I wouldn't know. I didn't check Google. I actually know this shit.
Primary indicates there are other sources does it not? Social agents are considered the distributors of societal information. They can be primary agents such as parents, secondary agents such as schools, or tertiary agents such as television commercials.
I never said there weren't other factors. But you seem to be suggesting that secondary and tertiary social influences should be doing more work and you know what... they shouldn't need to.
So, children spend 40 hours a week at school. Their parents are working to survive and are slowly having their influence stripped away by agents such as the mass media. This is not to say that parents cannot strive to make things better, or that they should not. However, it is agreed upon by many that the struggle they face now is more complicated than before(unless you'd like to argue that the mass medias social influence has not increased dramatically in the past 30-40 years (good luck!!)).
Guess what... teachers spend 40 hours a week at school PLUS time outside preparing for school. Do you honestly expect them to have the time and energy to pamper hundreds of children?
There are situations where social agents such as schools are serving a greater role in peoples lives. Whether this is a large scale situation or not, would require data gathering that a social researcher with a whole lotta time on his/her hands would have to conduct. If there is such a study in existence, I'm currently unaware of it.
I think that with a greater influence, comes a greater responsibility (There is no data to support that belief, it is mine)
I am not an educator, and can only condense milk so much. Luckily I can wake up sober. Sorry to get under your skin.
I understand what you're trying to say but you're going about it the wrong way. Yes, there should be social safegaurds in place to help children who are being bullied. Yes, there probably should be strong socializing forces outside of the home. What I'm trying to say is that it should not be the school system's job to provide that. Educators are stretched thin already and are normally not trained to deal with social work. And that's what bullying needs, social workers, not your gym teacher.
We all want to make the world a better place but I think some of you have your Save the World blinders on a little tight and don't seem to understand that sometimes groups of people aren't capable of adequately dealing with problems.
I believe that educators need more help. I also agree that there needs to be more social work.
I think that teachers have a responsibility to help out as they can, and that if we helped them more as a society, they'd perhaps be able to do slightly more. Whether, they like it not, it is by default part of their job, unavoidable in fact.
They are helping shape the minds of the young, and they spend a considerable amount of time with them. At the very least, they should not be validating negative behaviors such as bullying. I've been lucky to encounter teachers who care enough to stop the behavior in their classroom. I've also been unlucky enough to see teachers participate in the situation (this includes gym teachers)
Do I condemn teachers for being stretched to the limit and not having time to help socialize students positively? No.
Do I believe that many are doing what they can with their limited resources? Yes, of course many of them are.
My thought, give them what ever resources they need to get the job done. If this be social workers at schools, so be it. I have noticed at least where I live, many high school counselors have greater responsibilities these days, unfortunately I've also heard from my friend who is one, that they are also being stretched to thin. I am not one to go with, this is so easy, let's just fix it today.
I am frustrated at this US society for not helping out teachers and students adequately (read tax money not going the places I would like it to, and I contribute a fair share of tax money right now that is going to "causes" I don't care for)
I am also frustrated at this US society not helping parents, and not providing enough social workers to deal with all these problems that we keep reading about in the news. Or worse still hear about from our relatives in schools.
I apologize for the google barb. I discovered that some of the information that a degree fills your head with, isn't easily available via google or wikipedia. Fun, fun...
The following article is an excellent read for anyone that seeks to understand the bullying phenomenon in more detail:
The repercussions of bullying being validated (however much this may be occuring) in schools and other aspects of life are actually rapidly catching up to bite this the US in the ass. One particular form that is currently out of control is work place bullying:
It appears that the same can be said of school bullying, in the country you live in. I will agree that where you are, perhaps they have tried many, many things.
Remember that the neighbors down here aren't always as quick to catch on.
My opinion is in the country I am living in, the situation is not being dealt with appropriately, with regards to workplace and school yard.
Oh, a little bit of solution, I have no idea if this is occuring in Canada, but I'm fairly certain the greater US is not sold on the suggestions from the links below:
Yes, I wouldn't mind my tax money going towards a program that paid teachers to go through some kind of stop bullying style program. Yes, I wouldn't mind my tax money going to teacher salary increases, and programs to create larger, better schools and smaller classroom sizes etc. Yes, I wouldn't mind it going to more social workers.
I have no children, and never will have any, and maybe shouldn't really give a rats ass. For some reason though, I'm okay with money going towards social improvements. If I had surplus large sums money, after taking a stab at my primary concern (which has nothing to do with schools, or humans for that matter), I would more than likely try to put some into helping local schools.
Dove said:
stop telling me to "read their journals". the journals of a couple of kids is in no way evidence of anything than those kids specifically, and therefore cannot be used to generalize others.
You are right on this. Apologies.
Dove said:are you telling me that mentally disturbed could not figure out how to do violent things without the help of imagery?
Nope, not saying that. Saying that the the imagery is a contributing factor in one situation, and is likely to be a contributing factor in others. There is a distinction.
Dove said:
do you know why it is hard to find studies that will definitively say that violent media and aggression are linked?
[Edited on May 29, 2006 by Dove]
There are many other studies. Of course, I was flailing around because I was getting frustrated.
This does not in any way take away from all the other reasons involved in the very complex situations that result in child/teen violence.
Bad parenting, low self esteem, lack of counseling, teachers helping to bully the child, stupidity, psychosis, sociopathic behavior, etc..etc...
Now, if you're going to get all bent out of shape, because of your word definitively, realize social science works on more likely and may increase the likely hood of.
Any social scientist who states something is the only factor 100% of the time regarding any piece of research, doesn't understand sociology or psychology at all.
joker_
Minneapolis, MN
October 2005
MAY 29, 2006 10:10 PM