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AUTHOR TAKES AIM AT BULLYING
Kim Lunman
Brockville Recorder and Times
Monday, October 20, 2008
Canada
The psychology behind bullying schoolchildren in North American
schoolyards is not so far a step from the genesis of genocide around
the globe, renowned author Barbara Coloroso told parents and educators
here Saturday.
"It's a short walk from bullying to hatred to genocide," the author
of The Bully, the Bullied and the Bystander, Coloroso told about
200 people at the 2008 Upper Canada District School Board (UCDSB)
School Council Fall Forum at South Grenville District High School.
"Bullying is about contempt for another human being," said Coloroso,
whose latest book Extraordinary Evil: A Brief History of Genocide
and Why It Matters was at the centre of controversy earlier this year
when the Toronto School Board removed the book from its reading list
against a backlash of criticism.
Coloroso, an international best-selling author, said the dehumanizing
that happens when children bully each other is no different from
the dehumanizing that occurs leading up to genocide, including the
Holocaust and Rwanda when people are reduced to being "an it" instead
of a human being.
"It is a short walk," said Coloroso, who visited Rwanda several
times after the 1994 genocide to work with orphans and lecture at the
National University of Rwanda. "We have to stop it in our schools,"
adding: "Verbal bullying cannot be tolerated."
She also referred to the murder of Victoria teenager Reena Virk by
her classmates that shocked North America not just for its violence,
but for the blatant bystanding of other teens who did nothing but
watch the brutal attack.
"Her classmates cheered on while her attackers broke her arms and
drowned her," said Coloroso.
The author and married mother of three children, who resides in
Littleton, Colorado, has international best-selling books on parenting,
teaching, school discipline, including titles such as Just Because
It's Not Wrong Doesn't Make It Right, Kids Are Worth It! Giving Your
Child the Gift of Inner Discipline and Parenting Through Crisis:
Helping Kids in Times of Loss, Grief and Change.
But her latest book Extraordinary Evil: A Brief History of Genocide
and Why It Matters sparked controversy when the Toronto Public School
Board removed the book from its reading list last spring on the grounds
Coloroso was not a professional historian. The Writers Union of Canada
and other literary organizations endorsed an appeal of the decision.
Following months of debate and backlash, the Toronto school board
decided to include Coloroso's book as a text examining the psychology
of genocide and gave final approval in June for the course to go
ahead in 11 city high schools, reaching about 300 Grade 11 students.
That prompted outcry from the Turkish Embassy and the Turkish
community, saying it's wrong to teach about the killings of 1.5
million Armenians in 1915 in Turkey alongside the Holocaust and the
Rwandan genocide.
Kim Lunman
Brockville Recorder and Times
Monday, October 20, 2008
Canada
The psychology behind bullying schoolchildren in North American
schoolyards is not so far a step from the genesis of genocide around
the globe, renowned author Barbara Coloroso told parents and educators
here Saturday.
"It's a short walk from bullying to hatred to genocide," the author
of The Bully, the Bullied and the Bystander, Coloroso told about
200 people at the 2008 Upper Canada District School Board (UCDSB)
School Council Fall Forum at South Grenville District High School.
"Bullying is about contempt for another human being," said Coloroso,
whose latest book Extraordinary Evil: A Brief History of Genocide
and Why It Matters was at the centre of controversy earlier this year
when the Toronto School Board removed the book from its reading list
against a backlash of criticism.
Coloroso, an international best-selling author, said the dehumanizing
that happens when children bully each other is no different from
the dehumanizing that occurs leading up to genocide, including the
Holocaust and Rwanda when people are reduced to being "an it" instead
of a human being.
"It is a short walk," said Coloroso, who visited Rwanda several
times after the 1994 genocide to work with orphans and lecture at the
National University of Rwanda. "We have to stop it in our schools,"
adding: "Verbal bullying cannot be tolerated."
She also referred to the murder of Victoria teenager Reena Virk by
her classmates that shocked North America not just for its violence,
but for the blatant bystanding of other teens who did nothing but
watch the brutal attack.
"Her classmates cheered on while her attackers broke her arms and
drowned her," said Coloroso.
The author and married mother of three children, who resides in
Littleton, Colorado, has international best-selling books on parenting,
teaching, school discipline, including titles such as Just Because
It's Not Wrong Doesn't Make It Right, Kids Are Worth It! Giving Your
Child the Gift of Inner Discipline and Parenting Through Crisis:
Helping Kids in Times of Loss, Grief and Change.
But her latest book Extraordinary Evil: A Brief History of Genocide
and Why It Matters sparked controversy when the Toronto Public School
Board removed the book from its reading list last spring on the grounds
Coloroso was not a professional historian. The Writers Union of Canada
and other literary organizations endorsed an appeal of the decision.
Following months of debate and backlash, the Toronto school board
decided to include Coloroso's book as a text examining the psychology
of genocide and gave final approval in June for the course to go
ahead in 11 city high schools, reaching about 300 Grade 11 students.
That prompted outcry from the Turkish Embassy and the Turkish
community, saying it's wrong to teach about the killings of 1.5
million Armenians in 1915 in Turkey alongside the Holocaust and the
Rwandan genocide.