Why Aren 't We Doing MORE to Protect #Kids from #Bullying?
Did you know that schools in Canada, the United States, and Australia are required by law to conduct fire drills several times a year?[1][2][3][4][5] The drills are designed to be sure everyone in the building knows how to get outside quickly and safely.
I 've taught for about twenty years in a variety of schools all over Canada. I 've participated in many safety drills where school administrators, teachers, and students practice what to do in the event of a fire. Professionals and are brought in regularly to assess buildings for safety compliance. They take a look at whether schools are successful in keeping students prepared for a fire with procedures to alert everyone and evacuate …show more content…
I was forced to listen to my colleagues and school administrators make excuses for staff member who bullied kids. This was not a rare instance. Fire on school property is rare, yet we treat it as a serious matter and take definitive measures to stop it. Bullying is so common that we seemed to have normalized it as part of our education system. For example, when youth coaches yell or call kids names during practices or games, many people say it 's to "toughen kids up."
Perhaps we have trouble responding in appropriate ways to the pain and suffering of bullied children because we can’t see damage to their bodies, but we can learn a better way. For example, no one could see what second hand smoke was doing to children’s bodies, but we enacted laws to protect them because we discovered there was a correlation between second hand smoke and serious health issues.[13][14][15]
Solutions?
Children flourish when they are educated in safe, respectful environments; however, without a paradigm shift, the bullying cycle will continue in our schools. Our educational system needs significant commitment to gaining knowledge about emotional abuse and the harm it does and taking action to prevent and stop it.
There are no easy answers to ending bullying in school. Here are some to consider:
Did you know that schools in Canada, the United States, and Australia are required by law to conduct fire drills several times a year?[1][2][3][4][5] The drills are designed to be sure everyone in the building knows how to get outside quickly and safely.
I 've taught for about twenty years in a variety of schools all over Canada. I 've participated in many safety drills where school administrators, teachers, and students practice what to do in the event of a fire. Professionals and are brought in regularly to assess buildings for safety compliance. They take a look at whether schools are successful in keeping students prepared for a fire with procedures to alert everyone and evacuate …show more content…
I was forced to listen to my colleagues and school administrators make excuses for staff member who bullied kids. This was not a rare instance. Fire on school property is rare, yet we treat it as a serious matter and take definitive measures to stop it. Bullying is so common that we seemed to have normalized it as part of our education system. For example, when youth coaches yell or call kids names during practices or games, many people say it 's to "toughen kids up."
Perhaps we have trouble responding in appropriate ways to the pain and suffering of bullied children because we can’t see damage to their bodies, but we can learn a better way. For example, no one could see what second hand smoke was doing to children’s bodies, but we enacted laws to protect them because we discovered there was a correlation between second hand smoke and serious health issues.[13][14][15]
Solutions?
Children flourish when they are educated in safe, respectful environments; however, without a paradigm shift, the bullying cycle will continue in our schools. Our educational system needs significant commitment to gaining knowledge about emotional abuse and the harm it does and taking action to prevent and stop it.
There are no easy answers to ending bullying in school. Here are some to consider: