Meyer's "Understanding Teachers’ (non) interventions”

“Through open discussions with all youth about feelings of isolation, feeling "different" from their peers, or being misunderstood, the classroom atmosphere can empower youth to discuss options for troubled youth and help students to watch over each other”(thetreavorproject.org).

The Trevor Project Trailor

The Trevor Project Film Trailor

Meyer’s “gendered harassment in secondary schools; discusses the issue of LGBT bullying in high school and the teacher’s role in preventing this harassment problem.  Meyer gives her reader a good overview of what determines gendered harassment and the many influences that are associated with this every growing problem. Meyer explores specific realities in high school regarding the bullying epidemic in high schools. She states that,” These studies have shown that sexual and homophobic harassment are accepted parts of school culture where faculty and staff rarely or never intervene to stop this harassment. Students report that teachers stand by and allow biased and hurtful behaviors to go unchallenged.”  

Although,  I do not want to believe that some teachers and administrators do not address all forms of bullying, I do realize that that in many cases there is neglect, ignorance, or laziness when it comes to the prevention and or the allowing of such bullying. Johnson, Kozal, and Delpit would argue that the “dominant society” has the upper hand again here. However, “the privileged” are at stake here also. LGBT does not discriminate against race, culture, sex, or socio-economic status.

I respect and applaud Meyer for the time and energy that was invested in this essay. Although upon reading I  feel as though her tone is not appropriate to the content of her study. Her tone is somewhat nonchalant. This topic she explores is so current with consequences of teen suicide I did not feel any urgency or passion on her part for the cause.  The teachers who were interviewed also did not seem to express knowledge of the seriousness of LGBT bullying. I quote Martin Luther King Jr. when I say there is a “fierce urgency of now” in this fight against high school bullying. This essay is missing this passion.

I feel the need to inform the reader to create an urgency. As a result of bullying there has been unnecessary loss of life, heart braking statistics of suicide and depression, and teens who turn to drugs and alcohol. There needs to be a “fierce urgency of now” from teachers, administers, and parents to help everyone understand that LGBT people are brothers, sisters, sons and daughters, granddaughters and grandsons. They’re being bullied in school because they are not of the “dominant” society. They do not fit into the norm, therefore they are alienated and many feel unworthy

The Trevor Project.Org : The leading national organization provides crisis intervention and suicide prevention to LGBT youth.

http://www.thetrevorproject.org/suicide-resources/suicidal-sign

“The Trevor Project believes that the high rates of suicide are preventable. To this end, we created The Trevor Workshop Guide, a classroom tool to be used in conjunction with the short film, Trevor, to constructively generate discussion about the myriad of issues surrounding suicide, personal identity and sexual orientation.”

Teacher FT03 “If there’s an incident in my classroom in my classroom I have to seek out the administration to get the follow-up on it. You just have to het to know the system and know what the expectations are cause they’re stretched.  They don’t have any time... I personally had a few issues during the year with discipline and the VP wasn’t there, and the principal dealt with it , and I always felt the same, that he just wasn’t firm enough.”

It is imperative that administrators get the resources they need to educate themselves, their student body and their teachers on the prevention of bullying in schools and the “fierce urgency of now.”

“Suicide is the third leading cause of death among 15 to 24-year-olds, accounting for over 12% of deaths in this age group; only accidents and homicide occur more frequently” (National Adolescent Health Information 2006).

Teacher MT01:”(I don’t stop name calling) if I’m too tired., if there are set things I need to get through in a lesson. I know my lesson is going to take 60 minutes, I’ve only got 70 minutes to deliver it, I’ve got 10 minutes to waste.  Right now my job is being a teacher adn I have to get through the math before the end of the year. It;s not on my priority list.”

Student safety is on the top of my priority list.

“Lesbian, gay, and bisexual youth are up to four times more likely to attempt suicide than their heterosexual peers” (Massachusetts Youth Risk Survey 2007).

“More than 1/3 of LGB youth report having made a suicide attempt” (D’Augelli AR - Clinical Child Psychiatry and Psychology 2002)

Teacher MT06: I’ve had no training on how to address bullying...The educational degree was really worthless.  I felt that we didn’t really get that kind of necessary education.  How to deal with certain issues like bullying.”

All teachers are adults and it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that when someone is bullying and if you don’t personally know how to handle it, I think the safe thing to do, at the very least, is to report it to the administrator. At the very least give a detention. At teh very least have classroom rules that state NO BULLYING! You don’t just brush it off because you haven’t been TRAINED.  

“Nearly half of young transgender people have seriously thought about taking their lives and one quarter report having made a suicide attempt. “(Grossman AH, D’Augelli AR - Suicide and LifeThreatening Behavior 2007 

                              

Teacher FT02: “I spent the first couple months enforcing all of the (uniform policy, swearing, and name-calling) and there are some teachers that just never enforce it and so you realize that out of 20 teachers, we have about five who do all the enforcing and you just can’t anymore You can’t do it”

Why? It always starts with one person. Why wouldn’t this teacher continue to enforce the rules?

In my opinion this is a great excuses for not doing the right thing. The following statistics say we  don’t have a choice but to do the right thing.

“Nine out of 10 LGBT students (86.2%) experienced harassment at school; three-fifths (60.8%) felt unsafe at school because of their sexual orientation; and about one-third (32.7%) skipped a day of school in the past month because of feeling unsaf)” (GLSEN National School Climate Survey 2009)

“LGBT students are three times as likely as non-LGBT students to say that they do not feel safe at school (22% vs. 7%) and 90% of LGBT students (vs. 62% of non-LGBT teens) have been harassed or assaulted during the past year” (GLSEN From Teasing to Torment 2006).

“Almost all transgender students had been verbally harassed (e.g., called names or threatened in the past year at school because of their sexual orientation (89%) and gender expression (89%)” (GLSEN: Harsh Realities, The Experiences of Transgender Youth In Our Nation’s Schools 2009).

As the advisor to the GSA in my school, I have never met a group of young people with more heart, talent, passion, empathy and love for human kind.. These kids do not have hatred in their heart but  many of them have sadness and hurt in their hearts. They only show love for one another and they support one another. As one student  said yesterday. “This is the only place that I can totally be myself and feel accepted.”