Anti-Bullying as a Civil Right

[marmar]

from Consortium News:



Anti-Bullying as a Civil Right
December 1, 2013

Even as more Americans accept gay marriage and reject discrimination against people over sexual orientation, bullying remains a serious problem in the nation’s schools where teachers do not do enough to protect LGBT students, write Laura Finley and Joseph Schroer.

By Laura Finley and Joseph Schroer


Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered (LGBT) youth are among the most vulnerable to bullying and harassment, both in and out of schools. The Gay Lesbian & Straight Education Network (GLSEN) conducts a biennial National School Climate Survey in which they measure how frequently bullying of LGBT students occurs in schools and the responses to it.

The 2011 survey includes responses from 8,584 students between the ages of 13 and 20. Students were from all 50 states and the District of Columbia and from 3,224 unique school districts. Results indicated that eight out of 10 LGBT students (81.9 percent) experienced harassment at school in the past year because of their sexual orientation, three-fifths (63.5 percent) felt unsafe at school because of their sexual orientation and nearly a third (29.8 percent) skipped a day of school in the past month because of safety concerns.

Further, the majority of students in this study who were harassed or assaulted (60.4 percent) did not report it because they believed nothing would change or that the situation might worsen. Of those who did report, 36.7 percent said school officials did nothing. This finding reinforces research that has continually shown that many teachers and administrators do little to counteract homophobic attitudes, including studies in 2003 and in 2010.

There have been very little (and in some instances no) improvements in the quality of the learning environment for LGBT youth. Similar studies 10 to 15 years ago found virtually the same results as those reported by GLSEN. And, a study reported in the UK’s TES magazine for educators found that gay teachers are even less likely to respond out of fear for their own job security. ........................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://consortiumnews.com/2013/12/01/anti-bullying-as-a-civil-right/

[LWolf]

1. If you want to see

less bullying of any kind in schools, restructure them. Move them away from the corporate factory model that puts way too many young people together with way too few adults, and structure the system to be smaller, more responsive, and more community oriented.

That will help. As long, though, as our culture thrives on competitive bullying, and it does, bullying will never be eradicated entirely.