GLSEN blog
Reflection
The article I read on GLSEN.org is titled "GLSEN Releases Groundbreaking Study of Bias, Bullying and Homophobia in Grades K-6". LINK This article broke down some interesting facts of a study that made up another article titled "Playgrounds and Prejudice: Elementary School Climate in the United States". This breakdown of the article gives reports of percentage of children's understanding of different lifestyles, and what teachers do to make kids aware of these things. It also looks at the way hateful words are used by young elementary children who don't seem to fit gender roles exactly. One may immediately think it not probably that a 3rd grader would call someone "gay" but I know from my own personal experience and having an older brother, that I started using words like this to express not liking something when I was young. So when I read the fact that 49% of elementary school kids have used it I believed it. Even now today when I work with kids, I often hear sometimes 1st graders saying a television show is "gay". And it's no surprise that some kids who might have homosexual parents may feel uncomfortable in an environment where something bad is said to be gay.
Some of the facts and numbers presented in this overview are completely striking, especially in a society where we often see elementary school aged children as innocent and don't think they can really say things that are mean, but that is not the case with the number presented of children who do not feel safe at school. I remember when I was in 7th grade there was a female cancer survivor in my class and she was in the process of growing her hair back and would leave school some days crying because of other boys calling her "dyke" and other mean phrases thrown at lesbians. And while I was out of elementary at the time it wasn't by much.
What this article was trying to do was show that we need to do some educating at a young age to teach children that these words are not appropriate and that people who live different lifestyles are not different people and should not be treated as different. One thing I found cool on this site was a link to a website about something called the No Name-Calling Week, here is the link to that. LINK
It's incredible how hurtful kids can be to one another. Some people don't understand how one thing they say to someone can ultimately crush that person. I agree that, that article had some eye raising stats (75% of kids are bullied in school on a regular basis).
ReplyDeletehey nate!
ReplyDeletei agree with ryan; it is really shocking how kids are to one another about this. the stats are incredible and its really sad that people aren't as accepting as they should be.
great link too!