<p>I only wish there was zero tolerance for all hate speech. I see more directed at women than at men, but I despise all of it.</p>
<p>I see a lot more hate speech directed at men. Who thinks rape is funny when women are the victims? No one. There is a whole genre of prison rape humor. How about men getting hit in their private parts? Gets giggles. Nothing comparable on the female side, thank goodness. Men have become the enemies of the state.</p>
<p>But I rarely hear women making prison-rape or âhit-in-the-XXXâ jokes. Itâs usually men making them about other men. No women I know would think those things were funny.</p>
<p>I donât agree Sally. I have never heard a man make a hit them where it hurts joke, and prison rape as revenge is usually discussed by women.</p>
<p>Well, we must live in very different worlds then. OF COURSE those comments are offensive, no matter who makes them.</p>
<p>Yes they are offensive, but they are also pervasive.</p>
<p>I would say that in general the internet has brought out the hateful in a lot of people. That and certain types of popular music.</p>
<p>(I am not anti-boy, by the way, nor do I disagree that people alternately expect more and less of boys. I have a son.)</p>
<p>intparentâ</p>
<p>You misconstrue my comments. It is not my intention to put women back in the kitchen, or classroom, or secretarial pool, or whatever. I am simply wishing for more gender balance in school leadership.</p>
<p>Please take the chip off your shoulderânot all of us men are evil :)</p>
<p>This reminds me of a kid in my Chinese class with anger management issues. He can yell, cuss, and make death threats all he wants, yet he never gets in trouble by the teacher. But when a little kid makes a pop-tart gunâŠ</p>
<p>How about this, MA: letâs trade women for men in our schools and vice versa for corporate boardrooms and government? :)</p>
<p>Are you kidding me? I was only born in 1990 and we had toy squirt guns in class as prizes for who was the quickest at times tables. No one ever flipped out. What has the world come to?</p>
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<p>I totally agree that zero tolerance is a bad policy because it lacks context. As the mother of boys, I too realize they will make a gun out of everything! On the other hand, we cannot say that âfinger gunsâ could never be bad. The context is what matters. Imagine if a group of kids were bullying another kid and, every chance they got, secretly ( out of adult site) pointed a finger gun at target kid and pretended to shoot it. It would be pretty unnerving and IMO a suspendible offense.</p>
<p>Now, zero tolerance on bullyingâŠyes, that one I agree with. But, the punishment must fit the crime. I donât think a group of girls should be suspended for getting up from a table when another girl sits down, but Iâm glad to see they were talked to about the inappropriate and hurtful behavior. When I was a kid adults would have never paid attention to that behavior.</p>
<p>I think this stuff isnât easy for schools. Imagine your kids attend a school where some of the kids come from homes involved with gang violence. Little Johnnie takes his pop-tart gun and plays Bloods vs. Crips towards your kid. Maybe your kid feels intimidated by that, even though itâs just a pop-tart. Now the school has to decide the context and itâs just easier to do zero-tolerance than deal with why one personâs kid wasnât disciplined while someone elseâs is.</p>
<p>^ good point.</p>
<p>In NYS schools are now responsible for acting on âbullyingâ even if it occurs outside of school. Our administrators spend countless hours on absurd âfacebookâ stuff, which detracts from actually doing educational work. Another point, friends that boys in school have commented on how elementary teachers gave their sons negative vibes if they donât âlove toâ read. The quaility of elementary teachers declined as a result of increased job opportunities in other fields for females. Weâve had a number of sweet, very nice, marginal students graduate from our high school, major in education & end up on the Deanâs List at their college.</p>
<p>csdad, in NYS, upper level teachers must have a content-based degree in their subject and I think that makes the absolute world of difference in terms of teacher quality.</p>
<p>Simultaneously, a huge number of new teachers here are hired through a teaching fellows program (not TFA) that recruits from top schools, but it has had a mixed record of success.</p>
<p>As far as loving to read, I always think based on my experience and my kidsâ experiences (as well as the years I spent as a volunteer librarian) that it would be beneficial to most kids to have some freedom to choose their reading material. Of course, there should be class reading together, but in terms of solo things, it can be good to let kids choose.</p>
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<p>âŠyes Iâve worked in upper level Pupil Support at the High School level (20+ years plus 7 in NC) & donât think the quaility of high school teachers has declined. Personalities that high school level attracts is much different than elementary level.</p>
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<p>Then you tell your kid to get over it. I understand, kids complain. Adults need to have some sense.</p>
<p>No, I wouldnât tell my kid to get over that. The police arrest people for making gun gestures with their hands. Why not learn that itâs not socially acceptable at a young age? I think itâs worthy of redirection and if that kid is using his pop-tart gun in a threatening, bullying fashion then it may well be worthy of suspension.</p>
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OTOH, back in the day, teaching was one of the few jobs at which a woman could make a living wage and there were a lot of women teaching who had no buisness whatsoever in a classroom. I know - I was taught by some of them. Not bad people, just not suited to working with children.
And another thing I think posters have overlooked - adults, teachers included, can bully every bit as much as junior high mean girls can. IMHO, there are some teachers who stay in the education system because they still have a high school mentality and want to hang out with the âcool kids,â and this crosses over into the running of their classrooms.</p>