Tweet

Reducing Cultural Bullying in Schools

Guest post by: Dr. Derrick L. Campbell

Article Overview: Many school districts can use this leadership technique to ensure reductions in cultural bullying which will ensure that they reduce opportunities for law suits.

Reducing Cultural Bullying in Schools

School staff members who lack cultural sensitivity place school districts at the risk of cultural bullying lawsuits.

Bullying begins when a student singles out another student because of differences. Those differences could be skin color, hair texture, eye shape, ethnicity, and other distinguishable features and behaviors. The bully may then resort to name calling or taunting and directing their anger towards the victim's ethnic group and family.

Many teachers may see this type of discrimination as normal and a natural part of growing up and therefore become indifferent when the bullying occurs.In most cases, the source of their indifference is the biases that they have learned from childhood to adulthood. Many teacher biases are consistent with school expectations and when confronted about these biases the teacher is apt to become defensive and blame their inability to decipher the cultural bullying on the school, or the school districts inability to provide the appropriate diversity training. Also, the teacher may continue to distance themselves from cultural accusations by blaming the students, parents, and administrators.

This pattern sends the wrong message to students and parents. Student who are bullies now become empowered by the ineffectiveness of the school district. This empowerment will cause other students to support the bully which will have an impact on the entire culture of the school and result in violence by the perpetrator or violence by the victim.

Victims of bullying are often reluctant to attend school which ultimately impacts student achievement and the bullying experience may result in long term depression, low self-esteem, health problems, and suicidal thoughts. When this disempowerment continues the victim may only feel comfortable around students of their own ethnicity or beliefs and continue to increase their distrust for school officials and staff members.

Parents who complain about cultural bullying may find themselves in an uphill battle when schools officials and teachers determine that their complaints are unfounded. This may cause the parent to feel that their only alternative is to file a lawsuit.

Schools can avoid cultural bullying lawsuits by providing teachers with diversity training that allows for growth. When the school district implements a process that allows teachers to grow and learn from the biases that they bring to the classroom then teachers are less likely to become defensive when faced with determining cultural bullying issues. This also provides teachers an opportunity to level the playing ground. Teachers are the best candidates for this type of transition because they have more contact with the students. When students know that teachers have and exemplify cultural respect and tolerance for all students, students are more likely to accept and respect students from all cultural backgrounds and beliefs.

Overcoming cultural bullying requires the following process:

1. Evaluate school disciplinary statistics to determine culturally biases.

2. Interview teachers, students, and parents.

3. Recruit a team of teachers to implement the transition.

4. Allow the teachers to determine academic and disciplinary strategies that show respect for all students in the school.

5. Share the results with the entire staff.

6. Recruit the entire staff to implement strategies.

Related Articles
  Bullying
  Green Memes and Schools
  Be a No Bully Manager
  Cyberbullying---a Growing Problem
  Reducing Cultural Challenges Saves Money
  Bullying - From The Playground To The Workplace
  Accelerating Organizational Change
  Workplace Bullying: 7 Ways to Ward Off the Bully
  We Have an Ethical Dilemma!
  Don't be bullied!
  Dont let your clients move the goal posts Protect your company
  Background Checks for School Volunteers -- Necessary or Not?
  Western Arrogance and the Multinational Organizations
  Tough on Bullying
  Edify Education to invest Rs 500 cr in 5 yrs
  Bullies At Work: Exceeding Corporate Limits
  Bullies At Work
  Relationships: The Key to Organizational Success
  Leading Without Bullying
  Green School Census

Article Tags: bullying in schools, law suits, leadership, school districts



Related Forum Posts
Post subject: It's Not Personal, just business - I so agree! Actually, the business world as we know it IS in trouble. I heard some stats last week that they expect by the time 2050 that 70% of workers will be freelancers. Employee/Executive Bullying won't be able to stand it when it could be easier for someone to simply contract with the nicer guy (or gal). I, for one, will be choosing the nicer ones!
Youth: What's u'r Financial edu? - I didn't grow up in North America so I'm wondering what sort of financial education is present in Schools? Where do you turn for such education? Do you go to your..Family? ..Friends? To the Youth entrepreneurs: What was the situation that made you think "I should be working for myself and start a business?"
Re: How do you refocus on work after vacation? - I got back from vacation about a month ago. Boy, it really interfered with my work in the first week especially, because I had less of a tolerance for setbacks. But the silver lining was that it taught me quickly where I needed to set more boundaries around my work, so that my time wasn't being wasted (vacation made me really aware of how I was spending my time). Reducing time spent writing and responding to emails was one new habit that my vacation helped me develop. I think that you can use almost any negative side-effect of returning back from vacation and turn it into something positive, if you think creatively about the situation.
Re: Fundraising for school activities such as sports, clubs - You all are kind of joking about it - but in Nova Scotia the Department of Education has put very strict limitations on "non-healthy foods" in the schools. Hotdogs, pepperoni pizza with white flour, pop and candy and chocolate bars and the list goes on and on. Some are not allowed at all in cafeterias and vending machines and some are limited to only a certain number of times a month. I'm not advocating the "panhandling" or the making money from offering up "bad" food, the problem is funding is hard for everyone. Schools are underfunded and need help but the funds are not there. I also cannot stand how many fundraisers are out there - my 3 kids had over 6 "events" by the end of the 2nd month of school this year. Not sure of the right answer, as it is also hard to get volunteers to help out - I did that before as well! A fellow VA in the States said their school does no fundraising and instead "donate" $10 per month per child and get a tax receipt(I think). After all I have experienced, I think I'd prefer that at this point...but then you lose out on the feeling of "community" by having some of the more fun fundraisers like Spring Fairs.
Re: 40 cents per dollar is spent in a franchised business - Hey Ringo, You quoted this information: "The average initial franchise investment is $250,000" Here is your statement/question: "While I understand that you are paying for someone else's success in development, marketing and business model, with such a big upfront investment, why not make something of your own?" The part I would like to comment on is where you say "with such a big upfront investment". On an average initial franchise investment of $250k, the buyer is only fronting 20-30% of that. So their initial cash investment is actually only $50k to $75k. Although that is nothing to sneeze at, if you have a good system that you are buying into and you have the drive and ability to be a good business owner, statistically speaking you stand a higher chance of success with a proven franchise than an independent business. Of course we have all heard the numbers that are thrown around by various folks about what the increased success rates are, I don't know what they are exactly, only what I have been told by "others". I always always recommend performing the proper due diligence when reviewing franchises. From what I understand the increased expenses of owning a franchise are more than offset by the increased revenues & increased profit dollars at the end of the day. There might be a few businesses though that are not conducive to franchising, for example a web based business is hard to franchise because of competition and low cost of entry. I review independent businesses and franchises every day. The thing that stands out more often than not is that the independent businesses are not doing as well as the franchises overall. Remember though, I might be a bit biased because I am a franchise consultant, so for full disclosure, I make money when people buy franchises. I think with the proper due diligence most people will make the right decision. Reducing risk, increased profits and financing options continue to make franchises popular to the average Joe. .


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Starting a Business a Brave Move or a NoBrainer

Leader's Success Secret: Celebration

Leadership-A Daily Gift

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.