How schools create bullying

05/27/2013

How schools create bullying

Andrew is a 14 year old ninth grader who taught himself how to program in Visual Basic so that he can produce his own novice video games. He plans on designing video games when he grows up. Andrew has trouble paying attention in class. While he can tune in to some teachers some of the time, more often than not he simply checks out.

“Andrew!” his biology teacher, Mr. James, bellows. “What are you doing?” Andrew turned red, as his classmates snickered. “You’re not even looking at the right book!”

Being publicly humiliated in class is a way of life for kids like Andrew with alternative learning profiles and for those who otherwise deviate from the norm. Mr. James has little regard for Andrew’s learning differences or feelings. Several of Andrew’s classmates, imitating the teacher, tease him after class. He’s been severely bullied on numerous occasions. When Andrew's parents mentioned to school officials that Andrew complained about being mistreated by Mr. James, they defended the teacher, who is popular among most kids. Given the values and, indeed, the very structure of school, it’s no wonder that bullying is so pervasive.

We speak of bullying as if it’s some irksome alien force, independent of the social structure of school when, in fact, it’s deeply ingrained in the very fabric of school life. The main problem isn’t that certain kids are mean, though that’s definitely the case, it’s that school values some kids and devalues others. Anti-bullying programs focus on teaching kids to be kind, which, of course, is a good thing to do. But telling kids that they should be nice and accepting of others when the school celebrates one type of student to the exclusion of others, is ultimately going to fall on deaf ears. In upholding a single standard of performance--only one definition of intelligence, one method of learning, one way of acting--the school, itself, is not being nice to kids who don’t fit the mold. We should not expect students to be any more respectful of diversity and any nicer to people who deviate from the norm than is the school they attend for seven hours a day.

In all likelihood, Mr. James cannot fathom that Andrew is actually quite talented. The teacher's impatience with Andrew reflects the school's limited model of the mind, which sets up kids like Andrew, whose mind works differently, to be ostracized. While I put some of the blame on Mr. James for lacking insight and compassion, I place most of it squarely on the education system and its relentless drive for homogeneity. Even if boorish teachers like Mr. James were out of the picture, we'd still have a gentler version of the same system, favoring one kind of kid and demeaning another.

While learning outliers are frequently victims of bullying, they can be bullies too. In such a scenario, the outlier bullies a physically weaker “good student.” The outlier is angry at the way he has been treated by the system, and takes it out on the other student. Both types of the bullying are predictable outcomes of the classroom monoculture.

Some argue that combatting bullying requires cultural change in schools. Bullying, however, is first and formost a structural problem. Unless the structure of school changes, the culture will continue to support bullying. The only way we’ll ever see more compassion and less bullying is to restructure school, allowing for and even encouraging varied kinds of learning, interests and passions.

Such an environment would reduce if not eliminate bullying because it would acculturate kids to a diverse array of learning styles, behaviors and interests. Of course, this new structure cannot eliminate bullying altogether and perfect the human condition--none can--but it can create new norms and vastly improve upon it. Because the school itself would exemplify these values, it would be in a much better position to teach kindness, respect for diversity and opposition to bullying. It would also be a far superior learning environment, empowering kids to pursue their passions and preparing them to flourish later in life.

Until we transform the current cookie cutter education system, anti-bullying measures will be nothing more than a band-aid approach to a systemic problem.

Posted by The Big Shift on 05/27/2013 at 09:00 AM in Diversity, Education, Values | Permalink

Tags: anti-bullying, bullies, bullying, education, learning differences, school

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