We’ve Got It ALL Under Control
Apparently, the local public schools have conquered all the well-known education problems that exist today. Declining test scores, poor reading habits, inability to do basic math without a calculator, inability to write a coherent paragraph that capitalizes the first word of every sentence, etc.
No problem, we’ve got that licked.
Obviously. Because there is no other explanation for having both the time and money to spend on this:
Four actors from Imagination Theater, a Chicago-based group that travels to various schools, put on two interactive “Ease the Tease” programs that explored the dynamics of teasing and presented strategies students can use to disarm teasers.
The school received a $1,450 grant from the Illinois Arts Council that helped Whittier’s Parent-Teacher Association fund the program.
The program taught students to distinguish between friendly and hurtful teasing, explored the feelings of being teased and gave ways to stop hurtful teasing.
“Friendly teasing is having fun with someone. Hurtful teasing is making fun of someone,” Imagination Theater performer Candice Allen told the students. “People usually get teased because of their physical appearance, the clothing they wear or how they behave.”
We are SO lucky to have groups like this traveling around to our schools to warn our kids about the evils of teasing. As we all know, teasing did not exist in any form at any time in recorded history, and that is a very good thing, because we also know that if it DID, none of us would be around today, due to the horror and bloodshed and whatnot that inevitably results from kids making fun of each other. Oh. My. GOD. The horror.
So if you are some kind of stick-in-the-mud who expects your kid to get edu-ma-cated in the public schools with actual knowledge of any kind, well just back that shit up, pal, you are get-ting in the way. Completely. We have social mores to change! Innocent geeky kids to protect! Losers, and freaks, of all kinds, that are one minor playground tease away from going all Wesley Snipes on us when they turn 14, showing up at school one day with 2 shotguns and 4 pistols strapped to their bodies, intent on taking some serious revenge on all those kids that teased them on the playground in 3rd grade.
Because we all know — we ALL know — that except for the teasing, those kids are perfectly normal in every other way, and wouldn’t otherwise exhibit anti-social or psychotic behaviors. Except for that damn teasing! It isn’t the isolation from playing violent video games for 16 hours a day at the expense of all other human contact. Or the alienation that certain boys might feel being edu-ma-cated in a feminized school environment that can sometimes treat them as problems to be managed rather than people with needs of their own. Or the psycho freak parents that some of these kids grow up with, parents that withhold affection and love and leave them to their own will and devices in order to navigate through the world on their own, parents who thereby abdicate their single biggest responsibility to their own offspring, that of guiding them gently into the world that they must inevitably learn to handle on their own as adults.
Nah, it’s all about the playground teasing. And now, it’s all fixed!
Yay!
3 responses so far ↓
Aimee-Lynn // 2006.10.29 at 9:35 pm
Hi,
I’m the Executive Director of Imagination Theater and came across your post. I was actually shocked to see your reaction. We typically have so many positive comments about the “good we’re doing in schools,” that you’re take on our work came as a surprise to me. Please know that Imagination Theater is no way goes into schools thinking we’ve “fixed a problem.” We simply teach students that they have choices, and that there are ways to handle tough situations in appropriate ways. Our teasing show doesn’t focus on the “losers and geeks.” It focuses on everybody, and teaches empathy. Sure, teasing has been around forever, and it’s a rare occassion for a Columbine incident to occur. Our work is about building self-esteem in students, and letting them know they have a voice, that they can’t assert themselves. Our shows also aren’t only about teasing. We deal with topics including substance abuse prevention, respect and tolerance, and effective communication – to name a few. Unfortunately, today’s schools aren’t simply about education. Many children come from families or backgrounds where their social skills haven’t been developed, or their ability to resolve conflict peacefully isn’t there. We provide teachers and students skills that can be worked on throughout the year so that the school community can be one in which more learning can take place. On a final note, I want to point out that we have a sexual abuse prevention show that is performed for Chicago Public Schools. This is an issue that is rarely explored, yet needs to be. Upon each visit to a school, we provide resources and training to teachers and parents, and provide a counseling environment for students who have post-performance questions and/or concerns. Since this program’s inception, we have had over 200 first time disclosures of sexual abuse. Had it not been for a program like this in the school, these children would have continued living in a cycle of abuse. By providing the support they deserve (and the preventative strategies for all other students), the focus can get back onto education. Children who have higher self-esteem are more apt to succeed. We work hard to build upon that. With 600 presentations to over 120,000 participants each year, we have reached out to more than 1 million children, adolescents, teenagers, adults, seniors, and persons with disabilities since our inception in 1966. How can this be a bad thing? Every little bit helps…
Aimee-Lynn // 2006.10.29 at 9:44 pm
Just wanted to make sure I pointed out a typo above… I made a statement that reads, “students can’t assert themselves…” I meant to say, “students CAN assert themselves.” Sorry for the typo!
jbrokaw // 2006.10.30 at 4:11 pm
Thanks for weighing in.
I’m sure your theatre group does an excellent job, and obviously you believe in what you’re doing and are sincere about it. All good things. I don’t mean to denigrate your efforts as theatre people; my beef is with school adminstrators who may use such tactics as their *primary* means of affecting change.
We probably differ on this point, but … self-esteem cannot be given to one person from any other. It can only be realized from within, by hard work and sacrifice. Likewise, the inherent value of anything that is provided from one person to another — whether we use the label “self-esteem” for it or not — is ultimately worth, well, not much.
Harmless, and fun, as far as it goes. And that’s OK. Expecting more from it is like whistling past graveyards.