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Nearly half of elementary school teachers admit to bullying students themselves

Nearly half of elementary school teachers surveyed about bullying in schools, admitted to bullying students, according to a study in the May issue of The International Journal of Social Psychiatry.

The study surveyed 116 teachers from seven elementary schools. While more than 70 percent of teachers believed that bullying was isolated, an estimated 45 percent of teachers admitted to bullying a student themselves.

“It didn’t surprise me that nearly half of teachers admitted to bullying, because they are aware it is a problem,” says former teacher Stuart Twemlow , M.D., lead author of the study and director of the Peaceful Schools and Communities Project of the Child and Family Program at The Menninger Clinic. “Teachers need methods and help with disciplining children. The tragedy is that school districts rarely give teachers any help with discipline. They learn it by the seat of their pants.”

Dr. Twemlow is professor of psychiatry of the Menninger Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences. Peter Fonagy, Ph.D., collaborated with him on the study. Dr. Fonagy directs the Menninger Child and Family Program and is the Freud Memorial Professor of Psychoanalysis and director of Clinical Health Psychology at University College London.

Drs. Twemlow and Fonagy surveyed teachers who taught kindergarten through fifth grade. They asked teachers about their job satisfaction, experience with bullying teachers, personal experience bullying students and being bullied by students and whether or not schools had a written procedure for handling problem teachers.

The authors found a strong correlation between teachers who were bullied in their past and teachers who bully students. The findings suggest that teachers, who were bullied while they were children, are more likely to be trapped in bully-victim relationships as adults and are more alert to the bullying of others around them.

“If your early experiences lead you to expect that people will not reason, but respond to force, then you are at risk of recreating this situation in your classroom,” says Dr. Fonagy. “The climate you remember from your childhood may even make you feel safe because it is familiar and consistent with your expectations.”

Additional study authors include Frank C. Sacco, Ph.D., president of the Community Services Institute and adjunct professor at Western New England College , and John R. Brethour Jr., formerly with the statistical laboratory of The Menninger Clinic’s Child and Family Program. Research was supported by Menninger’s Child & Family Program and Baylor College of Medicine.

See more information on The Menninger Clinic’s Child and Family Program on the Menninger Web site. For a full text copy of the article contact Anissa Orr , media relations specialist for The Menninger Clinic, phone: 713-275-5038.

The Menninger Clinic is an international specialty psychiatric center, providing innovative programs in treatment, research and education. Founded in 1925 in Kansas , Menninger relocated to Houston in 2003 and is affiliated with Baylor College of Medicine and The Methodist Hospital. For 14 consecutive years, Menninger has been named among the leading psychiatric hospitals in U.S. News & World Report’s annual ranking of America ’s Best Hospitals.

From Menningger Clinic

Submitted by BJS on Wed, 2006-06-28 12:15.

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Here's what a few of you need to do

Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 2008-05-20 09:07.

"COWBOY THE F#$K UP!"

I'm a parent and I won't stand for that sort of nonsense. If you see something happening to your child, it's YOUR responsibility to make it right, not a school board or any principle. Get in there and jerk a knot in that teacher if they are being unfair with your child. Get together with every parent in the class and run that witch out on a rail. There use to be a day where we as Americans use to know how to take care of buisness. But now a days, it's to much pussy footen around so we don't hurt anyones feelings. SMACK SMACK. Wake up people. If they bully you, become their worst nightmare and take care of it NOW....TODAY... don't wait, do it NOW. Imagine how much of a hero you'll be in your childs eyes, and that of his or her classmates.

  • reply

First Grade Abuse by Teacher in Michigan

Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 2008-05-20 08:51.

My son's first grade teacher is using a system designed for controlling classroom behavior to punish her students and hold them accountable for their parents. She sometimes sends an hours worth of homework home, much of it designed to do with parent involvement, and if it is all not in tomorrow morning then the child gets it! Two days notice by me, a single working parent, has been requested and denied by the teacher and the Principal.

This teacher has no homework "schedule"....just whatever comes home is due tomorrow, and most of it is desinged to do with parental involvement. In other words, she gives me homeword on overnight notice. She says "jump" and in essence is dictating how my evening will unfold, and I must say "how hi" or my child gets it tomorrow. I pay for karate class, although he's missed it a few times because of her antics.

The "green, yellow, red" system she uses to punish her students was designed and previously always used for controlling classroom "behavior", which I never had a problem with. My older daughter attended there and was on yellow twice for behavior and it was deserved. Her use of it is unjust, ridiculous and cruel. If my son comes home with 10 pages of homework tonight then we miss karate class because there's no time for both. He'll be on "yellow" tomorrow....sitting out recess with a handfull of other students. She holds herself to no schedule either; you never know what's coming or when as far as homework is concerned. The Principal frankly doesn't care (her father is the Superintendant and she's very young) and in fact she backs the Teacher (they have a history). I've since moved on to the Board. Wish me luck!

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Bullying

Submitted by Anonymous on Fri, 2008-05-09 09:32.

My nephew has been the target of one of his teachers this year in school. (This teacher has also repeatedly called grades out in front of the class, and allowed my nephew's classmates to check papers for her. There have been several occasions where this teacher was out of the room talking with a co-worker while her students were unsupervised!)
Being an elementary school teacher myself, I am very upset by the actions and attitudes of certain teachers. They should know better. There have been times where my nephew has served detention for talking in the cafeferia. This, by the way, is against his constitutional right of free speech. (In the 1969 court case, Tinker vs. Des Moines, the Supreme Court ruled a student's right to free speech was to be observed during any non-instructional time!)

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Bullying Now

Submitted by Anonymous on Fri, 2008-04-18 06:43.

I found this site while looking for information concerning teachers bullying students because my twelve year old son has been targeted. He is experiencing self esteem issues and has come home for the last week crying because his teacher has embarrassed him in front of others (making him sit on a desk in the middle of class, making him sit in front of the class sucking his thumb, having been shoved by the teacher down the hall and made to stumble and fall. This teacher has yelled at him so loudly that I have had other parents call me because their own children believe he is being treated unfairly. This teacher has also put my child in numerous detentions for n apparent reason and repeatedly told him to shut up whenever he asks a question. Upon our last visit to the school we enacted the 504 plan because he has a mild version of ADD and I thought perhaps I could garner some protection for him. Now the teacher is telling him he is retarded and she talks to him as very slowly as though he cannot understand. She does this in front of the other kids. I am so angry and I feel so guilty that I may have made it worse for him.
I find it criminal that the parents have no where to turn. The administrators stand behind the teacher and I can be prosecuted if I don't force my child to go to school. I am a Registered Nurse, My husband is a Police Officer and I we are astounded that we must hire a lawyer to protect us and our child. Why are these teachers not psychologically evaluate on a yearly basis? Nurses and Police are.

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Bullying Teachers

Submitted by kendis2046@aol.com (not verified) on Fri, 2006-06-30 05:06.
As a parent i freely admit childern can get out of hand,but i have also witnessed a teacher loosing her cool.My sons first day of kindergarden was a real eye opener for me.I walked into the classroom and saw the teacher grab ahold of a child who was crying(typical the first day)for his mother and the teacher was shaking him telling him to stop.Needless to say i put an end to it right there.I understand non-stop crying can get nerve racking,but to lay hands on a child when you get fustrated is uncalled for.I guess i did some bulling of my own when i made it clear she was to never lay hands on my child or scream in his face the way i caught her with the other child.I also made that childs parent aware of the situation.The teacher even apologized,but i continued to ask my son everyday about his classroom and made several unannounced visits.
  • reply

Retired military man teaching high school math

Submitted by rchoconnor@aol.com (not verified) on Thu, 2006-06-29 21:46.

We need more people like you in the educational field who understand that you forestall disciplinary problems by taking a strong stand at the very outset; sending the message to the disruptive students that their behavior will not be tolerated.

It is probably the teachers who don't do this or feel that they can't do this that must then resort to "bullying" to regain and maintain control.

I think it is the liberal, therapeutic mindset so prevalent these days that has lead so many teachers and administrators to loosen all restrictions on student behavior. Which in turn has lead to the proliferation of disciplinary problems.

  • reply

Nearly Half of Elementary School Teachers Admit to Bullying

Submitted by aland55555@aol.com (not verified) on Thu, 2006-06-29 15:54.
I find this very interesting. Without a doubt a teacher may be viewed as a bully and in all probability some cases exist. Recently I was asked how to get the students in the high school up to level with reading, English and math expectations. When I said "Spank the Parents" there was no challenges regarding the statement. Schools continue to be used as a day care and babysitting service for parents. When the parents are taken out of their "routines" they become agitated and in some cases violent and threatening. Threats of law suits are common place when the parent has to answer for a child that has chosen to misbehave in spite of the rules that are placed on ALL students. Yet when a student chooses not to follow procedures, the teachers are usually viewed as in the wrong when student expectations are: be in class, be on time to class, behave in class, bring necessary materials to class, be respectful of teachers, administration and student peers, and do their homework. I have seen and heard teachers accused by parents of bullying when teacher has to have a youth removed that has chosen to disrupt the educational process when the teacher is trying to teach their classes, I doubt the bullying is the reason. Any teacher ordered to follow the rules--could easily be called bullies just by making students responsible for their actions. Are there bullys?--most definitely. Do they go overboard--?? I don't know--hopefully not but their are chances of someone somewhere that have overdone their actions. This type of action could be brought about by many situations--in many cases I have studied teacher frustration plays a big part in their actions. Schools and teachers have requirements to be met for all students. Jobs are being threatened at all levels and when a student is made to follow rules to protect learning of all students then the parents come to the defense of their children. Placing requirements on the students to follow rules bring out the worst in parents--TIME TO SPANK THE PARENTS.
  • reply

TEACHING HIGH SCHOOL MATH.

Submitted by AN1771@AOL.COM (not verified) on Thu, 2006-06-29 15:09.

I TAUGHT HIGH SCHOOL MATH FOR SIXTEEN YEARS AFTER RETIRING FROM THE MILITARY. MY PRINCIPAL SAID HE WOULD HIRE OLDER TEACHERS (MILITARY) AS A PREFERENCE. I LOVED STUDENTS, I LOVED TEACHING AND I RULED WITH AN IRON HAND. I HAD VERY VERY FEW DISCIPLINARY PROBLEMS WITH STUDENTS.

MY GENERALIZED OPINION OF ADMINISTRATORES AND TEACHERS IS THAT THEY ARE MICE MORE AFRAID OF ROCKING THE BOAT THAN STICKING TO THEIR GUNS.

MY GENERALIZED BELIEF OF EDUCATORS,PHDS, IS THAT THEY HAVE NO LITTLE OR NO CLASSROOM EXPERIENCE.

  • reply

Teachers Bullying

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 2006-06-29 06:41.

I'd have to see what the definition is for bullying. The many teachers I have known and watched were hardly "bullying."

  • reply

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