Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Bullying + Zero Tolerance ≠ Safe Schools

Huffington Post, August 14, 2012

"When we heard about Jamey Rodemeyer and other youth who had taken their own lives after years of being bullied for their sexual orientation and gender identity, we got angry. Maybe angrier than we had ever been. It would have been easy to want to punish and get revenge on all students who bully others. But it would have been wrong.
Yet, that's exactly what's happening across the country. According to Two Wrongs Don't Make a Right: Why Zero Tolerance is Not the Solution to Bullying, by Advancement Project, the Alliance for Educational Justice, and Gay-Straight Alliance Network, there's a national trend to respond to bullying by calling in the police or using other harsh discipline that excludes students from school. For example, fifteen states have passed laws that make bullying a crime. In a lot of school districts, law enforcement gets involved in even the most minor incidents of bullying." Read More

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