Political Bullying in Elementary Schools

Hannah Tennant-Moore — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 18:34:00 GMT

What would you do if you found out that a little girl was telling your child, “His name is Obama bin Laden” and, “It’s not Hilary—it’s Hitlery”? A writer on the blog Daily Kos, who is one of few Democrats in a Texan town, was faced with this dilemma when her eight-year-old daughter Abigail reported that one of her classmates was repeatedly making these comments. This was around the time that Abigail’s class was voting for president in the Scholastic presidential election.

Darcy writes, “I doubt if the little girl even knows who Osama bin Laden or Hitler are, but my kid does. She is upset about the comments, and I am stunned.”

Darcy’s husband wanted Abigail to learn to deal with the taunts herself, but Darcy ultimately decided to speak with Abigail’s teacher. The teacher, according to Darcy, “decided to use the incident as a teaching moment to address mudslinging.” (For what it’s worth, the mudslinging didn’t seem to help McCain in this third grade classroom: Obama won 17-5.)

I think Darcy did the right thing. No matter what your political affiliation is, that kind of hateful speech has no place in schools. By making mudslinging into a classroom dialogue, the teacher had a chance to teach the bullying girl and other students just what it means to call someone Hitler or bin Laden.

Do you think that hateful comments about political figures count as bullying? Was the mother right to go to the teacher with her concerns?

The Kids Have Voted!

Strollerderby : hate speech

Political Bullying in Elementary Schools