fbpx
  • Subscribe & Support
  • Print Edition
    • Get Home Delivery
    • Read ePaper Online
    • Newsstand Locations
  • HV1 Magazines
  • Contact
    • Advertise
    • Submit Your Event
    • Customer Support
    • Submit A News Tip
    • Send Letter to the Editor
    • Where’s My Paper?
  • Our Newsletters
  • Manage HV1 Account
  • Free HV1 Trial
Hudson Valley One
  • News
    • Schools
    • Business
    • Sports
    • Crime
    • Politics & Government
  • What’s UP
    • Calendar Of Events
    • Subscribe to the What’s UP newsletter
  • Opinion
    • Letters
    • Columns
  • Local
    • Special Sections
    • Local History
  • Marketplace
    • All Classified Ads
    • Post a Classified Ad
  • Obituaries
  • Log Out
No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • Schools
    • Business
    • Sports
    • Crime
    • Politics & Government
  • What’s UP
    • Calendar Of Events
    • Subscribe to the What’s UP newsletter
  • Opinion
    • Letters
    • Columns
  • Local
    • Special Sections
    • Local History
  • Marketplace
    • All Classified Ads
    • Post a Classified Ad
  • Obituaries
  • Log Out
No Result
View All Result
Hudson Valley One
No Result
View All Result

Don’t blame the bullied

by Susan Barnett
June 30, 2020
in Village Voices
1
Don’t blame the bullied

photo by George Hodan (publicdomainpictures.net)

There’s not much to celebrate in America in 2020. We’re in crisis – economically, societally, governmentally.

But I just read a news story that found one bright spot no one saw coming. Distance learning is proving to be a happy break for bullied students. They’re enjoying learning, they’re participating more, and the ability to simply “tune out” the bullies is liberating.

It’s heartbreaking, but it shouldn’t be a surprise. A classroom full of students has always been a hunting ground for mean kids, and only the best teachers and school administrators stay on top of it.

Teachers can be bullies, too.

I was bullied by a teacher when I started school. The teacher informed my parents that she would “break my spirit” by the end of the school year. She failed, and the teacher the next year found me to be “difficult,” too. I spent a lot of time in trouble for talking in class that second year.

I still wonder at my parents, who waited until the next year before moving me to a different school. But in those days, perhaps parents thought teachers knew best.

They didn’t.

I’ve seen a school that was a safe, tolerant space where all the students seemed to thrive. It was a public elementary school in Connecticut. It was the neighborhood school my children attended. The principal was a kind, hard-working woman who knew every single one of her students. And the teachers she hired met the two most important criteria for dealing with young children. They liked them, and they didn’t tolerate bullying. From anyone.

It wasn’t a wealthy school district. It was a working-class town. Everyone there, including the parents, worked hard to get it right.

In another part of that same state, when we moved, I saw the public school in a much more affluent town get it wrong over and over again. Conformity was the only way to survive intact there. The kids who couldn’t, wouldn’t conform were bullied. Teachers refused to see. They blamed the bullied instead of the bullies. Administrators turned a blind eye, particularly when the bullies came from “good” families. It was a dysfunctional place, and many dysfunctional, destructive things happened there.

I cannot imagine the dread bullied children feel, knowing they may have to go back to school in the fall. And I know it is likely that schools, and possibly parents, dismiss their anxiety.

I do not know the answer, unless it is a complete overhaul of our educational system. I suspect it’s long overdue. There are children who desperately need, and totally deserve, that change to begin now.

 

Read more installments of Village Voices by Susan Barnett.

Tags: Susan Barnett Village Voices
Join the family! Grab a free month of HV1 from the folks who have brought you substantive local news since 1972. We made it 50 years thanks to support from readers like you. Help us keep real journalism alive.
- Geddy Sveikauskas, Publisher

Susan Barnett

Related Posts

Village Voices are on hold
Village Voices

Village Voices are on hold

November 17, 2020
A liberal education
Village Voices

Keeping it all together

August 24, 2020
Writing about oneself
Village Voices

I need a day off

August 24, 2020
Saugerties initiative combating addiction and suicide adds more events
Village Voices

Time travel

August 24, 2020
Where to buy face masks locally
Village Voices

A story of three states

September 2, 2020
The kids talk politics
Village Voices

Stories on the ballot

August 23, 2020
Next Post
The case for new equipment

The case for new equipment

Please login to join discussion

Weather

Kingston, NY
88°
Partly Cloudy
5:34 am8:29 pm EDT
Feels like: 97°F
Wind: 11mph SW
Humidity: 59%
Pressure: 29.77"Hg
UV index: 9
FriSatSun
81°F / 57°F
86°F / 70°F
86°F / 63°F
powered by Weather Atlas

Subscribe

Independent. Local. Substantive. Subscribe now.

  • Subscribe & Support
  • Print Edition
  • HV1 Magazines
  • Contact
  • Our Newsletters
  • Manage HV1 Account
  • Free HV1 Trial

© 2022 Ulster Publishing

No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • Schools
    • Business
    • Sports
    • Crime
    • Politics & Government
  • What’s Happening
    • Calendar Of Events
    • Art
    • Books
    • Kids
    • Lifestyle & Wellness
    • Food & Drink
    • Music
    • Nature
    • Stage & Screen
  • Opinions
    • Letters
    • Columns
  • Local
    • Special Sections
    • Local History
  • Marketplace
    • All Classified Ads
    • Post a Classified Ad
  • Obituaries
  • Subscribe & Support
  • Contact Us
    • Customer Support
    • Advertise
    • Submit A News Tip
  • Print Edition
    • Read ePaper Online
    • Newsstand Locations
    • Where’s My Paper
  • HV1 Magazines
  • Manage HV1 Account
  • Log In
  • Free HV1 Trial
  • Subscribe to Our Newsletters
    • Hey Kingston
    • New Paltz Times
    • Woodstock Times
    • Week in Review

© 2022 Ulster Publishing