[Mpls] Bullying

[Shawn]

Clearly we are having a huge miscommunication here, Michael.   If you want
to discuss it more I am more than willing to email off The List.  Thanks.

Sorry, List, that I did get personal.

Shawn Marie Christenson
Central - Downtown/West

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Michael Atherton" <athe0007 at umn.edu>
To: <mpls at mnforum.org>
Sent: Tuesday, November 09, 2004 5:30 PM
Subject: Re: [Mpls] Bullying


> Shawn Marie Christenson wrote:
>
> > I disagree.
>
> Well, that's certainly your right, but don't expect
> anything to change because your values, rationalizations,
> and expectations are the same as the people who are
> running the schools.
>
> > It IS exactly about role models - which includes
> > the parents, peers and school administrators you wrote
> > of - and yeah, even the President. Kids learn A LOT from
> > the people around them.  ALL of the people around
> > them.
>
> When has it been different?  When I went to school we
> had Lynden Johnson and Richard Nixon, the LAPD and
> the SLA.  Today in Minneapolis we've got Phyllis Kahn
> and the people who voted for her (60% of her district).
> Just what period of history do you want to select that
> was dominated by positive role models?
>
> What controls bullying in the schools is enforcement
> and sanctions, not positive role models.  The Golden
> Rule of Social Dynamics:  You can't regulate behavior
> without accountability.  Sympathy, empathy, and understanding
> are not enough.
>
> > And don't you think things like more money for
> > schools, programs and support might help take the
> > pressure off some of those people?
>
> Take the pressure off which people?  The teachers? The parents?
> The administrators?  The kids?  You think that more money
> for after school programs is going reduce bullying?  I don't
> think that you understand the social dynamics of bullying.
>
> > I'm NOT shocked, Michael.  I'm unhappy that you place the
> > blame on others but at the same time don't see your own role
> > as a Minneapolis citizen as having being able to have some
> > impact on those around you.  We can do a lot of things in
> > this world, but who we ARE is what the kids are really looking
> > at.
>
> So you try to place the blame on me!?  I think that you are
> seriously misguided.  This is a standard liberal tactic to
> distribute blame and not focus on the real causes of the
> problem.  I don't believe that we're all in this together.
> If you want to accept the blame for bullying then that's your
> business.  I live what I believe is a principled life and that
> I am a positive role model and I have no intentions of sending
> my children to the Minneapolis Public Schools.
>
> Michael Atherton
> Prospect Park
>
>
>
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