A tweet this week from Richard Laermer citing an article from USA Today, “A new trend comes to light every single day. Today’s: Teacher-on-teacher bullying,” really concerned me, especially in light of the recent bullying case in South Hadley, Massachusetts.
While the case referenced above involves teen on teen bullying, bullies come in all shapes, sizes and unfortunately ages.
As a Millennial, I’m used to be competitive and being a perfectionist for good or bad. However, I would never bully someone to gain an advantage.
I’m sure some of the teachers I had growing up were talked to by the principle or other teachers and may have even been bullied, but none of this occurred in front of me or my classmates that I can recall. I think that’s the key point.
Belittling someone in front the class is the absolute worse thing that can happen to a teacher. It undermines their authority and shows the students this type of behavior is acceptable, which to reiterate, it is not.
I am not suggesting schools and districts implement an expensive training program to combat Teacher-on-Teacher bullying. I would suggest that schools make sure to educate (many already do an excellent job) staff on the various forms of bullying and give them the resources for reporting not just the bullying of the students, but of the faculty as well.
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On one hand, a comprehensive staff-wide sensitivity and professionalism course would be a great way for the schools to further inflate their budget so they can demand more money.
On the other hand, it would be as useless as the anti-bullying programs now in place. Its appalling that the same men and women who cant figure out how to behave in a workplace are in charge of educating kids and keeping them safe.
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Adam,
Thank you for your comments. I hope to hear from you again soon!
-Aurora