Here are some statistics from a 2005 report on bullying:
Two-thirds (65%) of teens report that they have been verbally or physically harassed or assaulted during the past year (2005) because of their perceived or actual appearance, gender, sexual orientation, gender expression, race/ethnicity, disability or religion.
The reason most commonly cited for being harassed frequently is a student’s appearance, as four in ten (39%) teens report that students are frequently harassed for the way they look or their body size.
The majority (57%) of students who experience harassment in school, regardless of demographics or reasons for the harassment, never report these incidents of harassment to teachers or other school personnel. Although most teachers report that they would feel comfortable intervening if they observed harassment and many say they frequently have intervened, one in ten (10%) students who do not report these incidents don’t do so because they believe teachers or staff don’t do anything or are powerless to improve the situation.
If you were harrassed at school, did you ever tell a teacher or school official? What was the outcome? Do you think children should report harrassment about "talking/acting White," or do you think complaints would be swept under the rug? Do you think people (including school officials) take the subject of "talking/acting White" seriously? If yes, how? If not, why not?
When I was about eight years old, I think I have told a teacher I was being bullied. But that stopped pretty soon, because after a certain age it is extremely "uncool" to tell a teacher about the situation and in my school it often became worse. When I was a little older and got comments, I didn't tell a teacher because I know every teacher heard the comments but didn't do a thing about them...
ReplyDeleteI do think children should report harassment about talking/acting white, if they feel bullied or harassed. When it is a issue for the child - which it most often is - I think they should definitely talk about it to the teacher. Maybe complaints would be swept under the rug, but that doesn't mean you should shut your mouth and hear all those comments coming at you.
Personally, I don't think people talke the subject of talking white seriously, because a lot of people don't see it as a issue. It can really be hurtful or annoying when people make comments about talking white but people don't really see any harm in it, I think.
The few comments I heard in high school (when I moved from Chicago to Mississippi), I didn't report to school officials. I don't think I told family members about it until a few years later. A part of me thought it was something I had to deal with on my own and would eventually go away (and it did thankfully).
ReplyDeleteI believe any comments or harassing gestures children find as offensive should be reported. Unfortunately, I don't think bullying is seen as a serious offense to many (including parents, family members or school officials). In recent news, a young man went to school and committted suicide as a result of years of torment. It's not until incidents such as these and other school shootings (resulting in the loss of a life or several lives) that people are forced to take a deep look at the effects of bullying and taunting.
This is serious business. People begin to form opinions about themselves at an early age. So, when they hear negative things about themselves at home or school (both places at which they look for approval and spend hours at a time there), they believe them and sometimes take action.
If you were harrassed at school, did you ever tell a teacher or school official? What was the outcome? Do you think children should report harrassment about "talking/acting White," or do you think complaints would be swept under the rug? Do you think people (including school officials) take the subject of "talking/acting White" seriously? If yes, how? If not, why not?
ReplyDeleteWow, this is a tough one. I did tell my family about harassment. Most of my teachers were white and would not have even understood the concept of "talking/acting white" to begin with. Had I said something to a white teacher, yes, they would have listenedbut it probably would have been swept under the rug out of embarrasment of not knowing how to handle it.
For children,
I believe that they should report any act of harrassment or abuse to a school official. If school officials do nothing, then parents need to get involved and demand resolution. The school environment should be free of harrassment and abuse just as a work environment. There are many rules and policies against sexual harrassment in the workplace and I believe that all schools have something like that in the school rules/policy handbooks. If a child's compliant goes unresolved, there are many options for students and parents, one being litigation against the harrasser/family and the school. That may be extreme but it is an option.
I was severely bullied in high school. I cried every night. I was teased in the halls and physically threatened on a daily basis. I was even spit on at the bus stop. I really thought my only way out was suicide. I thought about every way that I could do it. The only thing that stopped me was that I did not want my mother to find me. That was almost 20 years ago. I just told her that last year. Sometimes I don't know how I made it through.
ReplyDeleteI would encourage kids now to definitely report it. Shout it from the rooftops if you have to.
Yes, I am a little different, but different does not mean wrong, just different.
I was never seriously bullied, but I was harrassed in elementary school. I attended a school where you could count the black kids on two hands. The school was the only elementary school in a fairly close vicinity that had an enrichment program, and it was located in an all white, extremely racist neighborhood. Me and the other black students were called horrible racial slurs during school hours, but in my own neighborhood I was accused a trying to be white.
ReplyDeleteThe teachers and lunch aids at my school heard just about every remark that was said to us and did nothing; many of the parents in my neighborhood heard their kids calling me white girl and did nothing. The only person for me to tell was my mom and other family members who just continued to reassure me that I wasn't the problem, and helped me deal with other people's behavior.
Personally..I believe that ANY form of harrassment..yes even being accused of talking/acting white should be taken very seriously by teachers AND parents. I've always heard people say "kids will be kids", or "kids can be cruel". Well that's not true or normal; kids learn and are permitted to be cruel. I was certainly not allowed by my mother to even make a comment to her about another child's appearance or anything negative, and had she ever learned that I teased another kid?! Let's just say that I would have regretted it right away.
As for kids reporting the harrassment, that's a hard thing for them to do. So, I believe the first step is for teachers, school officials and parents to take the first step. The school should have a written and enforced policy about teasing, harrassment, bullying...whatever they want to call it. They should make it clear that the behavior will not be tolerated, and they should follow that up by dishing out consequences for kids caught teasing other kids. If kids see that the school is serious about the policy, they will feel more comfortable reporting when they or another student is being bullied. Teachers KNOW when someone is being teased by other kids and parents know when their kids is harrassing someone else. I'm amazed and shocked by how many parents I have heard admit to being notified by a teacher that their child teased or harrassed another kid, and the parent either laughed it off or acted as if it was no big deal. It's a big deal when some kids reach their breaking point and become depressed, suicidal or homicidal.
The way that I dealt with being verbally harassed was learning how to fight back with my words. I became witty, smarter, and able to respond back to the person with quick and clever responses. I never had to go to a a teacher because I could usually make the person that was bothering me laugh and eventually they would stop teasing me.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I do think that students should report any form of bullying or harassing to the teacher to prevent the problem from getting out of hand. Often times, the teacher can talk to the students and teach them a lesson about their inappropriate behavior. And, yes I believe that the teachers take the comments seriously (at least I would hope so because you never know how the teasing/taunting is affecting the students). Its better to be pro-active rather than having to react to a traumatic situation that could have been avoided.
I don't feel like I was harrassed in school to the point where I needed to bring in an adult. In an earlier post you stated that any kind of teasing is bullying in your book...but I think that maybe there are variations of bullying.
ReplyDeleteAs a middle-school teacher, I've witnessed numerous acts of bullying throughout my career and have intervened when I've seen/heard it or when a student has approached me with it. But now that I think of it, talking or acting white hasn't ever been brought up to me.
I know that it's true that many students don't tell teachers or other adults because they either don't think we can do anything about it, it'll just get worse, or we don't care. Students have told me this first hand.
From what I've experienced the bullying going on with many students has to do with weight issues, sexual orientation, economic status, sexual behavior...Our school population is mostly Latino (about 80%). Therefore Latino students are in the gifted classes as well as the remedial ones. Many of our staff are Latino as well...maybe this makes a difference as opposed to the kind of school that I went to.
Now that I think about it...once in class one Latina student asked "why are there only a little bit of white kids at our school? My cousin goes to school in La Jolla and said there are hardly no Mexicans there." We discussed the ethnic makeup and socioeconomic issues relating to where people live in our county. Then she turned to one of the 4 white students in class and said "ahh too bad you're not Mexican like the rest of us." I reprimanded her and led to a talk about why we should be proud of who we are and not wish to be someone else and so on...
I think any act of bullying is taken pretty seriously at any school nowadays but with that being said, I also think that administrators look at the level of bullying going on...
Hello, I was bullied in school and to be honest I did not report it to a teacher. I did not think anything would be done. I was not bullied for talking white but for other reasons. But this is another day and time and things are escalated much furhter and faster in this day and time. I do encourage my ten year to report any incident at school or at camp to an adult immediately. I also find the idea of bullting is addressed far more frequently in schools and camps today than when I was a child. This obvioulsy is a result of some very tragic and public incsidents that have occurred over the years due to bullying. As far as the issue of talking white and it being taken seriously in schools I think this would depend on the school environment. My child attends a bi racial private school where most of the kids sound alike. I would think that the issue of talking white may come up in a more racially homogeneous environment.
ReplyDeleteI never reported my being teased to my teachers. Other than in Kindergarten, most of them (teachers) were white, so I'm certain that they wouldn't have even understood what "talking white" was. I believe the best person to have gone to at school, had I chosen to do so, would have been my school counselor. Ironically, they were always black and very supportive of my academic achievements.
ReplyDeleteToday most schools, it seems, have a policy of no tolerance for bullying, name calling, and the like.
-If you were harrassed at school, did you ever tell a teacher or school official? What was the outcome?-
ReplyDeleteWow, never. I wouldn’t have thought a teacher would care, or take me seriously. I may have been wrong, but that’s how I felt at the time.
-Do you think children should report harrassment about "talking/acting White," or do you think complaints would be swept under the rug?-
The first thing that occurs to me is that children should probably never “report” anything – that sounds official to me, and should involve a parent. With a parent, yes, that’s cool – report harassment. If there is an adult at school with whom the child feels comfortable, I would absolutely encourage them to confide in that person as well.
Do you think people (including school officials) take the subject of "talking/acting White" seriously? If yes, how? If not, why not?-
Although it’s been a long time since I was in school (as a student), I think that the concept of “talking/acting white” has resurfaced in the past two decades because of things like John McWhorter’s book Losing the Race, and the black kids nowadays who desperately avoid being called “schoolboy” or “schoolgirl” for their strong academic performance. Michelle Obama brought up the concept in a visit to a DC high school this year. So I feel it’s on people’s radar screens still – but I can’t speak to how school handle it (or don’t).