I am so sick of reading about anti-bullying campaigns. I just don't care anymore. It is in the news so often and I'm going to be really honest, I think it's a waste of time.
They always say in all the articles bullying shouldn't be a right of passage anymore. I think that statement is false. Bullying is a part of life and I believe it can make you stronger in certain instances, for example, when you overcome it. Perhaps I'm not the best person to write on this subject because I can count on one hand the number of times I felt bullied and I know there are people who have lost track of how many times they felt they were being bullied. But, there is a difference between bullying and harassment.
These teens that commit suicide because of "bullying" were more likely being harassed. Small amounts of bullying, even every day, can wear you down over time and lower your self-esteem, but to get to the point of suicide, there has to be some serious stuff going on in that teen's life, maybe even stuff not related to school at all! To get to the point where you've lost all coping skills takes time.
How about instead of going on and on about all these bullshit anti-bullying rules, (which probably aren't even going to help) why not spend that money on properly counseling students who feel bullied? And I don't mean using the shitty school guidance counselor who took a one year course. Get a real therapist in there! Teach these kids coping skills so when the psychological warfare starts they have the tools they'll need to overcome the abuse.
You can't cure a bully. A bully isn't going to have a light-bulb go off in his/her head after watching a Powerpoint presentation in the school gymnasium, and think, oh man, I'm a huge asshole. I should try to be nicer to people. All this anti-bullying crap is just a deterrent and doesn't alter the actual bullies.
But you can cure a person will low self-esteem. You can build that person up again and help them see that they are better and stronger than their bullies. One day they'll be strong enough to shrug those bullies off and know the truth about themselves. One day the psychological warfare will end because the bullies run out of ammo when they see you're not affected by them.
Some girls in high school used to call me "Nigger Lips." I was self-conscious about it when I first heard them say that because I had never felt there was anything wrong with my lips. Their goal was to make me feel bad about myself. Good thing I had a boy that told me I had beautiful, luscious, kissable lips and that he preferred full lips to thin ones. The next time they called me nigger lips, I rolled my eyes because it was the stupidest thing. That was their one complaint about me and it wasn't even a bad thing.
That's the power of a confidence boost. Bullies attack the weak. When the weak become strong, there won't be anyone left to bully, so who gives a shit about deterring bullies with legislation and rules?
Monday, November 26, 2012
Thursday, November 1, 2012
Political Correctness
I read a parenting blog every day called Embrace The Chaos and what I like reading even more than the articles are the comments people make under them. It's ridiculous how rude and uninformed people are. People get pretty heated in the comments section, often going off on tangents not even related to the article that started it all.
Anyway, what inspired this particular blog was an article about how one elementary school in Ontario has banned students from wearing costumes to school. Apparently the reasoning was that there were many "new Canadian" families attending the school and to show respect for them and their beliefs/culture/whatever the school would "celebrate" Halloween by having students wear orange or black clothes. Apparently Halloween is predominately a North American thing and other cultures find the whole thing quite odd.
That being said, of course there was outrage. How dare those damn immigrants take away Halloween from our children during school hours, right? (Even though the article stated it was the Principal's idea, not one of the parents calling to complain.)
Reading the comments, people are talking about religion and Christianity saying Halloween should be abolished forever everywhere. Then we got the comments about how Canadian culture is being watered down by all these immigrants coming over and being offended by our ways and asking us to change. For example, we should say Happy Holidays and Seasons Greetings instead of Merry Christmas in order to not be offensive.
Everyone seems to be forgetting the issue at hand. THIS IS A SCHOOL! Remember that place you go to learn stuff to help you with the rest of your life? Costumes are a huge distraction! Props go missing or get confiscated... Kids can't see the board because they're wearing masks or there's big hats or wings in way... Kids get into character and aren't paying attention. The whole day is shot because everything is a distraction.
In my opinion, you're either for or against the separation of religion and state.
If you are in favour of the separation of religion and state, then we shouldn't be "celebrating" any holidays at school. Our children should go to school, learn what needs to be learned, including holidays and traditions from North America and around the world, and the families that want to celebrate Halloween by trick or treating can get the kids dressed up and go trick or treating after school.
And the families that want to sing Christmas carols can get dressed up and go caroling as a family. And the families that want to do an Easter egg hunt can hide the chocolate eggs themselves in their own house and let their kids go searching and eat chocolate all day.
We don't need to celebrate Christmas in school. We don't need to celebrate Hanukkah in school. We don't need to celebrate Easter or Valentines Day in school. Nobody is oppressing you. Nobody is taking away your beliefs and traditions. Nobody is trying to change you or force their ways on you. Nobody is trying to make you say Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas. We are literally just trying to separate religion and state so that everyone can practice their own beliefs and traditions in their own way with their family like the way it should be. And if you happen to have similar values and beliefs as another family whose kid is friends with your, then go ahead and celebrate together. After school!
The only holiday schools should be recognizing and actively celebrating would be Remembrance Day. Second to that, I guess Louis Riel Day.
A final note on the Happy Holidays slogan - That was created by big businesses in order to keep as many customers happy as possible, seeing as how people of all faiths shop at their stores for gifts of all occasions. Saying Merry Christmas is only offensive if you are a huge conglomerate and will lose billions of dollars by not using a more generic address.
You can say Merry Christmas to a Jewish person. I promise that person will not be offended and will most likely wish you a Happy Hanukkah in return.
Anyway, what inspired this particular blog was an article about how one elementary school in Ontario has banned students from wearing costumes to school. Apparently the reasoning was that there were many "new Canadian" families attending the school and to show respect for them and their beliefs/culture/whatever the school would "celebrate" Halloween by having students wear orange or black clothes. Apparently Halloween is predominately a North American thing and other cultures find the whole thing quite odd.
That being said, of course there was outrage. How dare those damn immigrants take away Halloween from our children during school hours, right? (Even though the article stated it was the Principal's idea, not one of the parents calling to complain.)
Reading the comments, people are talking about religion and Christianity saying Halloween should be abolished forever everywhere. Then we got the comments about how Canadian culture is being watered down by all these immigrants coming over and being offended by our ways and asking us to change. For example, we should say Happy Holidays and Seasons Greetings instead of Merry Christmas in order to not be offensive.
Everyone seems to be forgetting the issue at hand. THIS IS A SCHOOL! Remember that place you go to learn stuff to help you with the rest of your life? Costumes are a huge distraction! Props go missing or get confiscated... Kids can't see the board because they're wearing masks or there's big hats or wings in way... Kids get into character and aren't paying attention. The whole day is shot because everything is a distraction.
In my opinion, you're either for or against the separation of religion and state.
If you are in favour of the separation of religion and state, then we shouldn't be "celebrating" any holidays at school. Our children should go to school, learn what needs to be learned, including holidays and traditions from North America and around the world, and the families that want to celebrate Halloween by trick or treating can get the kids dressed up and go trick or treating after school.
And the families that want to sing Christmas carols can get dressed up and go caroling as a family. And the families that want to do an Easter egg hunt can hide the chocolate eggs themselves in their own house and let their kids go searching and eat chocolate all day.
We don't need to celebrate Christmas in school. We don't need to celebrate Hanukkah in school. We don't need to celebrate Easter or Valentines Day in school. Nobody is oppressing you. Nobody is taking away your beliefs and traditions. Nobody is trying to change you or force their ways on you. Nobody is trying to make you say Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas. We are literally just trying to separate religion and state so that everyone can practice their own beliefs and traditions in their own way with their family like the way it should be. And if you happen to have similar values and beliefs as another family whose kid is friends with your, then go ahead and celebrate together. After school!
The only holiday schools should be recognizing and actively celebrating would be Remembrance Day. Second to that, I guess Louis Riel Day.
A final note on the Happy Holidays slogan - That was created by big businesses in order to keep as many customers happy as possible, seeing as how people of all faiths shop at their stores for gifts of all occasions. Saying Merry Christmas is only offensive if you are a huge conglomerate and will lose billions of dollars by not using a more generic address.
You can say Merry Christmas to a Jewish person. I promise that person will not be offended and will most likely wish you a Happy Hanukkah in return.
