As I worked in the shop I listened to a program on NPR about bullying in schools. That is a hot topic these days, with the problems being acknowledged as widespread and extremely harmful. But most are talking about peer on peer bullying. There are adult forms of bullying that are sanctioned by our school systems and that have devastating effect to children's feelings of self-worth and dignity. It is a topic schools will rarely discuss, and adult bullies often are allowed to stay on the job for years. It can be too disruptive to fire them mid year, even if an administrator cared about the situation. And still another form of bullying is that of our school wide failure to acknowledge and encourage the full range of human intelligences. It is often thought that shop classes are for dummies. And in our failure to acknowledge the intelligences involved, we inflict nearly irreparable harm to kids on both sides of the academic divide. It is not a happy set of circumstances. But make, fix, create. There are interpersonal challenges that we overcome when we discover our own creative alignment with the universe.
I completely agree. I was a student bullied by teachers when I was younger. And I was relatively smart!
ReplyDeleteBut, because I was smart, I was never allowed to take shop class, drafting, the arts, etc... I had to stay in biology, chemistry, blah blah blah.
Nowadays I am a computer programmer, but my creative outlet is working with my hands. Fortunately, I am passionate about both, but I know others who were not given the chance to study courses like shop class who are now unhappy with life working high paying jobs at a desk. They almost all complain about their lack of connection with the world around them and lack of creative outlet. Thankfully, some of them are coming into their own with craft; be it pottery, knitting, or even gardening and landscaping.
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ReplyDeleteI don't see how schools can stop peer on peer bullying when they allow adult bullying to proceed unchecked.
ReplyDeleteAnd while schools seem to be willing to discuss peer on peer bullying, no one is talking about what adult bullies and a screwy school system based on a form of academic bullying is doing to kids.
And then you take the state and federal government. Watch what bullying they can perpetrate, too. Have you heard of No Child Left Behind?
I just posted on this topic, too, Doug (heard the same broadcast). I like your spin.
ReplyDeleteI was frequently bullied by teachers in school to stop reading. No, really. I was years ahead of the other students in reading by third grade and was silently reading the last chapters of the reader while the kids around me struggled to read the first few chapters out loud.
ReplyDeleteUS schools are not about learning. They are for normalization and obedience training.