Spoken to an educator recently? Opened a newspaper? Then, no doubt you’ve heard about the startling increase in remarkably cruel, insensitive & flat-out rude behavior kids are showing on a regular basis. Group-think is short-circuiting basic decency with alarming regularity. At my middle school in recent months, as in schools …
Last week, I wrote that I’d started reading So You Want to Talk About Race? by Ijeoma Oluo, and how eager I was to continue reading. The intervening week may not have boded well for that project, but in fact I had quickly moved onto chapter 1. There was so …
When a student gets sent to my office for some misbehavior in class, I take the opportunity to have them talk to me about what went wrong. In a roundabout way, having them tell me this can reinforce community norms by bringing to the surface what they already know about …
American society is characterized by pluralities. Whether you consider the U.S. a “melting pot” or a “salad bowl,” our society is a blend from various world cultures, and also the unique local cultures of this country. I find myself often thinking about the socialization processes that create and continue our …
Recently, there have been reports about another grade-schooler suspended for pointing his fingers like a gun (see the Ohio Dispatch story). I often dismiss these stories because (as anyone in education knows, with horror) the media “coverage” is usually one side of the story, or less. Schools often won’t comment due …
Even before there was a state law, my school took on bullying. We treated it as harassment, holding out the spectre of serious legal consequences if cruelty continued or for any retaliation. I argued, then as now, that school is a civil right, and anyone interfering with that is stealing …