High school is a beautiful thing. I never saw this until i graduated. I walked the halls confident because i was a all year around athlete. Never was picked on my entire life, not even for the color of my skin. I walked into high school with NO FEAR. Now with that being said, with my narcissistic mentality at the time i never stop to think about someone else waking up, ready to throw up because they have to go to school. Why, because of fear. Fear of being picked on, fear of not fitting in, the fear of someone finding out that you are different.
The GLSEN ( Gay Lesbian and Straight Education) reported that two thirds (65%) of teens have been harassed or assaulted for their appearance, gender, sexual orientation, gender expression, race/ethnicity or religion. This scary statistic is unbelievable. I feel horrible knowing that someone i know, people i associate with where criticized for being themselves. This class hopefully does not make me go into a depression lol. 33% of students which is one third are crudely harassed because they "look" like they are gay, lesbian or bisexual. 22% of actual gay and lesbian students do not even feel safe in their schools compared to 7% of people that are not gay or lesbian feeling safe at school. Not feeling safe at SCHOOL! It blows my mind, how a place where you need to be at for almost a quarter of your life you do not feel safe at. At 90% of (LGBT) students have actually been harassed for their sexual orientation, and 62% of students who are not (LGBT) have been harassed for be considered homosexual. SMH! This type of torment leads to exactly what the definition states, "to afflict with great bodily or mental suffering." There should be no pain in a place where education should be the pain of the mind.
Where are we? I say we because on day this will be us, hearing these rude comments by our future students. Most teachers 85% of high school teachers say that they "believe" they are ensuring a safe learning environment. 68 % of students say their school has a snit harassment policy. HOWEVER, only 48% of all students say their school has policy that specifies sexual orientation or gender identity or expression. Most of students who experience harassment in school (57%) never report these incidents to teacher other personnel, because most teachers report that they would feel comfortable intervening if they saw the harassment. REALLY?!?!?.... This is bothers my terribly because that is when most of the bullying doesn't happen. Most of it is on myspace, face book, text messages, it is everywhere. Students should feel comfortable to talk to SOMEONE when they are getting tortured. One out of ten students don't do anything because they feel what the teacher might do is powerless to improve the situation. This our my future career, and we are supposed to work these students, we will see some of these children more than their own parents. My children should not have fear in talking to someone that is supposed to educate and guide them REGARDLESS of the situaiton.
I agree it is scary, looking at the statistics and seeing how many kids are really being bullied. I never really got bullied in high school either, i just kind of stuck to my own group of friends and by junior and senior year everyone was pretty much ok with everyone, but thats probably because i come from a really small town where you see half your class working at stop and shop or Dunkin Donuts. But i completely agree, we are heading towards this conflict as future educators who have a responsibility to help LBGT students and prevent the bullying.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Billy, school shouldn't be a place that a student fears. You spend a good amount of your life in school so it should feel like a second home to you. I believe that each student should build a special bond with at least one teacher that way they feel comfortable around them and they can talk about any issues they're having. It's sad to see the amount of bullying that goes on in school. As future educators we have to remember these issues that go on and we have to stop them right away or else it's just going to continue and become worse.
ReplyDeleteBullying is HUGE when it is not face to face. Most of it is done through technology because the kids are afraid to speak to the person in real life. I completely agree with wanting our children or students, however you want to put it, to be fearless of talking to me. We are there to help them and we need to get that point across to them.
ReplyDeleteWhat surprises me most isn't the fact that bullying goes on, but the fact that so many students are bullied for just "looking" or "acting" gay. Is the world so intolerant of differences that someone who doesn't exactly fit stereotypical gender roles is going to be completely ridiculed? I think that particular intolerance is something else we have to look out for as future educators.
ReplyDeleteThese stats are awful!! As well as that video clip - Its so sad that children actually go to school in fear... You spend the majority of your childhood at this place, you should be able to find some sort of comfort in and its very depressing that many students don't. Especially students that have trouble fitting in... Its heartbreaking... great post billy!
ReplyDelete