RACE or FACE? Bullying , CyberBullying?
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This page from a slide that Frank Worrell presented to the National Academy of Sciences. What two words come to mind for you when you see those words?
Ask your friends.. Think about it.
I immediately thought of it when I read about the murder of the student in Chicago. First, I remembered my own history. One day
I got tired of dashing to school quickly for the safety of it.. t I gave up and took rides from my father to school . I admitted to myself that I hated the battle of pretending I was not afraid.
In case you missed it.
Beating Death Caught on Camera: Chicago teens charged with murder of honor student
September 29th, 2009
When will these mob-like attacks go out of style? A 16 year old honor student lost his life when a group of kids beat him to death. Somebody, get your kid. This type of violence is outta control. Before anybody says, this ain’t my kid, this ain’t my brother, this ain’t anybody I know, everybody needs to get real. Its happening too often, in too many communities for it not to be anybody that you know. Sit down, TODAY, and talk to a young somebody about violence.
Most people outside of cultures don’t understand the behavior that happens within cultures to gate the progress of students who want to achieve but who also want to keep their friends and be in the loop. It is a tightrope fraught with danger. It is a dance that ends often in difficulty.
IN PERSON
Back in my day, I almost always ran all the way home in my Catholic school uniform. When I went to high school there was no Catholic school and I went to school with my tormentors. If I wentto parties I wore an old coat after an occasion when my pockets were slashed with a razor, and I learned not to respond when people sang the song,” I got my eyes on you”. ( and I will beat you too). I didn’t smile much and I avoided social after school kinds of things after almost getting physically attacked. I hated high school.
Fear would strike into my heart like a stabbing knife but I had some protection. People were supportive of my dad. My dad was a teacher in the public school in the community and knew everyone, including the police. This did not make me very popular and often I was set up in school, one being put out for saying a student was black (nonsense) and once I used a big word which kids found offensive… I cried all the way home both times.
My dad didn’t fuss and I understood the price of being a teacher’s kid.
Interestingly enough my parents understood the problem. But do kids know to tell? How do you know when to tell? So when my hair was pulled I remembered not to jerk my head so my hair would attract attention, or when I was pushed down the steps, I learned how to negotiate the steps, without moving my head. Many of the kids I went to school with were very poor and my family had a car, and money and we had nice clothes. I was not hungry.
I often two copies of my homework and I took two lunches. That way I was protected from a sneak attack.
Riding to school with my dad in his truck was how I solved my problem. That was safe.
We did not live in the projects. My mother owned a small business and I used to read a lot, those were markers back in the day.
You would think that times had changed and this type of torment was over, but it has moved to the participatory culture world of influence. Today lots of kids wear uniforms, and lots of kids use technology. It is true that lots of kids don’t have or own technology.
Besides being stuck in the shallow end of learning and the most difficult of school settings often people of color who achieve are also tormented in a lot of different ways by the other students in their culture.
Frank Worrell said in his presentation, to the National Science Board, that ”There is the suggestion of the development of an oppositional identity to school in some minority group members.”
“Opposing academics and a punishment for those who achieve. Hazing, teasing, oppositional tactics , which can include violence “
“It is suggested that negative stereotypes can depress stigmatized group’s performance and enhance that of non-stigmatized groups. The concept of what reality is in performance and learning is altered by the stereotypes.”
Identity profiles indicate that some are more closely associated with academic success and engagement.* If students have some mentorship, leaders, community collaborators or teachers who can demonstrate the positive components of academic success,there is some hope of students connecting the dots.
Identity has independent effects on institutional identification and academic identification.
“Negatively stereotyped groups are more likely to interpret unbuffered critical feedback as an indication of bias and lose motivation and academic identification.”
“Individuals who are concerned about not being racist are likely to provide less honest feedback to students from negatively stereotyped groups. “
It makes learning to be who one is a bit difficult.
In the “Achievement Trap ”.A report by the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation on underachievement This report, published by the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation & Civic Enterprises, focuses on the needs of high-achieving lower income students and finds that these students have been over-looked and are caught in an “achievement trap” where educators, policymakers, and the public assume they can fend for themselves when the facts show otherwise. The report discusses the disadvantages faced by these students from elementary school through college and graduate school. The report includes studies, statistics, and recommendations. The number of high-achieving lower-income students
nationally is larger than the individual populations of
21 states.
When I became a teacher I wanted to change the world for all students and to involve all kids and to not let the social groups torment various students. I learned to read a child’s face, or whatever signal I needed to discern or interpret to understand that child.
I may not have always succeeded, but when I taught school
I tried to make it so interesting that most of the behaviors that create problems were muted. But that would be a book.
ONLINE BULLYING
I don’t cry much these days. But yesterday I cried. I also went home hugging two teddy bears furnished by Build a Bear as they support the efforts to help students with Cyberbullying.
October 13, 2009 , I attended the Wired Safety, StopCyberbullying Coalition Roundtable US Senate, SR 325.
Parry Aftab brought to our attention the stories of some students and parents who have become victims of Cyberbullying. This is from the beginning of the Roundtable. We listened to the stories.
Here’s what happened. Debbie Johnston shared the story of Jeffrey, her sone who took his own life after 2 years of cyberbullying torment at the age of 15.
Through her hard work Florida adopted the “ Jeffrey Johnson Stand Up for All Students Act” which requires schools in the state to adopt policies that discourage bullying in person and online.
The thing is I know this story. The thing is this mother wished that the teachers had paid more attention to her son. I held this mother in my arms after she told the story once. It is a powerful story. Still it hurt to watch his brother cry as his mother told the story to the hushed audience.
CASE STUDIES/ Suicide
Cynthia Logan told the story of her daughter who also took her life after a sexting related harassment among students. Cynthia’s 18 year old daughter Jessie Logan tried desperately to teach others the risks of sexting after her private nude image to her 19 year old boyfriend was broadcast to more than 1000 people in her learning community. The staff and teachers were not prepared to help her and did not understand what had happened. After no one would help her and after a lot of , she took her own life.
Teachers and the learning community were not prepared to deal with this issue. You need to hear the story. But it will make you cry. She got no sympathy from anyone, and was vilified, harassed and set upon.
I thought of the song, “Cry me a river “ when these two ladies shared their sorrowful stories. I wished that more students could hear the stories.
Are Teachers prepared to teach about Cyber Bullying and to
Help Kids Develop strategies?
We in education often are not prepared. Nancy Willard online kept educators informed about best practices and case studies that we needed to know about. Bill Belsey also has a Stop Bullying center. There are many types of curriculum such as
Cybereducation is not a vaccination, a one time injection of knowledge that will stand over time. Technology is changing and we must help the students to be aware of best practices,
National Crime Prevention Council
http://www.ncpc.org/
McGruff Club
McGruff Club is a crime prevention and safety education program for children who are between the ages of six and ten. Through McGruff Club, children become engaged in their communities and learn about safety while having fun with their friends and adults who care for them.
The National Crime Prevention Council created McGruff® Club to educate children on what they can do to stay safe, prevent crime and violence in their communities, and engage them in projects designed to make their communities safer.
The goals of McGruff Club are to
Teach children about ways they can ensure their personal safety and security
Engage children in service projects designed to make their communities safer
Raise children’s awareness of McGruff as a trusted source of information on how to stay safe from crime
Teach children about what they can do to prevent crime and violence in their communities
Foster positive relationships among children, law enforcement officers, and other community members
http://www.ncpc.org/programs/mcgruffneighborhood/mcgruff-club
“Cyberbullying involves the use of information and communication technologies to support deliberate, repeated, and hostile behaviour by an individual or group, that is intended to harm others.” -Bill Belsey