IOWA

Schools should be free of bullying, harassment

As children, many of us were taught the old verse, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me.”
It often served us well in getting over the nasty things others said. But while words carry no physical pain, they often leave mental scars just the same. And in today's sometimes overreacting society, verbal bullying can — and too often has n led to outbreaks of student violence. It seems more difficult for today's youth to simply whisper the old adage and ignore the insultors. But students shouldn't have to endure such harassment in the first place. All children, regardless of their differences, deserve to go to school in environments where their individuality is accepted. That goes not just for children of different races, religions and physical characteristics, but those with different sexual orientations. Too often they are insulted by classmates calling them “faggot,” “dyke,” or “queer,” and sometimes their friends are insulted just for being friends with a kid who may be gay or lesbian, according to Carolyn E. Cutrona of Ames.Cutrona is president of the GLBT Youth in Iowa Schools Task Force, and a professor of psychology and director of the Institute for Social and Behavioral Research at Iowa State University. She is a member of a group of parents, educators and concerned citizens that has been working for three years to encourage education policy makers and the Iowa Legislature to pass safe school policies.

“We have approached this as a non-political, bi-partisan issue, reaching out to both sides of the political aisle and bringing people together on a value upon which most Iowans can agree —that all students deserve a safe, high-quality education,'' Cutrona wrote in a letter sent to Iowa newspapers. She noted that three major educational organizations in the state — the Iowa Department of Education, the Iowa State Education Association, and School Administrators of Iowa — have said in their safe-school policies that all students should be protected from bullying and harassment, including gay and lesbian youth. ”We need to send a clear and direct message that Iowans believe that all students should be protected from discrimination, harassment and bullying in our schools,” she said. Making schools safer and free of harassment is a goal we should all embrace.

10 March 2005

http://www.globegazette.com/articles/2005/03/08/opinion/doc422d2f4a14f65831692871.txt

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