Male hegemony; the “half-Japanese"; and digital citizenship—here’s what you might have missed this week in news and thoughts related to student engagement, school climate, and the world that affects them.
1. “The news is filled with people killing each other in countries fighting for their beliefs, or in neighborhoods for money or drugs or personal vendettas. The bar the media is setting for behavior cannot be much lower.”
—Jill Berkowicz and Ann Myers, in the Leadership 360 blog, on why schools should teach empathy with the same drive that they teach the core curriculum
2. “It’s difficult to turn the tide of an entire culture individual by individual. But is there any other way?”
—New father Ryan Surdick, in The Japan Times, on being tired of his son’s label as “half-Japanese”
3. “Yes, more and more states are passing marriage equality laws, and cities across the country participate in Gay Pride, but please don’t have the illusion that LGBT students or adults can show the same signs of affection that heterosexual couples do.”
—Principal Peter DeWitt, of the Finding Common Ground blog, on using Russia’s problems with gay rights to reflect on the progress of gay rights in the United States
4. “Our students are like cowboys living in the wild, wild west. Without any guidelines or structure they can get in a lot of trouble.”
—Teacher Holly Clark, for Edudemic, on how to address digital citizenship in the classroom
5. “Most boys’ schools have long since stopped selling themselves as bastions of male hegemony and cut-it-with-a-knife testosterone culture.”
—Administrator Peter Gow, of the Independent Schools blog, on what he’s learned from the Feminist Revolution and the benefits of same-sex schools
6. “He brought his daughter Maya to Platform 1 of the Bristol Temple Meads train station, and then he left her all alone to fend for herself.”
—Mark Wilson, of Fast Company, writing about an artist’s attempt to tackle digital isolation among children
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