It seems that the issue on bullying struck many of us in the class, or at least those who I have actually talked with and heard remarks of. Quite honestly I was shocked at some of the things we saw on the video. Even though I had the opportunity to research this topic for the discussion last Friday, I still learned something new from the video we watched the following Monday. Here are a couple of observations that I found or thought of as I watched it:
1. It seemed like teachers didn't really do anything to prevent the issue. It may have been the perspective of the program, but in the later cases of the video (the elementary students and the two boys in middle school) the parents were forced to do something. The two middle school boys were transferred to another school while the later elementary students had help dealing with their issues. I find this quite disturbing going into the profession. Will I be able to spot all of the different signs of bullying even before it happens or will I be forced to hook up security cameras in my classroom with high tech goggles that will display video feed from each cam?
2. I thought it was interesting that bullying was very severe in the two boys who went to public school, but when they transferred to the public school they were more accepted and made friends.
3. My last thought on the video was (or at least a question for anyone to consider and ponder with me) if anyone wanted to know what the outcome of the talk at the elementary school was? Did it have a positive effect on preventing bullying or did bullying continue just as much?
ED460 Personal and Social Well Being is a course taken by college students in education during their student teaching semester. Topics covered include: poverty, child abuse, bullying, drugs, alcohol, and tobacco, counselors' role in school, adolescents and choices, and the use of technology.
Growing up in small, Catholic schools, I did not see much bullying first-hand, so like you, I was surprised by some of the things in the video.
ReplyDelete1. I think the teachers should have done more. They cannot solve every problem, but it did not appear that the teachers were doing much to help things.
2. I think the bullying that does come up in private school stems a lot from issues of wealth or lack there-of. Kids who grow up having everything served to them on a silver platter cannot always see that even kids in their private school may not be as privledged as them.
3. I also was curious as to the outcome of that talk. It is kind of hard to know for sure how kids respond to those things. I really liked it that she had them make public apologies. They were not forced, but for those kids who felt the need to apologize, they were given that chance, which was good.
I was shocked too when the two boys who went to private school had a much easier time going to a public school. I went to public school K-12, and let me tell ya, it was rough. I guess I just thought private schools were above such things as bullying. But I guess not, bullying can happen anywhere, anytime to anyone.
ReplyDeleteI would be very interested to learn the outcome of the talk in the video. It would certainly be interesting to know if it really had any affect at all. I suspect that it had some affect at first, but old habits tend to die hard. It is mainly thruogh consistent steps that people are able to improve themselves so I do not believe that a one time talk would do it. However, the principal had made it a point to take a proactive approach against bullying so there is a good possiblity that students are improving.
ReplyDeleteI thought it was interesting that you mentioned the fact that the boys who were bullied in private school were able to get away from bullies in public school. Even though I was homeschooled, I experienced an aspect of bullying when I was in middle school. A good friend of mine was upset with my brother once and actually starting acting like my brother and I didn't even exist. I remember following her around our church and asking her what was wrong and all I got was stone silence. To this day, she still doesn't acknowledge the fact that my brother exists. As far as I know, her parents never required her to change this behavior.
ReplyDeleteSo I think part of the problem with the bullies at the private school was that their parents didn't do anything to stop it. Sometimes I think that when people come from a more priveleged background, they have a tendency to think that their kids 'can do no wrong' so to speak. If they are informed of a problem behavior that their child is exhibiting, they often live in denial and don't do anything to change it.
I agree that the teacher's did not seem to do anything. even in my high school it did not seem like there was a big problem or much teacher awareness of such problems.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if it really a big issue with teachers now because of the school shootings that have occurred or if teachers just shrug it off and think, "it wont happen here."