Advocating for social justice: the context for change in school psychology.

Rogers, M, & O'Bryon, E. (2008). Advocating for social justice: the context for change in school psychology. School Psychology Review, 37(4), 493-498.

            I will be researching the extent of the effort to prevent an anti-gay bias in teachers at all levels of education through both teacher workshops and programs within individual schools.  I will also attempt to reveal the positive and negative effects of implementing these programs within schools at various levels of education (elementary, middle, and high school).

            This article was short and concise but focused on the psychological aspect of hate crimes and discrimination within schools of all levels.  The authors discuss the issue of high drop-out rates for gay and lesbian students due to bullying, hate crimes, verbal abuse, and at times physical abuse.  Dropping out of high school can result in a multitude of problems that continue later into life including health issues, lower earnings from work, a need to receive public and government aid, as well as the possibility of incarceration.  In this sense, the idea of a prevention program as opposed to an intervention program regarding hate crimes seems to be the most prominently proposed idea regarding anti-bulling campaigns as it would prevent the often long-lasting outcomes of being a victim of bullying before any sort of program is proposed.  The article continues to observe the mind-set of surveyed pre-service teachers in 2008 and found that they were almost completely unaware of the challenges facing LGBT students, particularly at a young age, as almost 83% of the surveyed pre-service teachers found it acceptable to ignore slurs against LGBT students (McCabe & Rubinson, 2008).  As found in previous reports, LGBT students that become victims of this form of bullying reported finding no help from administrators within the school, and administrators reacted with a certain amount of hostility when being questioned regarding their personal beliefs of LGBT students.

            This article brings to light the question of how to educate future educators about the LGBT community without offending their already existing ideals.  Although the educators do not necessarily need to “accept” the lifestyles of LGBT individuals and students, as educators they are required to understand and respect those choices in order to remain unbiased and provide the same education and opportunities to gay and straight students alike.  Remaining “blind” to the issue of bullying of LGBT students may allow teachers to keep their own ideals intact, but in fact fails to provide a safe environment for students to learn within and therefore often results in the student suffering abuse and a failed support system due to a refusal for teachers to be educated about a minority group that is often ignored.