(May 14, 2018 at 12:09 pm)Neo-Scholastic Wrote:(May 14, 2018 at 11:08 am)emjay Wrote: You can't take social and sexuality issues out of the classroom because that's where they're developing; gay kids can no more put their social and sexual development on hold for school than straight kids can. And then faced with bullying on account of that, and the teachers side with or turn a blind eye to the bullies because of their religious beliefs, do you think that's right or wrong? If you were a teacher in that situation, what would you do?
No child should be bullied for any reason. As I understand it, bullying has less to do with whatever pretext is attributed to it and more to do with a simple perceived power imbalance. Bullies make excuses to target other kids that appear weak and vulnerable regardless of their demographic. ...
Fair enough... I see what you're saying here.
Quote: I do not know what should be done about it. I know that schools have anti-bullying programs now-a-days and I only know about them second had. The general consensus is that school officials cannot be everywhere at all times to stop teasing, etc. ...
Of course they can't be everywhere, but as long as wherever they are they're not joining in, that's all I'm asking for. Based on the way you've framed it... as about power imbalances regardless of context, do we agree then that for any teacher doing that in that position, regardless of context, it's an abuse of power? That it's just as much an abuse of power if it's a gay kid in a predominantly straight and/or Christian school as it would be if it was a Christian kid in a predominantly atheist school with atheist teachers siding with atheist bullies? That regardless of context, that sort of behaviour on the part of teachers can only send two messages: one to the bullies... telling them that their behaviour is sanctioned at the highest levels in the institution... which can only make them grow bolder in their attacks... and one to the victim... telling them that they cannot even rely on the institution for support and protection. That in either... or any other case... it's a serious abuse of power on the part of the teacher and an issue that needs to be addressed, regardless of context/pretext?
Quote:There also often are issues at home that teachers cannot hope to remedy. Children are encouraged to band together and confront bullies with social pressure,..."not cool", etc. Turning it into a social identity issue doesn't seem helpful to me. When the issue is framed as one between abuse of power and vulnerability, then children can more easily cross demographic and cliche lines. Maybe the solution is not to emphasize tribal identities; but rather, to focus on common causes. Maybe then you would see more Christian kids standing up for the weak (like they should be doing) by recognizing a common humanity despite profound differences of worldview.
Funnily enough I'm just reading about that... social psychology... intergroup conflict... what divides groups and what brings them together... and as you say, a common goal... inclusion rather than exclusion... seems to be the way forward. That if you put two opposing groups together in close proximity... then there will be tension and rivalry... but if you break down the barriers of those groups, by finding common goals where everyone's included, then groups come together. Like having a school-wide project to bring together all the cliques. So I see what you're saying... that instead of focusing on the differences, it may be better to focus on the commonalities of bullying... the power imbalance... to bring people together over it regardless of context/pretext.
