It's a shame this is only getting posted now, and a bigger shame that BCPSS (I don't know about other school systems) didn't e-mail this info out to schools over the weekend or on Monday.

I think I will throw something together connecting tolerance, standing up to prejudice, Allyweek, and "A Lesson Before Dying" but it could have been a week long theme in classrooms across the city.

Homophobia is interwoven into pre-teen/teenage concepts of masculinity and sexuality in Baltimore. Despite a deep seeded history of personally experienced intolerance and racism, acceptance and tolerance doesn't seem to ride on the forefront of students and their mentors.

Targeting the children is never going to work unless you bring the adults on board. For a teacher to really think that they can in minutes exert more influence on a child then their parent(s) is at the core of the conservative backlash.

Teens are confused by their very nature and they will discriminate because another child has on the "wrong" shoes.Universal acceptance by teens of any "difference" is a pipe dream. And the statement about homophobia - visit any BCPSS high school and you will see that the gay students have been accepted and in some, have their own cheering section.

Its on the streets, where the adults are, that these children suffer.

@OTT, I thought about your second statement about homophobia and you do have a point, many openly gay students are accepted by the much of the general populace. I've worked in two very different BCPSS high schools and have seen it in both instances.

At the same time, I have seen violent backlash against openly gay (and "assumed" gay) students.

My response would be by taking some time on this in school it might filter back home and into the community? Not, of course, in a save the world through discussion kind of way, but getting the information out there can't be an entirely bad thing.

I haven't been inside a city high school in a very very long time (Ahoy Mr. Spark) but what I remember of such incidents that could be what Brandon describes as the "violent backlash against openly gay students" homosexuality was entirely incidental to the event: as opposed to weakness in general as evidenced by the far larger numbers of L&G students who didn't have such problems.

The distinction I'm attempting to make is more than just splitting hairs... it is about pride and confidence which needs to be in that individual whether in a school building or anywhere else.

However much merit there may be in "sensitizing" the other 1000 students in the building... in my view a far greater yield can be achieved by fostering the pride and confidence of the 20 (or 200) L&G students directly.

@MrRational -
How about the case when kids are actually weak? The first thing that comes to mind is the kid in a wheel chair or the kid receiving special ed services below the grade level of their classmates. Are you going to continue to "help" the victim as opposed to dealing with the actual bully? Intolerance and harassment are the problem. Teaching kids who are different to try to fit in better is treating the symptom and not the root cause problem.

Your allegation that I somehow suggested: "Teaching kids who are different to try to fit in better" is unfounded. If anything... my suggestion is the exact opposite of that. (out and proud kid!)

The larger point though is holding up a mirror to the pretense that the word "bully" describes the criminals and sociopaths responsible for the incidents that Brandon described as a "violent backlash". But of course if we did that then the schools might have to do something about those "children".

But getting back to the (relatively) petty and actual bullying... I'll stand by my prior statements.

that is good

Just to clarify and remove any silliness I was thinking of 3 to 4 specific fights at TMHS in the past 2 years when a group of straight "hard" boys banked (I'm sure we all know, but in case you don't Banking = Multiple people beating up 1 person) other boys because they were gay.

When you're breaking up a fight of 4 v 1 and the 4 are screaming [expletive removed by editor] the term "violent Backlash" is a pretty good term to use.

It may have taken 3 posts to get there, but I think my overall point is Ally Week would have tied nicely into (at least) the current English II unit and I wish I picked up on it sooner. We may now resume the bickering and nitpicking that Inside Ed has become.

@Brandon - preface your statement with "I Think" because others may not think the two issues are linked.

As far as the TMHS incident, wasn't there another one in which a student was attcked because he on red shoe strings. I have seen a group of girls go after another because she was over weight. As I stated before these attitudes are learned at home and are best handled there.

I think OverTheTop's advice is faulty. All attitudes are mostly learned at home - attitudes towards reading, attitudes towards education, attitudes towards people different from themselves. Does that mean schools shouldn't try to change any of them? Of course not. BCPSS taking a lead on 'Ally Week' might not have reached every student, or even the majority, but if it sparked some concern in just a few, it would have been a good use of resources and time. OvertheTop's attitude seems to be, "Well, if we can't change it, we might as well not try"... but that could be applied to just about anything a school tries to do.

The schoolyard predators will always go after the weak and the "different", especiallywhen they have numbers on thier side. I don't think this measure is going to change much in the way of behavior, but perhaps it can push the numbers into more of a draw.

If I based my analysis on this blog, the biggest argument against schools taking a more active role in an attempt at changing attitudes about LGBT youth is that kids are mean and it won't work.

As a teacher, I understand the pressure to adhere to curriculum and the difficulty in taking a week out to tie in other (no matter how important) material.

OTOH, I do think it is sad that our response to Brandon's ideas is to shoot him down. I think if you can do it, do it. Start the conversation.

The reality as I see it is that a lot of adults (even those who teach GLBT kids) have their own issues with homophobia. Even those who feel like they are supporters have concerns about raising the topic and fear their own backlash professionally and personally. Leaving it to parents, many of whom are not educated about GLBT issues and have their own complex set of issues about sexuality, is not necessarily always going to do the trick.

Had Baltimore City Schools done some outreach from the top about Ally Week or GLBT issues in general, it would set a tone for the larger school community and opened the door to some valuable discussion.

OTT- Two wrongs does not make a right. The two attacks you describe (one of which was clearly discriminatory of it's own right) does not cancel out the group attacks on gay students that Brandon described. What it does do is raise a lot of issues about the safety of kids in general in the school.

@-sara - "Leaving it to parents, many of whom are not educated about GLBT issues and have their own complex set of issues about sexuality, is not necessarily always going to do the trick."

Statements like this are exactly the reason many pull their children out of public schools. Parents seek schools that support their morals and values, not that seek to counter then. Witness the rise in enrollment in parochial schools (before the recession).

I firmly believe that it is the role of the school system to prepare children for the workplace and it is the role of the parents to prepare them for the world. This issue is a worldly issue.

I really don't mind a discussion of homosexuality as part of an educational discussion of culture or health but to use gay bullying as the impetus to start this discussion seems to me to be disingenuous.

And as far as my other incidents I cited, if we use Brandon's' logic then we should also have a obese child awareness week and a gang awareness week and so on until the entire school year is devoted to discussion the issues behind every affinity group. A reach yes, but within the realm of possibility??

I firmly believe that it is the role of the school system to prepare children for the workplace and it is the role of the parents to prepare them for the world.

I never thought of the workplace and the world as being two separate places.

I firmly believe that it is the role of the school system to prepare children for the workplace and it is the role of the parents to prepare them for the world. This issue is a worldly issue.

What an odd statement. So, the job of the public school system is just to churn out workers? Not thinkers, not scholars, not knowledgeable citizens? Not for preparation for college? I would hope we have higher goals for our school system.

The workplace requires thinkers and scholars; the world requires morality and compassion so that all that knowledge is not misused.

I'm still not sure I understand your point, OverTheTop. I agree with you that "the world requires morality and compassion". Are you saying that those qualities should not be addressed in the schools or workplaces?

OTT - Have you actually thought about the scenario you're describing? Schools and classrooms do require morality and compassion. And teachers, as role models, play a part in that. And "the world," hopefully has some thought going on, even by people who aren't on the job. Have you found that in the "world," or your existence outside of work, you don't have to think at all? People are people regardless of whether they're at school, work, or anywhere else.