Another way in which school isn't treating boys well

Submitted by Matt on Fri, 2011-05-20 13:58

Bullying. When it happens to girls, it makes the news. Boys? This story speaks for itself. Perhaps the only reason it made the news is because it was a sub who was there that day. Excerpt:

'A 12-year-old Dallas student was bound to a chair with duct tape and beaten by four classmates as a substitute teacher stood and ignored the attack, according to the victim's mom.

The Dallas school district is investigating the charges made by Keneshia Richardson, who claims the attackers wrapped tape around her son's mouth to keep him from shouting.

"It was uncalled for," Richardson told The Dallas Morning News, adding her son had trouble breathing.

The woman said his hands were taped to the chair, he was wrapped with a telephone cord, and the attackers knocked him to the ground. The boy's shirt was torn as well, she claimed.'

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Comments

How about the fact it made the news is because it made the news and it was horrific. Substitute teacher or not, or just happening anywhere. I have seen girl bullies and boy bullies, it just needs to stop. How do we stop it?

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Submitted by bobwoolsey on Fri, 2011-05-20 21:38

Bullying is a serious concern for education policy makers. Like the police and the courts, the notion of "bullying" descriminates against men. I think central to this is that male bullying is physical, while female bullying is psychological and emotional. I was watching a case of a teen girl who committed suicide because of bullying. The accused were a boyfriend and a girlfriend. From what I understood, the girl was the most to blame, as she used facebook, cell-phone texts, gossip, and other social and psychological modes of harassment to coerce the deceased into suicide. I think education policy-makers need to acknowledge the social and psychological aspects of female harassment, and the modes through which women sexually bully men.

"Without friends no one would choose to live, though he had all the other goods." Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, VIII.1155a5.

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Submitted by cwondermagic1 on Sat, 2011-05-21 02:52

I don't have any real solutions, but I remember being miserable in high school. I moved to a public school after spending most my years in private school. I knew no one when I arrived. Teenagers can be so mean, I remember either being harassed or ignored by both males and females.

I don't really fault the schools or the teachers, as they can't really do anything about it, especially since most of it occurs out of site from them and disciplining is really out of their control. The only option they have is suspension and now schools have a policy that ANYONE involved in a physical altercation or threat gets suspended (even the victim - as the schools can't really take sides). Schools just remove the problem by issuing suspensions, but they can't really fix the problem. And does anyone remember thinking in high school that telling a teacher about being teased would be a good way to solve the problem?...(I think not!)

I think the problem is contributed to poor parenting, decreasing family values and allowing the schools to take over the "parenting role". I think the meanness and shallow social behavior of teenagers is a natural outcome when you have kids raised in the system; and like I said in another thread, I consider government run schools as a form of welfare. Kids spend way too much time in school and away from parents and families, which is where social behavior should be taught.

The social behavior learned in the public schools match my expectations of social behavior learned in prisons. The social structures that occur in both facilities are very similar - and no one is safe.

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Submitted by Kris on Sat, 2011-05-21 05:16