Follow up to the story about harassing awards by local middl

HI Dad:
I’m disgusted — horrified, appalled…words don’t describe it.

Yes, I’ve taught my son that the best way to take teasing is to laugh it off and leave, but that doesn’t make teasing right. This is a bigger problem in schools than we know. I realize teachers have it tough — so much proximity to children would probably desensitize me somewhat as well. But how can you call yourself an educator and treat children in this fashion? To excuse this teasing and ridiculing as something that goes on all year tells me that the problem is far, far worse than even this terrible story would have us realize.

I’ve learned during my son’s three years (SK to Gr 2) in the public school system here in Ontario that one of the most successful courses taught in our elementary school is HOW TO BULLY OTHERS in order to get your way and come out on top. 2 out of three teachers were experts in this behaviour!

My son spent the first five years of his life actively learning OUR household philosophy, also known as “The Golden Rule”: DO UNTO OTHERS AS YOU WOULD HAVE THEM DO UNTO YOU”.

Needless to say, he is not doing well in “HOW TO BULLY”, but we don’t plan to successfully remediate that “deficiency” as we have been doing with his reading…I no longer wonder why I have decided to work with him to help him keep up, and pay myself for services outside of school, to avoid the effects of pull-out resource support and public labeling.

Thanks for all your input on this site, I have learned alot from you and enjoy your posts immensely.
Elizabeth

I think it is very sad that the school people actually involved in doing this still don’t see what are the problems with it. I feel sad for those students because their teachers still don’t see the problems.

But I am very glad to read that other people all over the country, especially other teachers and school people, say that this type of award is a bad thing. At least most school people seem to understand why it is so bad.

And I am very glad this school principal has stopped these awards after 10 years, and the superintendent is retiring. I hope the new superintendent is a much better person, and I hope the teachers will learn soon too. Now maybe these students can begin to heal from however many years of this torture they have had to endure. Now maybe they can know they are not hopeless and they are not stupid, maybe they can start to feel good about themselves now. They deserve better than this from their school.

http://www.modbee.com/opinion/letters/story/1,1270,272587,00.html

Doesn’t seem to me that she got it either.

Helen

I agree with you, Helen. It is outragous. More outragous, is that some letters indicate that the school backs up the teacher(s). To me this demonstrates that fear of lawsuits, accountability, and dealing with the tenured teachers will cause the bd. of ed. and administrators to condone what to me is clearly wrong, and not in the interest of children (which should be their first priority).