[Courses] [Spineful Living- Basic Human Rights]

[Maria McKinley]

If you need any further sparks to light under their butts, here is a big 
one:

The study was done by http://www.fightcrime.org/, which looks like an 
excellent resource, and is reported here:

http://edition.cnn.com/2003/EDUCATION/09/04/sprj.sch.bullying.prevention.ap/

"Nearly 60 percent of boys who researchers classified as bullies in 
grades six though nine were convicted of at least one crime by the age 
of 24; 40 percent of them had three or more convictions by 24, the 
report said."

Another article about repercussions for both bullies and their victims:

http://www.nichd.nih.gov/news/releases/bullies.cfm

Good luck, and way to go!

cheers,
maria


Valorie Zimmerman wrote:
> I've been meaning to post about an issue I'm tackling with my son's school 
> administration: bullying. Cruelty is one of my push-buttons, so dealing with 
> the reality that my son was being bullied was the first difficult part of all 
> this. The rage I felt was so overwhelming, that I decided that I would put 
> off a full-blown confrontation with the administration until I could marshall 
> my resources, and work collaboratively with them on improving the situation 
> for all students, rather than coming in with a flame-thrower and burning the 
> place down -- which is what I felt like, last year.
> 
> Of course I did talk to the counselor who was dealing with one/some of the 
> bullies at the time, but the last two years, that's where we left it. This 
> year, I finally felt calm enough to start talking to the Safe School 
> Coalition for help, and schedule a meeting with the principal, counselor, and 
> the helpful fellow from SSC. I was amazed at how difficult it was to actually 
> plan and schedule the initial meeting. I could hardly sleep the night before. 
> 
> That first meeting turned out pretty well, and although I shed some tears, my 
> emotion seemed to be a good thing. Tears seemed to let them know how serious 
> the issue was, and how committed I was to improving conditions in the school. 
> They seemed shocked, SHOCKED that bullying of gay kids was so common at 
> Kentlake HS. How that could be, I don't know! Did they never talk to the kids 
> in the GSA (Gay Straight Alliance) club? It turns out that no, they had not!
> 
> A successful confrontation is so empowering! Still, I was very impatient with 
> the poor communication about developments, so I pushed for another meeting to 
> find out what progress had been made in the plans to have a staff training 
> day early next year. 
> 
> Fortunately for me, Carla started this course in the meantime, and I started 
> reading _When I say no, I feel guilty_. The day before the second meeting, I 
> read the chapter about the Broken Record technique, and was determined to use 
> that if they were still stalling. Fortunately, this wasn't necessary! I was 
> gonna do it, though. :-)
> 
> I found out that the reason I hadn't heard about a date, is that the calendar 
> for next year hasn't been completed by the School Board and Superintendant's 
> office. At this point, after some of the articles I've sent them, and the 
> death of 33 students at Virginia Tech, they are starting to take bullying 
> VERY seriously. Not only will they have one staff training about this issue 
> early next year, *taught by the GSA kids* (with the assistance of the Safe 
> Schools Coalition), but they want to do a series of shorter trainings 
> throughout the year also. AND they would like to have a speaker in, to speak 
> to the students in an assembly. So we are now in discussions about who would 
> be a good person to schedule. Judy Shepard's name was brought up, so they are 
> thinking big.
> 
> My next step is to talk to the Superintendent's office, and see what we can 
> get going at the District level. Bullying starts in grade school, and needs 
> to be addressed there and in the middle and high schools, all of them.
> 
> It's amazing how much easier that huge task seems, than making the date for 
> that initial meeting. It really is true that a long journey begins with a 
> single step. And I'm glad to be working with them to solve the problem, 
> rather than talking to the ACLU about filing suit. Although, if the district 
> doesn't change its ways, that could still happen!
> 
> Valorie
> 
> I leave these Basic Human Rights, because so many of them were involved in my 
> story.
> 
> On Thursday 26 April 2007 20:41, Carla Schroder wrote:
>> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>> Basic Human Rights
>> 1. The right to feel good about yourself
>>
>> 2. The right to act in ways that promote your dignity and self-
>> respect as long as others' rights are not violated in the process
>>
>> 3. The right to be treated with respect
>>
>> 4. The right to say "No!" and not feel guilty
>>
>> 5. The right to experience and to express your feelings
>>
>> 6. The right to slow down and think
>>
>> 7. The right to change your mind
>>
>> 8. The right to ask for what you want
>>
>> 9. The right to do less than you are humanly capable of doing
>>
>> 10. The right to ask for information
>>
>> 11. The right to make mistakes
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