How to deal with a silent enemy?

The desire of reaching our dreams, goals, projects, etc . is one of the most important conditions that lead a human being to fight every single day,  trying to accomplish them no matter how much effort we have to put on that.  But, what happen if not only our effort is necessary and not only that is involved, but also the environment surrounding us every day will affect it,  and if this condition is damaged by the external agents such as classmates, teachers, buildings, lack of good materials for us to develop ourselves in a good way? So, we can say that the Educational System in general has a great responsibility trying to give the best possible condition for the students in general, not only in the Public System but also in Private Schools.  Moreover, there is a new situation about what nobody seems to pay attention to, and which is a silent killer for our students and their dreams.

                It is being said that Public Schools tend to admit any kind of students, and for that reason the relationships among students inside of this places is terrible, dangerous, and in a long term can be cause of desertion either for fear against others, or just because of personal problems. But, we as teachers must be on time with every single sign about changes in our students, and take advantage over our good relationship with them to find out the origin or causes for any situation. The most common kind of abuse lately has been known as Bullying, which is a simple word but involves  mountains of damage.

 

               

                In my personal case, I have two teen girls at home and fortunately we have a very good relationship, for that reason they feel confident enough to share with me what is going on in their lives. The two of them suffered Bullying in different ways, one of them was a victim of one of her classmates not with physical abuse or hurts, but with psychological,  the girl used to forced my daughter to bring a doll (Barbie) every week….also she had to bring clothes and different things in order to be “her friend”. I remember that one day I saw her desperately in the morning looking for a doll, and they I asked her what for? She was worried because she didn´t want to tell me…but I sat her and started to ask for more information trying to figure out what was happening. After a couple of minutes she told me that “Jennifer” (her classmate´s name) was asking her for different things. At the beginning I was angry, but that anger turned into worry because a lots of things came to my mind and immediately I went to the school and talked with the principal.

                When they realized about the situation in the classroom, the principal faced Jennifer and her mother and of course me and my daughter. It was a very uncomfortable situation but sometimes it is necessary for us to face them. The girl admitted that she was abusing of my daughter in that way and her mother was in shock because she didn´t know about her daughter´s behavior. That year was the last that she studied at the school (Thanks God), but the moral is that we as parents, teachers, or just relatives should keep an eye over our little ones at home  because you never know when they can be suffering for something.

                My other girl suffered a different kind of abuse, she used to have a classmate that was “the most intelligent” in the classroom, and for that reason nobody else was permitted to get good grades, participate in different activities,  or simple read the psalm that they read every single morning in front of the classmates. Why? Because Melissa´s mother taught her that she was the last marvel of the world. Since I remember the little girl, she always tried to be the president of the classroom, the ceremony master, the queen of the soccer games, etc, and that behavior mistreated the rest of classmates. Maybe you can say that this is not bullying, but it was since the perspective that the rest of the girls were not able to do something just for them to get a good grade but to prove Melissa that they were capable enough until the point that the rest of girls wanted to succeed and was really difficult. 

                As a conclusion, I can say that being a teacher is a great responsibility not only for the academic purpose,  but also with the affective and social environment in which we are going to deal with. Moreover, teaching is one of the most interesting activities because we will include our entire effort when standing in front of a group as well as when dealing with social issues inside of the classroom.

               

                As you see my dear friends….there´s a long way to walk….just keep walking!!!! 

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LO57EKI9KCU