User:Cashmier lady/sandbox

Adult Bullying in Public Schools When you think of the work ‘bullying’ you mainly think of children bullying other children in school or in your neighborhood. Bullying has become a national concern and schools nationwide have implemented programs to prevent bullying between students. Some of these campaigns like ‘No Place For Hate’ target strategies to prevent bullying in schools across America. I have become an advocate of Adult Bullying and through this process have learned the true meaning and the difficulties that our teachers, staff, and children experience through this horrible pattern of behavior. Bullying by definition- The act of one person using strength or status to infringe on another person, whether by threatening, insulting, physical harm, ostracism, or infringing on their boundaries in any way that is not sexually charged according to the 2009 bullying statistics. The most common form of bullying is amongst children, however, more and more these acts are being performed by our teacher and staff. Teachers can be involved in bullying by observing bullying and allowing it to continue without Intervening. They use their status and power to provoke or intimidate a child or student, therefore becoming the perpetrator. They can also be victims of bullying which can trigger some of these behaviors. A common practice for teachers is to put a student out of the classroom setting when he/she exhibits behavioural issues. The child is set to the side and removed from the learning environment. The ‘dunce cap’ effect, which was once considered common form of discipline now fall under the category of bullying teachers. My son’s teachers uses a Narcissistic Adult Bullying approach which is to be self centered and lack empathy for others. He/She feels good about himself/herself, but has a brittle narcissism that requires putting others down (Bullying Statistics 2009). She runs her class as a community and everything has to be run through the community of children. When a student make a mistake or continues to struggle with patterns of behavior or constant causing distractions, they are segregated from the rest of the community. They have to sit with their desks facing the opposite direction of the teacher and other classmates and are not allowed to turn in the direction of learning. They are required to face the wall and just do work. If they turn their head or legs around at anytime, that can delay their stay in ‘Isolation’. The student then writes a letter of apology to the community and ask for their forgiveness to come back to the learning community and they students take a vote. This particular teacher feels that humiliation is the best tactic for all. She reminds me that my son comes to school very well groomed, nice hair cut, and nice clean clothes and nice gym shoes and maybe I should try not taking him to get his haircut and maybe not letting him wear nice clothing or shoes and maybe that will humiliate him to the point where he changes his behavior. Forcing a student to write a letter to his peers and putting him on display, making everyone aware of his/her shortcomings when some things should remain private, is a form of bullying. These teachers are setting the tone for these patterns of behavior and our children are learning these traits. A lot of adults volunteer at the school and they have not been trained properly to handle the diversity amongst our children. Some of them have not taken courses on Ethics and are not required to because they do not work for the school. They volunteer their time to understaffed schools. They are put in a position to impose their beliefs in our children and when our children do not comply with their way then they are deemed defiant. Adult bullying is a problem and becoming more relevant and will require some intervention of some sort, possibly even legal remedies if this behaviour continues. Some people never grow up. Just because they have furthered their education and are in a position of authority, they are still human and many continue behaviors from their adolescence. Adults use verbal bullying and a lot of times the are very discrete. Children are not always aware they are being bullied. When someone is in a position of Authority, children will trust and believe what they say even if they don't agree, they are easily persuade, just based off of the that alone. Adult bullies pride themselves on power and status and the need to dominate and control all situations. When speaking to administrators, teachers, and staff of the same caliber, they are able to influence or impress upon them characteristics of children that may not be accurate. In Verbal adult bullying teachers will start rumors about the child by telling other administrators their own thoughts and personal opinions about a child or why they may act the way that they do. I believe children should be reprimanded for their bad choices and for being disruptive. Reprimand means to tell someone that his or her behavior is wrong and is unacceptable. There should be a written guideline of the disciplinary actions to take based on the different events that can occur at school. No where should staff be allowed to humiliate, degrade, segregate, de-motivate children to get a specific reaction from them. Discipline should stop at the point of discussion and from that point should involve parents. When parents are left out of the loop, it forces the teachers and staff to take the steps to discipline the students on their own and in ways that they deem appropriate. Similar to the students of the Rutgers University basketball team. These students were verbally and physically abused by their coach. Their coached bullied them in a way that could have lasting effects. “Its the younger athletes who bore the brunt of his bullying, who will continue to suffer from his abuse, long after he is gone.” Normally students look up to their teachers and coaches as role models. Children sometimes think of them as surrogate parents. In some cases these children are no longer being trained, inspired or motivated. This type of bullying at an age when self esteem is most important can result in lack of confidence. This can also affect the child and his or her level of participation in class which causes the teacher to discipline for lack of focus or being off task. Children become introverted because of behaviors like this and are unable to perform amongst the individuals that may have been present when he or she was reprimanded. Not only are these children removed from class but they lack the determination to return and the motivation to participate and the drive to be successful. They have been humiliated amongst the peers of which they now have to reconvene. Which in turn causes more distractions and disruption, a huge vicious circle of behavior that is still not corrected on either side. Bullying can make children anxious and cause anxiety issues according to Dr. Jeff Gardere, a psychologist assistant principal at Touro Medical School in NYC. We have to take notice now and prevent bullying with adults and children. My suggestion is not to allow children to continue to make bad choices and be disruptive but we as adults have to help our teachers manage their classrooms and our children in them instead of disciplining their classrooms. Teachers must establish classroom rules which should be uniform in all classes. When consistency occurs, the child knows what is and what is not acceptable. The student then knows what to expect and how to act. According to Dana Tuffelmire, expectations of a classroom should be clear and posted within the classroom and in student handbooks also. “Expectations and consequences are part of a discipline system that must be taught explicitly” she says. With a good classroom management system in place, teachers can better manage discipline, and when children act outside of the events acceptable for the classroom, that is an issue that must involve parent and staff interaction. This would prevent such cases of defiance, and possible abuse or bullying in efforts to get the child to conform. Discipline is a requirement, however there is a thin line between bullying and discipline. Ensuring there is a good positive atmosphere and classroom climate would help to increase structure. If a child continues to be disruptive, a new seating arrangement may work or maybe a new classroom layout. Avoid reprimanding students in front of their peers. This should be done privately. Most of all involve the parents, most behavior is learned and can be corrected. Children act out when parents are not around and involved. With parent involvement we can try to keep kids in line and respectful, which in turn will help them with being focused and participating more. Overall reducing the time it takes to discipline students alleviating the teachers of some stress which causes frustration resulting in adult bullying.

Sites worked: www.bullyingstatistics.org Adult bullying www.hollywoodlife.com Coach Mike Rice is fired but damage is already done to players by: Bonnie Fuller www.eHow.com Difference between classroom managing and disciplining by: Dana Tuffelmire