Day of Silence vs. Day of Dialogue: Is This Really Helping?

Hey guys, Xavier here again...

On April 19, some LGBT students at my school observed the Day of Silence, where gay and lesbian teenagers refuse to speak the entire day to protest the bullying of sexual minority youth. The day before, some religious kids also took part in a similar day called the Day of Dialogue. This day was a bit different, and encouraged students of faith to talk to their LGBT classmates about their views of sexuality and what their faith has to say about it.

Honestly, it was all a bit confusing to me. Everyone seemed to have their own agenda for these days, and none of the students really talked about bullying (especially on the Day of Silence, for obvious reasons). During the Day of Dialogue, one gay student got really upset because a religious student said that "homosexuality is wrong" and that "people aren't born that way." Then, on the Day of Silence, several religious students stayed home to protest, while a few others actually walked out of a school assembly at the end of day.

The assembly, which was supposed to be about bullying prevention, focused more on understanding sexuality and sexual-minority youth, and offended some of the religious students who don't think that being gay is right. They also claimed that the assembly focused too much on sexuality and not enough on bullying, and that many kids are bullied, not just gay and lesbian students. I guess they have a point.

After going through all the drama at school these two days, I am convinced that bullying needs to be a discussion that happens throughout the school year, not just on certain days, for certain kids. A couple of times a year, we have an assembly where a speaker talks about bullying and how bad it is, but the students don't seem to learn how to really stop it. So, if any principals are reading this, make sure to educate students ALL YEAR on bullying, not just one or two days. It doesn't work. In fact, it might cause more harm than good.

For more information on Acception’s solution-based approach to bullying prevention in the classroom, visit www.Acception.info