This news article caught my attention today. The headline reads: NC school bans boy from carrying 'My Little Pony' backpack because of bullying. Essentially, this little boy's blue backpack was causing a disturbance in the school day because students were bullying him. The school called his mom and told her that she couldn't send that backpack to school anymore because it was causing bullying, and that her child was to blame. After this issue caused so much drama, Grayson told his mom that he wanted to be home schooled.
Okay, so this post is going to go more in-depth than just the news article. I spent several weeks in a class last semester discussing the challenges young students face for being different. Grayson was defying a social norm and he was picked on for it. Life can be hard for students like Grayson, and often times the hurt stays with them for several years, impacting them for the rest of their lives. I did research last semester on other students like Grayson, students that were picked on to the point of wanting to be home schooled. I couldn't find the exact article, but essentially this little boy was very excited for his first day of school and especially excited about his pink lunch box, but as soon as lunch time rolled around he decided to take everything out of his lunch box and leave it in the cart so that the other kids didn't have to see it. It seems so sad to me that a school can not be a place where everyone feels safe.
As a teacher, what can be done to help students like Grayson? How can we make him feel welcome in a school environment and comfortable enough to learn and grow? I believe the answer to this lies in teaching lessons specifically based around accepting diversity, whether that be accepting people of different races, of different sexuality, or of different abilities. Some ideas that have been suggested to me are encouraging parents of different races to come in and show something special or arrange a family exhibit where students can send in pictures of their families and then showcase all the photos at an event. The purpose of activities like this would be to teach that even though families or people are different, everyone is still special and shouldn't be picked on. Creating a bully free environment will help children like Grayson achieve more than you might think is possible.
Citations:
Milligan, Mandi. "NC School Bans Boy from Carrying 'My Little Pony' Backpack - WNEM TV 5." Wnem.com. WNEM, 19 Mar. 2014. Web. 19 Mar. 2014.
I feel that this issue of bullying is very important. Bullying can have a drastic impact on the child. Though I don't think there is one right way to solve it. Our society and culture have a big impact on what's socially acceptable and what is not. I feel as though we have to change our society and its "laws" in order to create a bully free environment.
ReplyDelete