Educators: Kids aren't the only ones bullied
By Hannah Weinberger, Special to CNN
(CNN) - People around the world were shocked and horrified by a viral video that showed Karen Klein, a 68-year-old public school bus monitor, desperately trying to ignore malicious verbal jabs by a group of middle schoolers on her own bus.
For most, it was extreme. For many educators and school staff members, it's no surprise. School workers said it’s a regular aspect of their daily lives.
“I’ve had erasers thrown at me, among other things, but these are things that teachers go through,” said Rosalind Wiseman, author of the bestseller “Queen Bees and Wannabes.”
“When these types of things come up, there’s all of this attention. But most teachers have at least had one student call them a bad name under their breath."
While bullying among students has dominated conversations in school, homes and in the media, kids bullying adults at school is a topic rarely discussed. What some call misbehavior, pranks or insubordination can be bullying, too, educators said. Kids can act threateningly and create a hostile environment inside the limitations of the law, said educator and author David M. Hall, who often leads anti-bullying workshops - and school workers might never report it.
Analysis: 40 years after Title IX, 904% more women play high school sports
By Donna Krache, CNN
(CNN) – The year was 1972. “M*A*S*H,” “Sanfordand Son” and “Kung Fu” were reasons to stay home and watch TV. Roberta Flack had the number one song on the radio with “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face.” Don McLean drove his Chevy to the levee and sang goodbye to Miss “American Pie.”
The women’s liberation movement was in full swing, but in schools there were huge educational discrepancies between the genders, both in the kinds of classes they took and in the kinds of extracurricular activities they took part in.
That year, there were only 30,000 girls in the U.S. participating in high school sports.
Today there are more than 3 million.
Listen to CNN's Edgar Treiguts' interview Ann Meyers Drysdale, a former UCLA basketball star and Olympian, and executive of men's and women's professional basketball teams in Phoenix.
Changes came about in large part because of a law known as Title IX.
When President Richard Nixon signed the bill into law on June 23, 1972, it was intended to level the playing field between girls and boys in the educational opportunities that were presented to them. Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972 states:
“No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance."
The law set out to prevent sex discrimination and harassment in any education activity or program, whether public or private. It covers a wide range of areas, including fairness in college admissions and financial aid, freedom to take any vocational courses (so boys can take what was once called “home ec” and girls can take wood shop) and providing education for pregnant students.
Yet Title IX is most associated with sports because of its impact on high school and college sports for young women. Under the law, “The athletic interests and abilities of male and female students must be equally and effectively accommodated.”
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