New guidelines from the National School Boards Association, released this week, spell out ways school officials should address the issue of bullying in their classrooms, while protecting the First Amendment rights of students.
The guidelines (PDF) start with the free speech issue: "The fact that some speech deeply upsets, offends or angers some citizens is not a justification for banning or limiting the speech....In general, a listener is free to avoid hateful speech, to turn away, and, of course, to respond and to challenge it. But listeners may not insist that government silence the speech."
(Please see the PDF file attached to this article for more details.)
An article in Education Week notes that "the new guidelines were produced by the American Jewish Committee and the Religious Freedom Education Project/First Amendment Center...and they say that schools must not censor students’ speech purely out of the fear of potential bullying."
The article characterizes the guidelines by noting:
“students should be able to attend school without being—or even reasonably feeling—threatened by others. School officials should be mindful that abusive peer conduct may deny students full access to an education, even when it is not on a basis prohibited by law.”
But in general, unless a student exercising his or her right to free speech or expression is creating a substantial disruption of the school environment, it should not be squelched.
Schools in the St. Louis and St. Charles County areas that have dealt with the issue include expressed fears about attending school. led an awareness campaign on the issue.
Local lawmakers have in the Missouri Legislature. The with Shakespeare Festival Saint Louis to provide students performance assemblies and workshops on bullying. Students at Selvidge Middle School in Ballwin to dramatize the issue for classmates.
Do schools do enough to address the issue? Is there a reasonable line between free speech and bullying? Were you bullied in school and how did you handle it?
I think TOO much responsibility is being put on the school. They are not the parent, when a school tells a child "that's wrong", the child goes home to parents who say otherwise, how's a child supposed to learn right from wrong, and when parents don't work WITH the schools, the children lose complete respect for the teachers and administrations. Please, stop putting the responsibility on the schools and let's make the HOME environment responsible!!!!
Schools know who the bullies are and the good kids are; however, with ZERO TOLERANCE, both leave the school in handcuffs. What power that gives the bully! How do I know this. I was victim until the leader of the neighborhood gang (yes St. Charles had them in the 70's) decided to beat me up. I realized he was alone and my size. Needless to say, I won AND I knew the big kid in the gang would visit me next. The leader got a warning - after I recover, guess who I will be looking for. As predicted the BIG kid did come for me. My mom (smaller than I) broke that up before it started - you should have seen how fast the leader ran when I looked at him. Mom called the school -- and guess what - they did something. They knew I was the "good kid" and they were the bullies. That was eighth grade - and my problems ENDED then.
The real issue is that we have too man seperatists. All these people do is label everyone: white/black, poor/rich, straight/gay, young/old, male/female, blue/red, urban/rural, _______-American..... to the point that it's all these kids see. Kids pick on those who were different. It's this segregation & PC that cause it. Bullying isn't new, and it doesn't have a 'new' solution. We used to be allowed to kick their ___. If you couldn't, you found other kids who are being bullied & teamed up with them to do it. These days they want to handcuff you for defending yourself. Which means bullying isn't the problem, these new laws are. Those same folks have convinced kids that words, or name-calling is bullying. (A tactic that's useless against someone who is proud of who they are & where they came from) We need to drop political correctness, grow a spine (sticks & stones), and not be affected by words. Kids are taught that others are in charge of their feelings. We need to go back & teaching them that THEY are in charge of their feelings, not someone else. When you give away control of your own feelings, they are guaranteed to be hurt. Also, learn some wit, if you are always able to turn words around on that bully, they will stop. Plus, stop believing everything someone posts online. "Court of public opinion" doesn't require facts, it's mob mentality, and it's out of hand.
Most bullies, maybe even after being caught bullying, have said they won't do it anymore. That's a pledge, right? Is there anything in there about how to defend themselves from a bully that may have been absent that day, or new to the school? I'm sure these programs are built with the best of intentions, but this just sounds like a political-correctness class to me. It likely won't go anywhere near the only, yet unfortunate, way to end bullying. Ignore it until it gets physical, then you have to get physical better. One way or another. Run faster, hit harder, out-number, etc. But I'm guessing, they assemble the kids, ask them what they think bullying is, and an adult tells them which times it's OK to place your self-worth in someone else's hands, and gives them a list of things that are OK to get upset about. They all sign a piece of paper and "poof" bullying is gone. It just seems a little self-indulgent on the adults part. In this assembly, does a kid speak-up when his bully is sitting right there? Or is he intimidated? Will a bully be able to figure-out which kids may be more sensitive or susceptible to bullying than the others? Kids he sees may be easier to bully, based on how they talk about it in these programs? Just my opinion but, if "identifying" and signing a "pact" with a minor (who is also a bully) are all ya got, it might be time to head back to the ol' drawing board.