2014 in review: Thank To All Who Visited

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2014 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 1,000 times in 2014. If it were a cable car, it would take about 17 trips to carry that many people.

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Holiday Thoughts

Tags

bullying, He Was Weird, islam, Megadeth, Pakistan, race relations, religion, school shootings, schools, Taliban, We Need to Talk About Kevin

First, I hope that everyone has had a good Christmas, (if you celebrate it) and is looking forward to the New Year. Like with most people, I too spend this time of year in reflection. A very recent event has been the focus of my thoughts over the past few weeks, the school shooting in Pakistan, which happened a few weeks ago. It has taken me several weeks to completely get my head around it and I’m still not sure if completely is the right word here.

 

School shootings has been something that has often been covered on Peaceful Rampage but it has been the more traditionally talked about kind which happens a lot in the US. After all, my book “He Was Weird” is about a school shooting plus, I have looked at four other books where school shootings take place. In the case of four of these books, including mine, the school shooter was the victim of bullying. Therefore, the reader does feel some sort of sympathy towards him. The exception of course being “We Need to Talk About Kevin” where the reader is left wondering if Kevin is a psychopath but even his shooting is nothing compared to the one in Pakistan.

There was no bullied kid exacting revenge in Pakistan. In fact, it wasn’t carried out by just one person but a group. A bunch of Taliban fighters went in to the school and shot 132 people dead, most of them children. I ask myself, why did they do it? Why did they shoot innocent children? Trying to ignore Western dismissive bigotry by simply saying that they were just simply cold blooded terrorists trying to impose their brand of Islam on the people of Pakistan, I try to come up with some other plausible reason. The thing is that I can’t. Those who carried out the shooting may not have agreed with a local school teaching what they would call decadent Western ways but shooting innocent children will never gain you sympathy to the cause.

To head off one question some might have, if a bunch of people calling themselves Christians went into an Islamic school in Birmingham, England and shot children dead, I would be the very first person to demand those shooters get the death penalty. See, this is the thing that gets me. To quote lyrics from a song by the heavy metal band Megadeth, “Killing for religion is something I don’t understand.”

It can be said that with this shooting that 2014 went out in tragedy. Maybe so, then what should happen during the holiday season is to use the time for reflection and try to figure out a way things like this don’t  happen in 2015. Let’s all have a Happy New Year.

Next post: These thoughts according to He Was Weird

To buy He Was Weird, go to: http://www.amazon.co.uk/He-Was-Weird-Michael-Lefevre/dp/1909740942/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1419801504&sr=1-1&keywords=he+was+weird

Do Teachers Ever Encourage Bullying? Part V- He Was Weird

Tags

Asperger's Syndrome, bullying, guns, He Was Weird, Michael D LeFevre, name changes, school shootings, schools, teachers, teasing

At last, the fifth and final part of the series of whether the actions of teachers can encourage bullying. This time it will be through the eyes of my own book, “He Was Weird.” Since the book was based on my own experiences, it could be said that we have come full circle on the subject. So, with no further procrastination, let’s see if my book answers the question.

The answer comes in the opening pages of  the book when Marvin meets his new teacher Miss Erichetti. Her treatment of Marvin opens the door for the bullying he suffers at the hands of his classmates. When he reacts to one instance of bullying by throwing his glasses in Asperger’s temper and is reported to the teacher by a safety, all she is worried about is how her unblemished record of not having a child reported to her is now blemished. Needless to say, she makes him pay for it.

While on one occasion, she points out that Marvin is the recipient of unfair criticism, she also indicates that he invites trouble. A clear case of bullying being blamed on the victim. Then comes the day when Marvin’s name is legally changed. She announces it to the class by saying, “I don’t know how we’re going to get used to this but Marvin is now Mark.” It is little wonder that the pupils insist on calling Mark by his former name and use it as a bullying tool. It’s not just these incidents, throughout the entire school year, she belittles and patronises the boy and the class think the entire thing is funny. Her actions certainly encourage the bullying Marvin/Mark gets that year and sets the stage for the rest of the story.

Even though the next year’s teacher, Mr Fluyt, does little or nothing to encourage Mark’s bullying, the seeds have been already planted. Even though, half the kids he meets at the beginning of that school year should only know him as Mark, the pupils from his former school make sure they know his former name and that results in more children calling him by it. Of course the other forms of bullying are present as well and they don’t relent when Mr Fluyt allows Mark to shine at his talent for strategy games. Being class champion does not stop the bullying.

Seventh grade is almost a repeat of fifth grade. While none of Mark’s teachers are nearly as bad as Miss Erichetti, their actions fuel the flames. Mr Danko, the science teacher, assumes Mark is simply lazy and rides him about it. Of course, the pupils in the class who are on the basketball team, which Mr Danko is coach of, find this funny and use it against him. It is also why the teacher does nothing when Mark is tripped up by the eighth graders during basketball tryouts. The one teacher who shows him any sympathy, Mrs Hinton, also is quick to make him out to be a bully as well when his so called friend takes the hat of another boy. It is little wonder that by the end of seventh grade, with no help from the school or other authorities, the only recourse left for Mark is to take advantage of his access to guns.

After the exhibits I have put forth, I firmly believe that the actions of teachers can consciously or unconsciously contribute to bullying. In all of the stories, the actions or non actions of teachers have directly and indirectly contributed to bullying and even aided the bully’s belief that they were untouchable. Fortunately, schools are getting to grips with this issue and teachers are receiving more training on how to deal with it. Still there is a long way to go and it won’t be fully dealt with until a bullied child can go to the teacher or principal without fear of recrimination or retribution and not be tempted to solve the problem by picking up a gun.

Next post: A Christmas Message

To buy He Was Weird, go to: http://www.amazon.co.uk/He-Was-Weird-Michael-Lefevre/dp/1909740942/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1419198066&sr=1-1&keywords=he+was+weird

This is Totally Out of Order!

Tags

bullying, Gender, He Was Weird, schools, stereotypes, Texas, victimization, vulnerable people

 

Forget about going out of turn, I’m so damn angry I’m not even going to wait until next week to post about this. Like I said in my last post, if there is anything to do with bullying or other subjects relating to my book “He Was Weird,” I am going to shout about it. Below is exactly what happened.

FORT WORTH, Texas (CBSDFW.COM) – Weeks of bullying a child with special needs escalated into violence at a local middle school. That little girl is now in a hospital recovering from a concussion.

Jean McClung Middle School officials aren’t saying a lot but they do acknowledge the assault took place here at the school. The little girl’s mom spoke exclusively to us and says she wants some assurance the school won’t let this happen again.

Since Sunday 13-year-old Jasmyne McCann has been under evaluation at Cook Children’s Medical Center. The seventh-grader was born with a brain abnormality that results in a learning disability, so the blows she took to the head are particularly scary for her mom.

“I shouldn’t have to worry about that. When I send her to school, she’s supposed to be safe,” Shelly Youngblood said.

The victim’s mother was horrified when her daughter came home from school and told her another little girl beat her up in the hallway. Youngblood went to the school the next day to talk to the police officer assigned to McClung Middle School. She says the officer told her bluntly the incident wasn’t good.

“What you mean it wasn’t good? He was like, ‘well, what I seen on the video was the girl pulling Jasmyne to the floor and then kicking her and then getting on top of her and punching her,’” Youngblood recalled.

The school district denied our immediate request to see the surveillance video. They also declined to go on camera but said in a statement, “We can confirm that an event occurred but because juveniles are involved we are prohibited from discussing the matter in detail.”

The statement goes on to say: “Any incidents are investigated rapidly and dealt with appropriately.”

Now even as Jasmyne’s physical wounds heal, the emotional damage has taken an even deeper toll.

“She don’t want to go back to school. She don’t want to leave the hospital because she knows if she leaves the hospital, she has to go back to school,” Youngblood said.

Jasmyne’s mom tells us doctors are hopeful she’ll be able to go home, possibly as soon as Thursday night, but it isn’t clear when if ever she’ll be back to her school.

So, the school is discussing the matter in detail. From what I have read, a vulnerable young girl was bullied and now assaulted to the point where she is in hospital. Why the hell haven’t the police been called? Once again, we see bullying ignored and then when a major injury results from it, those who are supposed to be in charge run around like headless chickens trying to cover their own rear ends. I hate stereotyping but the incident happened in Texas. I know no guns were involved but there has been a history of a “strong victimize the weak” attitude in that state. I only hope that justice will prevail here and will keep all posted if I receive further information.

Do Teachers Ever Encourage Bullying? Part IV- We Need To Talk About Kevin

Tags

bullying, false allegations, guns, Lionel Shriver, Rupture, school shootings, schools, teachers, We Need to Talk About Kevin

After the interruption of last week, I am back on track with part four of my series of whether or not teachers encourage bullying through fictional works. This week’s post is brought to you the probably the most famous of books on school shootings, “We Need to Talk About Kevin” by Lionel Shriver. Before I launch into it, I would just like to reaffirm that I felt last week’s post “At Last, A Victory for the Victims” was extremely necessary as I intend to keep all of my readers posted on events to do with bullying when they come to my attention.

“We Need to Talk About Kevin” is somewhat different to the other books in the series. You see, Kevin was never bullied in the story. In fact, his mother states that the other students at his school always gave him a wide berth. Other words, they were more afraid of Kevin. A conclusion could be drawn here that Kevin might have been a bully but this is never discussed in the story. Instead, this story takes on a different dimension in terms of bullying although there is some similarity with “Rupture.” In that story, we had an instance of students bullying a teacher and there is a small link here.

Introducing Miss Pagorski, Kevin’s drama teacher. Kevin and his sidekick Lenny make allegations against the drama teacher stating that she acted inappropriately towards them. Basically, they accuse the teacher of making sexual advances towards them. A hearing is called at the school where Kevin and Lenny are asked to state what exactly happened to the school officials and with their parents in attendance. Kevin gives his evidence first and he is quite convincing. His story stops short of any real sexual contact although he does say that he ejaculates. When he is finished, things aren’t looking too good for Miss Pagorski, who in my view was rather stupid in the sense that she did not have her union with her. However, things look a little better for her when Lenny gives his version of events. According to him, the teacher and he have a full blown sexual encounter and the way Lenny tells it, the whole story sounds very unconvincing. In the end, unconvincing or not, Miss Pagorski is placed on administrative duties and not allowed to teach.

Let me now introduce another teacher, Mrs Rocco, Kevin’s English teacher. She sees more in Kevin than what he allows people to see and genuinely wants to help him. Like many teachers, she actually cares for her pupils and wants them all to achieve their best. Kevin’s resistance to this only encourages her to try harder. While he is not openly hostile towards Mrs Rocco, she is the teacher he chooses when he hand picks his victims for the big day when he locks them all in the gym and picks them off with arrows.

While it might not be actual bullying like in “Rupture,” there is an odd equivalence here. In my own experiences of teaching, I have seen  children make or threaten to make false allegations against teachers and I have been on the receiving end of both myself. In many of these cases of false allegations, it has been dealt with in a way that, even when the allegation has been proved to be false and at times malicious, it is still the teacher who comes out with a tarnished reputation. Meanwhile, the pupil now thinks (s)he’s cool among peers because (s)he got the teacher “done.” Some pupils even believe that they are untouchable and continue to make that teacher’s life hell. If the school moves the teacher “to prevent further trouble” the pupil still takes great pride in having got rid of a teacher. Therefore, I shouldn’t have been shocked when in 2008, I read an account from a fifteen year old pupil who stated that the last thing he wanted to do before he left school was to get a teacher fired. Why? Because he thinks he can and that it would be a funny joke to end a teacher’s career.

A major contributor to these instances is the way such things are handled. In Kevin’s case, he took pride in getting a teacher out of the classroom and he probably felt untouchable when he shot up his school. Investigations of allegations by pupils are often too weighted in favour of the pupil and not investigated fairly. Even when proven maliciously false, there is no action taken against the false accuser. It is little wonder why students like Kevin feel that they can do what they like to any teacher without any backlash against them.

Next post: My Own Book, He Was Weird go to: http://www.amazon.co.uk/He-Was-Weird-Michael-Lefevre/dp/1909740942/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1418247564&sr=1-1&keywords=he+was+weird