Employment Laws Protect Adults--What About Our Kids?

[tapati]

This came up in response to a previous comment--why do we give adult employees more protections from a potentially hostile work environment than we give children in the schools we send them to all day every day? Adults have far greater ability to defend themselves, seek other jobs, negotiate with employers and supervisors, and cope with stress than

Comments

[mariadkins]

wow!

Why?

[tmhmom]

The problem with taking adult, workplace rules and instituting them to protect vulnerable school age children, is simply that we are dealing with school-aged children.

Kids aren't equipped to protect themselves, but they also aren't equipped to police themselves. While an adult can be given a set of rules and told that he must stay within guidelines, that's just not a practical solution for children, who don't have complete neural apparatus for self-control and introspection.

Not to mention that very, very much of the stuff that comes out of kids' mouths they learn from their parents. Policing at the level of grade school is not going to solve that problem.

Re: Why?

[tapati]

It's not the kids' job any more than it is the employees' job--it's on the school administrators and employers to insure that steps are taken to create a safe environment.

There are schools that have successfully addressed this problem. Other schools can choose to learn from them and create a better environment where bullying is never more than a rare incident that is handled immediately with intervention for both perpetrator and victim.

[kisekileia]

I agree with you. Kids should have just as much right to be safe as adults.

At least, though, society is now actually aware that bullying is harmful. When I was a bullied kid, it was just starting to be known.