Secretary of Education Arne Duncan releases statement on recent LGBT youth tragedies

[terrya]

I'm glad to see that, at least, the Department of Education is recognizing these, yes, tragedies. And I completely agree with Duncan. This has to stop. Period. Enough. No more kids killing themselves because of bullying.


This week, we sadly lost two young men who took their own lives for one unacceptable reason: they were being bullied and harassed because they were openly gay or believed to be gay. These unnecessary tragedies come on the heels of at least three other young people taking their own lives because the trauma of being bullied and harassed for their actual or perceived sexual orientation was too much to bear.

This is a moment where every one of us — parents, teachers, students, elected officials, and all people of conscience — needs to stand up and speak out against intolerance in all its forms. Whether it’s students harassing other students because of ethnicity, disability or religion; or an adult, public official harassing the President of the University of Michigan student body because he is gay, it is time we as a country said enough. No more. This must stop

http://blog.glsen.org/2010/10/us-secretary-of-education-arne-duncan.html

[TriMera]

1. Wow, awesome! Rec. n/t

[BrklynLiberal]

2. Eliminating DADT and legalizing Gay Marriage would be BIG steps in the direction of making

a move to "speak out against intolerance in all its forms. "

Making it ok for gay couples to adopt would be another way of showing the world how "tolerant" the US is.

Let's see the government put its money where Duncan's mouth is.

[etherealtruth]

3. Excellent

"This is a moment where every one of us — parents, teachers, students, elected officials, and all people of conscience — needs to stand up and speak out against intolerance in all its forms. Whether it’s students harassing other students because of ethnicity, disability or religion; or an adult, public official harassing the President of the University of Michigan student body because he is gay, it is time we as a country said enough. No more. This must stop"

[DevonRex]

4. Excellent statement by Duncan. ICAM. K&R nt

[dsc]

5. I am very angry at Duncan over his treatment of teachers

but I am thrilled with his treatment of gays. This is a great statement.

[demmiblue]

6. I will give him kudos for this. K&R

:kick:

[LisaM]

7. Perhaps Mr. Duncan should read this article, which links school bullying with testing

It is from the UK, but is very relevant.

Here's an excerpt:

"When Neil Marr and I were writing our book Bullycide: death at playtime we discovered that if bullying is rife in the playground then it’s likely to be rife in the staffroom, and vice-versa. Teachers are the largest group of enquirers to Bully OnLine and in most cases the identified serial bully is the head teacher with one of the behaviour profiles at workbully/serial.htm. A teacher or principal who is bullying members of staff is likely to be bullying the pupils also. In these cases the good teachers - the majority - have become disempowered and disenfranchised. The bullying is designed to try and hide the fact that the principal lacks integrity, maturity and thus, significantly, does not have control of discipline but is now embarking on a campaign to vilify the bullied child and their family in order to divert attention away from his or her lack of competence and to evade liability and personal accountability. Increasingly in the UK, it seems, head teachers are being appointed on the basis of their willingness to simply obey orders and comply with meeting government targets and regardless of their lack of interpersonal skills or educational ability. Such heads often have a high intelligence but a low emotional intelligence (EQ) - and at secondary school level and above it seems that most head teachers and principals share the same funny handshake."



http://www.bullyonline.org/schoolbully/school.htm

[Hannah Bell]

8. +100. duncan has created a climate of bullying. his statement is hypocritical & useless in light

of that.