A recent Boston Globe article by Bella English reports that bullying, at least among girls, starts at an earlier age than one might think. Based on relatively new research on cruelty among girls, “it is clear that the use of friendship as a weapon begins as early as preschool.” Whether bullying among younger girls is new remains unclear; “ ‘I think what’s different is how uninhibited it [bullying] has become. There’s just a real lack of empathy,’ said Deborah Weaver, executive director of a self-defense and safety program for Boston girls called Girls’ LEAP. The Massachusetts state Senate unanimously passed a bill on March 11 that, according to James Vaznis of The Boston Globe, “aims to curb bullying at schools and in cyberspace.” The Boston Globe reports that “the bill, Senate 2283, defines and bans bullying and cyberbullying; prohibits retaliation against anyone who reports it; requires schools to develop bullying prevention programs; requires staff to report bullying to the principal; and requires the principal to investigate and take appropriate action. The principal must also notify the police if he or she believes criminal charges are warranted.” English writes that, despite the bill, “some say that there is reluctance to accept that children picking on each other amounts to bullying.” Nationally known bullying expert Barbara Coloroso explains that “ ‘we still have this problem that we only get serious about it [bullying] when it’s physical. . . . The old ‘sticks and stones’ adage is a lie, an absolute lie.’ ” The antibullying bill would require bullying prevention programs in every grade across the state of Massachusetts.
Education and Schools
Facing Today helps educators connect the study of history to issues in our world today. We select current websites, articles, films and blogs that reflect universal themes, such as identity, membership and participation, represented in our scope and sequence. Each media resource is linked to related Facing History materials, including study guides, videos and lessons.
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March 17, 2010
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March 2, 2010
On February 15th, 2010, University of California San Diego (UCSD) fraternity students threw a “ghetto-themed” party called the “Compton Cookout.” NBC Los Angeles reports that the party was meant “to mock Black History Month” and the invitation encouraged participants to “wear chains, don cheap clothes and speak very loudly.” The Detroit Free Press adds that partygoers were promised “chicken, watermelon and malt liquor.” Students and community leaders in Los Angeles responded, protesting and condemning the event. The editor in chief of the campus’ humor publication “appeared on UCSD’s Student Run Television station on Feb. 18 and called protesters of the controversial party ‘ungrateful niggers,’ ” the Daily Nexus writes. Then, on the evening of February 25th, a noose was found in the main library, hanging from a bookcase and facing a window. The Associated Press reports that the student who hung the noose in the library turned herself in to police. She has been suspended and “is under investigation by campus police for a possible hate crime;” NBC San Diego adds that she could face charges of “hanging a noose with intent to terrorize.” The Black Student Union (BSU) Chapter at UCSD “declared the campus climate to be in a ‘state of emergency,’ the Daily Nexus writes. According to NBC Los Angeles, “black students comprise less than 2 percent of the university’s undergraduates.” Hundreds of students joined a protest on February 26th, both chanting outside the chancellor’s office, and sitting silently in a group “wearing black and listening to fellow students who said that they are tired and hurt after nearly two weeks of racially-charged events,” NBC San Diego reports.
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February 10, 2010
A Kansas hate group targeting gays and Jews picketed in the San Francisco Bay Area last week. “The community decided not to give this group publicity, but young people at Lowell High School did not want to remain silent,” reads the opening text at the beginning of a short video on the high school students’ response. The clip shows a small number of picketers from the hate group on one side, and a mass of students laughing and dancing, holding signs of tolerance, on the other. Lowell High School Principal Andrew Ishibashi said, “I met with students . . . and our main message was to turn something hateful, or something negative, into a positive. And we did that with love and acceptance.” As Rabbi Sydney Mintz said “I can’t even feel the hate because there’s so much love going on behind me.” The film is from the group Not In Our Town and is part of their Not In Our School project—“a peer-to-peer learning program that uses film and storytelling to encourage safety and inclusion.”
