Opinions: School Violence and Drug Prevention Solutions

I totally agree with you Wacky. How do teachers not know hat certain kids are always tormented??? I know in my school the principal was up the football teams ASS so far it was ridicoulous, no matter what they did.

I think some teachers get to the point where they don't want to do anything, since when they do, they are overruled byt the principal, or then the paretns flip out.

There seems to be a mentality in this country that everyone's kids are angels, even though they may act like animals. The not my kid mentality needs to stop.

Sorry Erica,. I knwo this doesn't really answer your question!!

I see your point...but as a former teacher, I really didn't know bullying went on...I know there were some jabs in class, maybe I was naiive or there wasn't enough time...


I should say this is for a middle school...5-8 so that may change your answers...

I don't know if this will help you - but it is worth a try.

When I was in graduate school for my MBA it was required that we all took an ethics class. Before we began the class we were all skeptical - after all how do you teach ethics?

Well the class was AMAZING. And I still think about the lessons learned often. Every week there was a different guest lecturer. The guest was a person (or persons) who had faced an ethical dilema in a business situation. Many crossed a line and ended up in jail, and/or ended up unemployed, and/or divorced. What was amazing to me was how I could relate to these individuals - they were well educated and seemed to have everything going for them - then they crossed that gray line (becuase the line is not always black and white) and it really messed their lives.

With regard to your question - I think really having a structured program in the schools with real guests talking about violence and drugs in their lives may have a powerful effect.

Good luck on the interview! And good luck teaching/leading such a difficult program!

I don't know if I have any suggestions for a solution, but I know what worked for me. I have an older cousin who got heavily involved in drugs, ran away, joined a cult, stole a car, and I even heard got involved in prostitution -- this happened when I was around 10 or 11 so it scared the daylights out of me and I made it out of highschool without ever seeing the drugs that were all around me. This particular cousin had a horrible homelife, was abused by her mother, neglected by her father, etc. etc. so her situation is a result of bad parenting and the available drugs at the PRIVATE school she went to.

And on another note, in JHS I was teased and tormented non-stop. I was in the 'smart' class, which we all know is a CRIME when you're 12, and I was really skinny, braces, flat chested - you get the picture. There was this one kid who TORTURED MY LIFE (would trip me, almost pushed me down a flight of stairs, throw my things across the classroom, etc.) and my mom went up to school and spoke to everyone who would listen about this kid and the response was, oh his parents are getting a divorce, he's having a hard time, basically did nothing!!! So my mom took matters into her own hands when we saw the kid the same day at school she backed him up against a corner (my mom is no joke) and told him that she didn't care if he liked me or not, he better look out for me because if anyone did anything to me she would personally beat his a$$ and his father's too (it was the highlight of that year for me). And so he left me alone... but the school wasn't going to do anything about it.