This Must Stop

Cyber bullying.  I have to admit that I hadn't really given much thought to cyber bullying, even though I had a vague idea of what it entailed, until yesterday.

I'm not sure if schools outside the urban realm know about the term "thot", but it's pretty much the equivalent of "slut", "hoe", "skank", or any other unpleasant word used to describe a female.  The term "thot" has taken on a life of its own and usually I chalk it off as a stupid word that adolescents arbitrarily throw around.  Then, I discovered "thot" pages. They're everywhere on social media: instagram, facebook, twitter, and a million other places that people frequent.  The worst part about these "thot" pages, is that many of them have been created by students about other students.

In short, if you click on one of these pages, you will find a picture of a so-called "thot" followed by a caption that I can't even post in this blog.  It's sickening.  It's disgusting.  It's painful, and it has to stop.  Sadly, many of my students think it's OK, because "so and so shouldn't put herself out there like that". Back in the day, you might have had your name in a bathroom stall, which albeit is bad enough, but it pails in comparison to what you see on these pages.  It's criminal, and every time I look at one of these girls in the hallway, my heart breaks.

There are so many things wrong with this picture that I don't know where to start.

1. Why do people think it's OK to publicly destroy another human being?
2. Why are these 14 and 15 year old girls posting inappropriate pictures of themselves on social media (I have a theory, trust).
3.  Why aren't these pages shut down by Facebook, Instagram, etc? 
4.  Where are the parents of all these young people?
5. Why isn't someone protecting our young people, especially young girls, from this kind of vilification?

These girls could be your niece, your cousin, a daughter of a dear friend, YOUR daughter.  We simply cannot ignore this as educators, parents, or advocates for young people.  We have to find a way to protect them when they cannot protect themselves.  I honestly think we need to have an ethics class about social media, and I think all students should be required to take it.  Can anyone say slander?  I'm not sure where to start on this issue, but I know we have to start somewhere. 

Who's with me?

Wrapping Up

I'm wrapping up my first year as department chair and my 10th year as a teacher.  It's been a challenging, rewarding, frustrating, and amazing year.  We have roughly two weeks remaining (because I refuse to count the three days they tacked on at the end) and while my motto is usually finish strong, I've come to realize that the end of the year is similar to running.  The end of the year is really about tapering for the big race, which for some is the ECA, final exams, AP exams, or for me, landing the plane.

For a long time I tried to use the last couple weeks of school for intense training, but have learned over time that the mileage, speed work, and interval training has already been done.  We did that from August until a couple of weeks ago.  We trained hard, we varied our workouts, and we grew as learners and individuals.  Now, it's time to taper.  It's time to enjoy the last few weeks with each other, to reflect on the good, the bad, and the ugly.  It's time to take the class outside and let them free write.  It's time to let them enjoy a nice game of Scrabble.  It's time to teach the fun stuff that we've had to keep locked away because we couldn't find a standard to match it, even though we knew our kids would love it.  It's time to look forward to next fall, to a fresh start, to new faces, and to new energy.

We're all tired and ready for school to be out, and that's OK. It's human.  But somewhere along the way, I think we've forgotten that it's OK for the end of the year to be a celebration.

So, let's get the party started :)