Zach LarkinsAT A LOSS
I have to admit, I'm more than a bit dumbfounded at this. Following is a story the way it appeared in the National Post. Any opinions?
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Students ordered to write essay on fellatio by school principal
Phil Couvrette, CanWest News Service
MONTREAL (CP) - A Montreal-area school board is defending one of its principals who asked four elementary school students to each write a 10-line essay about fellatio as punishment for taunting a fellow student about the same topic. Board lawyer Nathalie Marceau says the students had been bullying the boy since the beginning of the school year and the most recent incident involved taunts about performing fellatio. She added that Andree Lessard, the principal at L'Odyssee, had made numerous attempts to educate the Grade 4 students on harassment and had even met with their parents earlier in the year. "The school said you said such and such thing - a crude word for fellatio - so write 10 lines on what you meant by this and where you learned such language, and how.' All they did was take the same terms and ask them to reflect upon them," Ms. Marceau explained of the school on the outskirts of Montreal. "The four students have been intimidating and harassing another student since the beginning of the year," she said. But others are saying the school gets a failing grade for how it has dealt with this case. Quebec's Department of Education wasn't impressed. "This isn't part of our educational approach," said Jean-Pascal Bernier, a spokesman for Education Minister Michelle Courchesne. "It's not the most opportune way to proceed." Sexologist Sylvie Lavallee called the assignment "ridiculous and stupid" because it focused solely on the specific words used and not on the psychological and verbal violence. "They're children, it's just pouring oil on the fire," she said. Some of them should be suspended or even expelled if it's a serious case of repeat harassment, Lavallee said. "They should be split up in the education system." A dissertation on "respect" would have been more appropriate in any case, she added. Ms. Lessard did not return phone calls, but the school board defended her approach. It said it has tried involving parents, teachers, even police officers, to make the four understand "the impact of intimidation and harassment on the victims." "It was a major concern at the school," Ms. Marceau stressed. She said the school used the essays to help the boys focus on how to solve the problem and stop the bullying, but it backfired. Three of the four turned in essays with a parent's signature, but a fourth parent complained about the assignment to a newspaper. In one essay she had read, Ms. Marceau said the student expressed no remorse and simply justified his use of insults. The boys' writings will be analyzed by specialists. The victim was suffering as the result of constant intimidation and was receiving counselling, she added.
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Students ordered to write essay on fellatio by school principal
Phil Couvrette, CanWest News Service
MONTREAL (CP) - A Montreal-area school board is defending one of its principals who asked four elementary school students to each write a 10-line essay about fellatio as punishment for taunting a fellow student about the same topic. Board lawyer Nathalie Marceau says the students had been bullying the boy since the beginning of the school year and the most recent incident involved taunts about performing fellatio. She added that Andree Lessard, the principal at L'Odyssee, had made numerous attempts to educate the Grade 4 students on harassment and had even met with their parents earlier in the year. "The school said you said such and such thing - a crude word for fellatio - so write 10 lines on what you meant by this and where you learned such language, and how.' All they did was take the same terms and ask them to reflect upon them," Ms. Marceau explained of the school on the outskirts of Montreal. "The four students have been intimidating and harassing another student since the beginning of the year," she said. But others are saying the school gets a failing grade for how it has dealt with this case. Quebec's Department of Education wasn't impressed. "This isn't part of our educational approach," said Jean-Pascal Bernier, a spokesman for Education Minister Michelle Courchesne. "It's not the most opportune way to proceed." Sexologist Sylvie Lavallee called the assignment "ridiculous and stupid" because it focused solely on the specific words used and not on the psychological and verbal violence. "They're children, it's just pouring oil on the fire," she said. Some of them should be suspended or even expelled if it's a serious case of repeat harassment, Lavallee said. "They should be split up in the education system." A dissertation on "respect" would have been more appropriate in any case, she added. Ms. Lessard did not return phone calls, but the school board defended her approach. It said it has tried involving parents, teachers, even police officers, to make the four understand "the impact of intimidation and harassment on the victims." "It was a major concern at the school," Ms. Marceau stressed. She said the school used the essays to help the boys focus on how to solve the problem and stop the bullying, but it backfired. Three of the four turned in essays with a parent's signature, but a fourth parent complained about the assignment to a newspaper. In one essay she had read, Ms. Marceau said the student expressed no remorse and simply justified his use of insults. The boys' writings will be analyzed by specialists. The victim was suffering as the result of constant intimidation and was receiving counselling, she added.
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