Bully for them.
It’s being called the toughest anti-bullying legislation in the country, but Alberta’s new Education Act – which many predict will set the tone for the rest of Canada – is being blasted by a family research group.
In a report that was to be released Monday, the Institute of Marriage and Family Canada pans the very thing many observers have praised: giving schools the authority to suspend complacent bystanders to bullying. A senior researcher calls the approach “wrongheaded,” arguing that it paints a picture of absentee parents who have no part or power in the solution.
“It’s essentially saying that as adults, we’ve left the playground, and that it’s up to kids to police bullies on behalf of the school and parents,” says Peter Jon Mitchell, the report’s author. “Certainly there might be room for bystanders’ (involvement), but I hope we’re not passing the buck to kids and saying, ‘Solve your own problems.’ ”
Alberta’s newly adopted legislation, which some say could set the standard for other provinces, requires that students “refrain from, report and not tolerate bullying or bullying behaviour directed toward others in the school, whether or not it occurs within the school building, during the school day or by electronic means.”
Bully-bully
In a report that was to be released Monday, the Institute of Marriage and Family Canada pans the very thing many observers have praised: giving schools the authority to suspend complacent bystanders to bullying. A senior researcher calls the approach “wrongheaded,” arguing that it paints a picture of absentee parents who have no part or power in the solution.
“It’s essentially saying that as adults, we’ve left the playground, and that it’s up to kids to police bullies on behalf of the school and parents,” says Peter Jon Mitchell, the report’s author. “Certainly there might be room for bystanders’ (involvement), but I hope we’re not passing the buck to kids and saying, ‘Solve your own problems.’ ”
Alberta’s newly adopted legislation, which some say could set the standard for other provinces, requires that students “refrain from, report and not tolerate bullying or bullying behaviour directed toward others in the school, whether or not it occurs within the school building, during the school day or by electronic means.”
Bully-bully
