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OpEd Presentation In bullying cases, where are the parents? Joanna Weiss. Isabella Blum Jennifer Flores Dee Schwartz Shelby Yuan Group 6. Recap . Bullying is becoming more a more prominent problem
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OpEd PresentationIn bullying cases, where are the parents?Joanna Weiss Isabella Blum Jennifer Flores Dee Schwartz Shelby Yuan Group 6
Recap • Bullying is becoming more a more prominent problem • Technology, media, networking causes kids to keep their social lives shielded from their parents • Weiss argues that parents need to become more involved in kids’ lives • Parental intervention can potentially alleviate severity of bullying
Key Vocabulary • Concord-Carlisle High School- A high school located in Concord, Massachusetts. This school is the site of a major bullying incident that led to a $2 million lawsuit. The school claims that they did everything to keep the victim, Isabella Hankey, safe. She received death threats, got her car keyed and more. • Tiger ferocity- this relates to the phrase “Tiger parenting”, which a term placed on parents who put a lot of pressure on their children to be near perfect in whatever they do whether its school, the arts, or sports. • “Sticks and Stones” by Emily Bazelon- Emily Bazelon is an American journalist whose work focuses on law, abortion, and family issues. Her national bestseller, Sticks and Stones, focuses on the defeat of the culture of bullying and the rediscovery of the power of character and empathy. It analyzes new complex forms of bullying that come with the technological age.
Key Vocabulary • Phoebe Prince case- Phoebe Prince was a 15-year-old high school student who moved from Ireland to Massachusetts in 2009. For months at school, she was bullied by five other high school girls, through social networking, verbal abuse, and harassment. For Phoebe, the bullying became intolerable on January 14, 2010, when she committed suicide. • blanket letter- covering or intended to cover a large group or class of things, conditions, situations; an authorization or order that covers several items or periods • Elizabeth Englander- As a professor of Psychology & Coordinator of the MARC Program she studies childhood behavior. Her major area of interest is in the causes of abuse and violent behavior, and her research examines bullying and cyber bullying. • Hilary Levey Friedman (sociologist)- Harvard sociologist who works and studies children and extracurricular activities such as competitive sports, beauty pageants, reality television and scholastic chess.
Allusions • References to past bullying cases • Concord-Carlisle High School • Phoebe Prince • Presenting examples of worst-case scenarios • Author uses history to manipulate readers • Persuades readers (parents, adults) to take action against bullying
Diction and Tone “Where were the parents?” “That’s what crossed my mind when I read about the lawsuit against Concord-Carlisle High School, from a girl who claimed she faced regular torment - her car keyed in the school parking lot, death threats scrawled on the bathroom walls - and that the school did little to stop.” It’s a shocking tale, as laid out in court filings, about property damage and ugly words and a culture that was clearly toxic. Nothing good is going to come from a group of sophomore girls who roam the halls calling themselves the ‘Sexy Seven’” “But as we hurl what might be justifiable blame at school officials, we also need to ask ourselves what’s missing from the story. What about the parents of the ‘Sexy Seven,’ or anyone else whose name came up in the rumor mill? Did they know that their kids were accused of threatening a girl? And if they had known, would they have cared?” “not whether we’re breastfeeding too little or helicopteringtoo much or feeding our kids the French way or teaching piano with Tiger ferocity, but whether we’reabdicatingour biggest responsibility, to make sure our kids treat each other humanely.”
Syntax • Parenthesis-Allows the author to give readers additional information • That’s what crossed my mind when I read about the lawsuit against Concord-Carlisle High School, from a girl who claimed she faced regular torment — her car keyed in the school parking lot, death threats scrawled on bathroom walls — and that the school did little to stop it. • Polysyndeton- Another way to add more information to a sentence, however it emphasizes the topic that is near the conjunctions • Also, if you’ve read anything about bullying — including Emily Bazelon’s excellent book “Sticks and Stones,” which takes an empathetic look at the perpetrators in the Phoebe Prince case — you know that these cases are often complex, the product of petty battles and hormones and crazy teenage brains
Syntax • Apposition (explanatory)- Allows the author to add more information and emphasizes the part of the sentence after to colon, which is the informational part • This is the actual crisis in parenting today: not whether we’re breastfeeding too little or helicoptering too much or feeding our kids the French way or teaching piano with Tiger ferocity, but whether we’re abdicating our biggest responsibility, to make sure kids treat each other humanely. • Rhetorical questions- Requires readers to think about the topic that the author wants them to think about • But as we hurl what might be justifiable blame at school officials, we also need to ask ourselves what’s missing from the story. What about the parents of the “Sexy Seven,’’ or anyone else whose name came up in the rumor mill? Did they know that their kids were accused of threatening a girl? And if they had known, would they have cared?
Overall Structure • Rhetorical Questions- 3rd paragraph and title • Highlight argument • Get the audience to question themselves as well as the people around them • Author wants the readers to question whether or not parents are doing enough • Rhetorical questions only at the beginning of the article to have the readers ask themselves these questions before she states her argument • “WHERE WERE the parents?” • Uses a rhetorical question as the title of the article to make a point, makes a statement in the form of a question • “In bullying cases, where are the parents?”
Overall Structure • Thesis- Last paragraph • Builds up her argument to her thesis at the end of the article • “Its easy to assume that parents will defend their kids, no matter what. And in Concord, maybe some parents wouldn't have cared that a girl named Belle was hurt and scared. But maybe some parents, if they had known, would have actually tried to stop it.” • Conclusion • Provides extra information supporting argument • Gives readers many short sentences with same effect as the rhetorical questions, in getting the reader to think about the argument • Requires both thought and agreement. • “Parents should take that knowledge to heart.” • “So should schools.
Discussion Questions Do you think the author’s solution will be effective? What potential issues could arise from having increased parental involvement in students’ school lives? • Compare the solutions presented in this article and article 5, Changing school culture can end bullying. Which is more realistic and which strategies used by that author help it succeed? • Based on Hilary Levey Friedman’s argument (second page, second paragraph), how would she most likely respond to the argument in article 5 second page, second paragraph (“We must instill in our youth the ideals of civility and respect”)?
