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As the Kavanaugh nomination proceeds, what messages are our students getting?
The NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION ^ | September 26, 2018 | Lily Eskelsen GarcĂ­a

Posted on 09/26/2018 6:14:31 PM PDT by mdittmar

We’ve all been reading and talking about Brett Kavanaugh and the allegations he’s facing of sexual assaults committed in high school and college. Regardless of one’s political affiliation, the nomination of a judge to a lifetime appointment on the Supreme Court is something to be taken seriously and should not be rushed.

I have called on Senators to have the FBI fully investigate each allegation before they move forward with the confirmation process. The allegations against Judge Kavanaugh are serious and should not be brushed aside.

Beyond my concerns about the rush to confirm Kavanaugh, for me as a mom, grandmother, and educator, one of the most important elements of this discussion is what our students are taking from it.

National reporting in recent days on teens’ experiences tells us that for many of them, the discussions aren’t just hypothetical. Far too many children and teens are survivors of sexual assault themselves.

What they are hearing and seeing in this moment is giving them insight into, as an NPR story puts it, “whether the adults in power will take these claims seriously, and whether speaking up results in harsher consequences for survivors or for those accused.”

They’re wondering: If I tell my mom or dad or teacher or counselor that I was assaulted or harassed, will they listen? Or will they ask me to deny my feelings about what happened? Will they wave it away with some version of forgive and forget? Will they insist that what happened wasn’t that bad, or that it really didn’t happen the way I said it did?

As educators and parents, our top priority is to create safe spaces for students. Within those spaces, we want them to learn, grow, and discover. None of that happens unless they also feel heard and believed—and unless we actually do hear and believe them.

The good news is that in the recent “State of Gender Equality for U.S. Adolescents 2018” survey, three-quarters of students said they had heard about the #MeToo movement. Most of the girls and a third of the boys said it made them feel as if they could tell someone if they were harassed or assaulted.

But the same survey found that three-quarters of girls ages 14 to 19 “felt judged as a sexual object or unsafe as a girl.” Furthermore, 81 percent of girls in the same age group “said they had at least one friend who had been asked by a boy for a sexy or naked photo.”

Deborah Tolman, a psychology professor quoted in a New York Times article about the research, said, “This is the contradiction we put in front of girls: You should be confident and do well in school and do athletics, but you’re supposed to also be a good sex object at the same time.”

We must do a much better job of addressing the “boys will be boys” narrative, and we must bury it, once and for all.

If you’re looking for resources for talking to students about harassment and sexual assault, please see these:


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: academicbias; bannedbookweek; duac; grooming; hcuaa; huac; lilyeskelsengarca; metoo; naughtyteacherslist; sexualizingchildren; thecrucible; thecrucible2; witchhunt
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I knew lily,as the President of the Largest Union,the NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION,couldn't resist her urge to speak;)
1 posted on 09/26/2018 6:14:31 PM PDT by mdittmar
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To: mdittmar

That’s it’s ok to lie and connive to slander someone

They learned it from you, Garcia


2 posted on 09/26/2018 6:15:52 PM PDT by A_Former_Democrat ("Moderates/Independents/Non-voters" Are DIMS REALLY who you'd want BACK in POWER?)
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To: A_Former_Democrat

lily is just a girl,she has no political motive;)


3 posted on 09/26/2018 6:17:47 PM PDT by mdittmar
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To: A_Former_Democrat

I hope they are learning that liars should never get their way.


4 posted on 09/26/2018 6:17:51 PM PDT by oldenuff35
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To: A_Former_Democrat

I hope they are learning that liars should never get their way.


5 posted on 09/26/2018 6:18:02 PM PDT by oldenuff35
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To: mdittmar
As the Kavanaugh nomination proceeds, what messages are our students getting?

The same ones they've been getting for years:
That most of the crap being crammed into their juvenile heads is based on marxism 101.
That the left and its union lackeys are trying to destroy the United States.
etc,
etc,
etc . . .

6 posted on 09/26/2018 6:18:29 PM PDT by tomkat
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To: mdittmar

Horrible process, horrible people, who’d ever want to participate in the cesspool?


7 posted on 09/26/2018 6:19:06 PM PDT by ltc8k6
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To: mdittmar

What are our teens learning?

That you can slander someone in public and outside of any court face-to-face where the accused is as protected as the accuser, and you can get away with proving nothing more than that you can make allegations, and obtain public guilt on allegations alone.

If Ms Ford deserves any hearing it is in a court, let her do it. Oh, but she won’t, because she has nothing but a she-said he-said case for which no other evidence exists, and nothing can be proved.


8 posted on 09/26/2018 6:22:03 PM PDT by Wuli
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To: mdittmar

The message is simple.

The left believes the end justifies the means.


9 posted on 09/26/2018 6:22:22 PM PDT by Pox (Good Night. I expect more respect tomorrow.)
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To: ltc8k6

” As the Kavanaugh nomination proceeds, what messages are our students getting? “

I hope they are learning to avoid all interaction with women at any level.


10 posted on 09/26/2018 6:22:33 PM PDT by Bonemaker (invictus maneo)
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To: mdittmar

One of the lessons is: if you are truly assaulted, file a damn police report and address the issue. Don’t be a dumbass and wait 36 years before you say: “Hey, wait a minute! I just remembered something ...”


11 posted on 09/26/2018 6:23:07 PM PDT by ClearCase_guy (The MSM is in the business of creating a fake version of reality for political reasons.)
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To: mdittmar

The message is as follows:

This is what awaits principle conservatives who run for high office.


12 posted on 09/26/2018 6:23:26 PM PDT by Blood of Tyrants (Democratic socialism is when the majority of people vote to steal your property.)
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To: mdittmar

The female students are getting this message: You can take down any man any time with this kind of accusation, no matter how patently false it may be.


13 posted on 09/26/2018 6:25:32 PM PDT by thoughtomator (Number of arrested coup conspirators to date: 1)
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To: Bonemaker

“I hope they are learning to avoid all interaction with women at any level.”

They are making up interactions that can’t be disproved, so that won’t even work.


14 posted on 09/26/2018 6:25:43 PM PDT by ltc8k6
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To: mdittmar

...I have called on Senators to have the FBI fully investigate each allegation before they move forward with the confirmation process...

Th accusations are literally collapsing under their own weight.


15 posted on 09/26/2018 6:26:12 PM PDT by Sasparilla ( I'm Not Tired of Winning)
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To: mdittmar

“As educators and parents, our top priority is to create safe spaces for students.”

Faggots.


16 posted on 09/26/2018 6:26:27 PM PDT by EEGator
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To: mdittmar

The message they should be getting is that RATS are ruthless power hungry liars !


17 posted on 09/26/2018 6:27:55 PM PDT by Nateman (If the left is not screaming, you are doing it wrong.)
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To: thoughtomator
The female students are getting this message: You can take down any man any time with this kind of accusation, no matter how patently false it may be.

Not just students. Corporate climbing females all over can take this sheite to the bank...literally! Its like catnip to those who will be predators

18 posted on 09/26/2018 6:32:34 PM PDT by Don Corleone (Nothing makes the delusional more furious than truth.)
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To: mdittmar

The NEA is perhaps the most dangerous organization in America. Everything they say or do is absolute rot.


19 posted on 09/26/2018 6:35:39 PM PDT by MrChips ("To wisdom belongs the apprehension of eternal things." - St. Augustine)
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To: mdittmar

My kids are getting the message that democrats have zero honor and one of the democrat pound me too (#metoo) women went to 9 separate rape train parties because the first 8 apparently didn’t disgust her.


20 posted on 09/26/2018 6:36:16 PM PDT by jospehm20
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