Review of “Bullying Prevention Information: Resources for Schools” by Warren Throckmorton, June 2005.
In a personal email from Prof. Throckmorton to myself dated June 27th, he stated this package was among the material presented at last weekend’s PFOX education conference opposite the national PTA convention.
Throckmorton’s package is generic, bland and almost exclusively deals with the notion of bullying as if it were confined to Timmy having his milk money stolen.
Throckmorton fails to specifically mention racial, gender, religious or anti-gay bullying as particularly heinous forms of bullying. Bias motivated crimes are much more dangerous because they seek to terrorize an entire class of people, but Throckmorton ignores this and focuses on the generic and abstract. Throckmorton doesn’t even say the word “race” or “ethnicity” until page 17 of his 24-page document. After page 17 those items are mentioned at most, two more times. In the real world, where children are physically assaulted specifically because of their race and sexuality, Throckmorton’s program is irrelevant.
Let’s say a school has a bullying problem with Hispanic children being mocked and assaulted. After one particularly ugly incident the school finally recognizes they have a very specific problem and choose to implement a program. Now logically, would the school implement a generic anti-bully program? Or, responding to the specific problem of race-driven incidents, would the school choose a program targeting the problem?
To not specifically address the catalytic incidents with a focused anti-bully program is irresponsible, foolish and likely a legal liability when further incidents occur.
Throckmorton seems out of touch with the realities of harassment. As evidence, I offer his list on page 17 titled “TYPES OF BULLYING.”
-Direct Bullying
Physical Aggression
Pushing
Shoving
Spitting
Kicking
Hitting
Defacing Property
Stealing
Physical acts that are demeaning and humiliating but not bodily harmful
Locking in a closed or confined space
Physical violence against family or friends
Threatening with a weapon
Inflicting bodily harmVerbal Aggression
Mocking
Name-calling
Dirty looks
Taunting
Teasing about clothing or possessions
Teasing about appearance
Verbal threats of aggression against property or possessions
Verbal threats of violence or of inflicting bodily harmIntimidation
Threatening to reveal personal information
Graffiti
Publicly challenging to do something
Defacing property or clothing
Playing a dirty trick
Taking possessions (e.g. lunch, clothing)-Indirect Bullying
Social Alienation
Gossiping
Embarrassing
Setting up to look foolish
Spreading rumors
Ethnic slurs
Setting up to take the blame
Publicly humiliating
Excluding from the group
Social rejection
Maliciously excluding
Manipulating social order to achieve rejection
Threatening with total isolation by peer group
“Ethnic slurs.” That’s it. Note the almost complete absence of bullying which could be considered a bias-motivated crime.
Hey Warren, keep your hands off my milk money
Timmy
Our good buddy Georch Archibald is back tooting the ex-gay horn and warning us of that nasty trend in education to not beat up The Gays.
His newest piece on the NEA meeting warns of “a big victory for members promoting homosexual advocacy”. Not, mind you, members concerned about the attack on schools by PFOX, etc., but those promoting advocacy.
https://washingtontimes.com/national/20050708-124919-6209r.htm
He ends his article with:
” NEA President Reg Weaver stopped debate when booing interrupted Pennsylvania delegate Sissy Jochmann, who said she opposed the proposal because homosexual-affirming programs in schools fail to point out that “some people who have same-sex attraction have changed … and instead have successfully actualized their heterosexual potential and are now ex-gay.”
Mrs. Jochmann said youths who experience same-sex attraction “have a right to hear the stories of former homosexuals and be exposed to the research that validates them in order to help them make informed personal decisions.”
Remember when George came on here to tell us he isn’t biased. He he… just the thought makes me giggle.
Yes Timothy, my eyes must be playing up. At first I’m sure I read:…delegate Manly Mochjann, who said she opposed the proposal because heterosexual-affirming programs in schools fail to point out that “some people who have opposite-sex attraction have changed … and instead have successfully actualized their homosexual potential and are now gay.”Mrs. Mochjann said youths who experience opposite-sex attraction “have a right to hear the stories of former heterosexuals and be exposed to the research that validates them in order to help them make informed personal decisions.”Oh, but no. I read wrong. This is all coming from one direction, and it isn’t one that suggests straight-identifying students have a right to hear both sides of the debate. Such as, how my partner and I enjoy our committed lives together and that the relationship is completely and unreservedly a welcomed part of our families. Or, that beating up on us will change nothing except to make our lives difficult and dangerous.Even the wording by your good buddy is telling — is there really a “homosexual causcus” or can’t e bring himself to use the correct “Gay and Lesbian Causcus”. That’s not reporting, that’s spin. And”>https://www.nea-glc.org/march2002.htmAnd I sorry, but when a retired teacher seriously thinks a schools should even be consider “biblical issues” he needs to be very firmly told to go practice his faith by himself. (Only I think I would have used the word “shove” and referred to his fundament). Unremarkably, I’m sure he’d have no problem identifing a religious bully if it was “Islamic issues” being demanded.Don’t know why we bother. The Washington Times may as well just come clean and put “Sponsored by Focus on the Family” or whoever on his bylines.
And an anti-gay advocate named “Sissy”.Priceless.
grantdale,
Actually its the Unification Church (the Moonies) that owns the Washington Times, not FoF. But the Rev. Sun Myung Moon is also a rabid homophobe, so six-of-one…
(sorry Mike I don’t have a link… but I think this is common knowledge and if not I’ll hunt one up)
I’m sure our buddy George will check in to see what we thought of his tripe and maybe, if we’re lucky, leave us a priceless little pearl of wisdom about how legitimate a story this is and how he isn’t biased or creating a story out of nothing. He really, truly, is a joke. At least at the Enquirer they don’t pretend to actually be journalists.
Timothy,Sorry if that read confusingly — it was meant to imply that “someone” should be named as just paying for blatant advertising, rather than the NEA “news” being something a journalist would put in as copy.I’m not sure of the rules in the U.S., but advertisements are meant to be clearly marked as such in Australia. Then again, we did produce Murdoch; so I cannot be too smug. The self-serving promotions that pass as news are commonplace here too.And quite OK by me to have no reference — the Moon is well-known to be a rabid phobe of a number of things, as a easy google will show. And since he purchased both the W.Times and UPI to deliberately skew news coverage, and has happily sunk over a $billion in losses between the two… you’ve got to wonder just how and where he gets a return on that “investment”. (I can har raj saying “follow the money”!)