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No Name-Calling Week Battles Homophobia In Schools


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Thousands of elementary schools across the country will take part next week in the fifth-annual No Name-Calling Week, providing a opportunity for educators to address the growing problem of homophobia in the nation's schools.

Aimed at grades 5-8 with additional lesson plans for earlier grades, No Name-Calling Week - Jan. 21-25 - is an annual week of educational activities aimed at ending name-calling of all kinds.
woodywoodbeck

15 responses // No Name-Calling Week Battles Homophobia In Schools

  • this is a great article and a brilliant idea but unfortunately i dont think many 5th-8th graders will take it seriously. unless kids learn at an earlier age the effects of bullying they will never truly care or understand. its much harder to teach morals to a 13 year old than it is to teach a 7 year old. at least people are addressing these situations and trying to improve them.
    Crash_Cat
  • I don't understand how this is a rampant problem in middle school. Middle schoolers are immature by nature; they need the vetting process of fear and prejudice to set them up to learn vital lessons without adults bossing them around.

    If 10 and 12 year old gays and lesbians feel afraid already, I think they're mostly smart enough now these days about how to seek help, support, and reporting bullying from others. That's what's gotta be done. Stirring up campaigns of action driving in fear and agression against fear and agression for kids that young I think may be counter-productive.
    wiggleroomlarvae
  • Educating those who continue to bully gay and lesbian students is WHY things like this is needed. Have you ever seen any of the statistics.

    Check out: www.thetrevorproject.org
    They reported that 1 out of 10 teens had thoughts of suicide, where 1 out of 3 LGBT teens have thought about suicide!

    In the US alone, the National Mental Health Association reported, 78% of teens reported that kids who are gay or thought to be gay are teased or bullied in their schools and communities.

    Pretty scary my friends...this IS a problem no matter how smart LGBT students are; it's not them we are ONLY worried about it's the students bullying them, physically and emotionally scarring them, and intentionally destroying our youth that need the education and tolerance!
    woodywoodbeck
  • I agree with what most people say, that they should do it for younger children. By the time that your that old, you know about homosexuals and what gay means and would NOT take this seriously. If the age of this was lowered it may work as they probably already know the word "gay" but not what it means and it may actually help them. The age is the main problem, although it's not the best way to stop it.
    superjake
  • What about skinny kids and fat kids? Don't they get bullied for the same brutal reasons as GLBT kids?

    I was fat as a kid and got my butt kicked regularly. I never tried to kill myself, but violence sure crosses the tortured mind of a 12 year old far more often than one would like to admit. The fact of the matter is that no matter -who- you are, 12 is a $h!tty age to be and it's a growing process that maturity must seek. I worry few ever truly continue growing past teenage years, and the kids they eventually have will remain as immature as their parents.

    Perhaps school counselors and teachers should be better at spotting all forms of prejudice to act on their responsibility to protect the teaching environment, but at the same time there should be some "space" for kids to figure it out for themselves. The more the faculty swoop in to fix problems for them, the fewer lessons the oppressed and bullying kids will learn collectively.

    Perhaps there should be some public forum in schools where teachers, parents and kids can confront each other... but then the bully kids will likely have apathetic or bullying parents, so there's no fixing it from that perspective.

    Hrrrmmmm...
    wiggleroomlarvae
  • I disagree with this, we have basic primal instincts that teach us to be dominant or submissive and humans act on those instincts. Kids need time to learn and develop that dominant/submissive nature.
    Another thing nature teaches us is to put it in the right hole- probably a more important lesson for these glbt or whatever they are. Those kids can keep getting picked on until they stand up and fight back, its the natural way.
    kda1000
  • Lets be real for one second...How can we justify these kids having to deal with it and then having to stand up for themselves OVER teaching kids of ALL walks and ways of life TOLERANCE for other students.

    Come on people...EDUCATION is the best defense not them having to deal with it and learn from it!
    woodywoodbeck
  • There are some lessons that can't be taught with words woody- you just have to experience it. You've got to know the bad to know the good. And who says its bad for a kid to get picked on anyway? You teach a kid self respect, determination, hard work and love and you'll find the tolerance will be a natural byproduct- not the other way around.
    kda1000
  • I completely understand your point and I get that you can't just expect to tell a bunch of students something and they then will do it...I know; been there, I know its bigger than that.

    What I am saying is that EDUCATION is still the forefront from preventing things such as suicide that is extremely high in LGBT students who are made fun of in schools. But no matter how you cut it; being bullied, made fun of, and emotionally broken down is NOT healthy to anyone and we should try and do whatever we can to prevent it from happening.

    It more than often goes over looked and things like this doesn't hide the problem; it puts it in the forefront and forces people to see the bigger issue; the need for tolerance.
    woodywoodbeck
  • What do you teach a kid who is suicidal, that suicide is bad? That sounds kind of silly.
    What do you teach a kid who is being bullied- I say you teach him some martial arts. Being picked on isn't healthy, but being picked on and OVERCOMING that is very healthy.
    Remember how butterflies get into the world- if you help the guy out of the cocoon, it'll die. If you let the thing struggle and fight its way out you'll have a butterfly.
    And who his going to do this teaching, the schools? Where are the parents? Lets have the parents teach their children not to bully other kids, lets have the parents held accountable for their children's behavior. The schools are only going to confuse the kids.
    Life is violent by nature, it is discriminatory and unfair by nature. Kids have to learn that, and how to cope with that early- otherwise they end up as a bunch of softy emo kids looking for their pills ;). (kidding).
    kda1000
  • Bullying is wrong..... period. It doesn't matter if it's aginst fat, kids, skinny kids, LGBT kids. Any school age child is subject to teasing, bulling, etc, if they are the slightest bit different.

    Don't you all remember the clicksschool? The cheerleaders and the jocks? The geeks and the dorks??

    We need to teach to our children at an early age acceptance, tolerance, and compassion for others.

    But, until we can do that ourselves as adults.. the lessons learned in school will be lost.

    Children, contrary to popular opinion can be very cruel. They are also at a disadvantage, as they don't know how to protect or defend themselves from verbal, or physical abuse. Be it from an adult or peers.

    Therefore, we need to teach not only is this behavior wrong, but how to defend themself as well.
    Children need to know that there is a zero tolerance policy for bullying, verbal, and phyiscal abuse. That accountability, and punishment will the result of these actions.

    Then and only then, can situations, where high schoolers set fire to the science teachers driveway (he flunked some jocks), not even be a thought. BTW... the parents were afraid for their children's future, and not one appologized or cared about the fear and horror that the teacher's family experienced.
    NYTheatrebug
  • My son is 14. He and his friends all got the "be kind, share, be compassionate and cooperative" messages from preschool through elementary school. They all embraced it, parroted it when appropriate, celebrated their newfound "learned goodness".....AND THEN.....middle school came, and hormones, and cliques, and the awareness that everyone really isn't the same (in terms of lifestyles, income, abilities, etc)....and all that sweet, innocent, niceness went right out the window. The same thing happened with my generation, and my parents, and grandparents. Kids are mean...PERIOD. Should we abandon the teaching of not bullying and being kind? Of course not, but let's be real; schools need better disciplinary plans (and rights from harm and liability for teachers and administrators) that have real consequences and less touchy-feely hippy dippy psycho-babble empty talk solutions. Oh yeh, and please get back to us with how this "No Name Calling" gig works out in the inner-city schools. If it works, maybe the police can start using it with gangs too.
    barkway
  • Barkway:

    What happens when kdis hit Middle School is peer pressure and the desire to be "be like everbody else". Also they are starting to break away from the parents.

    There's a lot going on in terms of hormones, emotional, and physical growth. There's the fear that they won't fit in, be like the others.

    What the kids need to learn from home and school is accountability for their actions. That yes, if you do something you know is worng... there will be consequences to pay.

    Until parents realize they have a responsibility to raise their children with values, ethics, and respect for others. Things will never change.
    NYTheatrebug
  • this article is very insightful and helpful to me as a future teacher in an elementary school setting. I know for a fact that this is very very very rampant in schools today. student using word that they do not know the definitions to or the true etymologies of the words that they are using.
    it is my op pion that wiggleroomlarvae needs to take the advice of woodywoodbeck and do a lot of reasearch on the statics of glbt students suicide rate in the United states before he starts comparing him self with glbt students. it is fact that 90% of glbt student will either attempt or complete suicide between the ages of 14-25. 1/3 of all suicides in this country are glbt students their are NO statics on the number of teenagers that have attempted or completed suicide because of obesity!! read the statics before you start write about about things you have not idea about.
    when i was in high school i continually was harassed for my perceived sexual orientation. teachers always told that it was the other person that had problems with their sexual orientation and feared and teased students that were comfortable with who the are. why should that be allowed to gone any longer. we need to teacher children that just because people are different does not mean we have to fear them and taunt them because they are different or do not prescribe to the gender roles that society has set for males and females.
    it is my responsibility as a special education/ elementary teacher to make my classroom safe for every student that walks thru my door whether is be a student who is over weight, has a special need, or just feels that they are different in someway. i will not allow any student or parent to use derogatory language in front of me or my students. if that were to happen the parent and or the student would be asked to step into the and we would talk about why they chose the use that word and if they know the correct meaning and usage of that word. most Americans do not know that correct use of the word Queer, Dike(dyke), faggot or Gay. i suggest the everyone go to Etymology.com to learn the Etymology of these word before they are used incorrectly. once their you will also learn that homosexuality has been around since before Christ.
    Gayteaceher
  • Sure hope you plan on improving that grammar and spelling before you become a teacher!
    barkway

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