Toward the end of the 2011-12 school year, I invited concerned community members to join me for roundtable discussions on school bullying, a
As the new school year gets under way, we will pick up where we left off with a presentation by Irene Patino, retired Pasco County teacher and creator of Bully Be Gone, a bullying and teen suicide prevention program.
Please join us from 6 to 8 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 20 in Heron Hall at Learning Gate Community School in Lutz to hear Patino speak about engaging, empowering and encouraging passive bystanders—those who witness acts of bullying but do not intervene for a variety of reasons.
A social change community organizer from Sunrise of Pasco also will be on hand to discuss the links between childhood bullying and domestic violence.
Children are welcome, and refreshments will be provided. Please R.S.V.P. to keli.sipperley@patch.com.
See also:
School Bullying is a 'Silent Epidemic'
Are Pasco Schools Doing Enough to Prevent Bullying?
Civilization is constructed on the state's monopoly on violence, meaning only the state may apply it at times and places and against objects of its choosing. Anti-bullying initiatives are intended to extend that monopoly to words and deeds that admittedly do psychic violence. The question is, do we really want to reserve those powers to the state as well, or did the Founding Fathers have it right? If, for instance, the state can define shunning as bullying, is the First Amendment's free association violated thereby? Delving that deeply into the social lives of children and adolescents may ultimately waste the resources of teachers and administrators, motivate students to become less honest and more devious, and unfairly punish students for taking principled stands against one evil or another. A very fine line will need to be tread.
Interesting points. I hope you can join us this week to discuss!