Hello to all who read this blog and hopefully comment.
Last night, I mentioned what I think needs to be done in order to stop this rather growing trend of online and school bullying that has been a far more saddening problem in the 14 years since I graduated high school. I know the title mainly refers to not having this go through another lawsuit. Yet I think this goes beyond the courts and schools. Eventually, we need to notice the differences of children and parents from a not too past era; and those of today.
First, let me mention that this is not to claim that a past era of schooling like my 12 years in the Farmingdale School District (1989-2001) were halcyon days. Clearly, they were not that rosy; and they were not "good old days". Yet, I have often mentioned an interesting fact. My High School Senior class was the last to graduate before 9/11/2001. Thus, we seemingly were the last to be a bit more free around the premises. On the flip side, I know Farmingdale did not increase its rate of successful graduates going off to prestigious universities (such as Hofstra for myself) until well recently.
None the less, a lot has changed. Initially I thought a lot of this was for security reasons. I cannot, for instance, go into any of the schools to meet up with former educators; lest I or someone else become a real life Wooderson. Little did we know there are issues to be addressed with the parents and students of today.
Many parents of grade school, middle school and high school students are from a post boomer generation. It stretches from the latter 1960s up through people my age. Now, most people are as individually different as can be. Yet, many (and I include myself) are expecting gratification and what we want, but not really need, now. With that in mind, we get upset should things not go our way. Sadly, with that sort of selfishness comes selfish behavior. And yes, this reflects on the younger impressionable minds of school students.
I'll give an example. A fellow 2001 graduate that I keep in touch with on Facebook related a story from the past Christmas holidays. Being a music teacher, he led about 600 school kids across Long Island for a NYSMMA concert. The children were okay; yet some of the parents were not on their best behavior. The night of the performance at Tillies Center, two parents got into a fist fight with each other! One other parent yelled at his/her child for almost fainting. Now again, I was not there. Yet, I am not surprised that some behave this way.
Now, one way to alter this behavior would be to have prospective parents of school children required before every school year to be taught behavioral issues and study obedience to others. And to further the idea, have these parents pass an exam on what they learned from these courses. This may seem a bit much; yet I would be willing to do it myself once the time comes. Perhaps some visual aids on what not to do would be a welcoming idea.
That of course is regarding parents. It is though the behavior of the younger children that concerns me more. I say this because while the parents are aware of the day to day activities of their children; it seems more and more as being a mere observer at times. This though requires me to write another post as this might be too long!
So, I will have more tomorrow for this conversation on ending the bullying epidemic. Consider these posts a trilogy of sorts. It has been a bit of a long night.
Talk to you later,
Robert.
PS. Any comments on how to spruce up the website and blog are more than welcome.
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