we lose an opportunity to help kids understand other people's point of view.
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