12 Invaluable Life Lessons We Learnt From Stephen King Novels
8. Bullying - Carrie
As a teacher, I'm constantly watching for signs of bullying in my classroom. Usually the targets are those who appear withdrawn, moody, and unwilling to engage in social behaviour. In short, it's usually the quiet kids. At the same time, these are the kids who won't ask for help. They're conditioned not to expect any because along with the physical harm and intimidation, they're simultaneously given the message that they're simply not worth the effort. After the constant religiously-acidic remonstrations by her mother, Carrie simply didn't have it in her to ask for help. Of course, the 1970's environment that Carrie lived in didn't have any of the sensitivity that we're supposed to exhibit in today's schools. One adult tried to reach out to Carrie, but sad to say, the attempt wasn't enough. So the lesson here is two-fold: if you're being bullied, asking for help is critical in breaking the cycle of worthlessness and victimization. Second, one individual simply isn't enough it takes a community to care for a child and this includes protection from bullying. Otherwise, more kids and pigs may suffer. We don't want that on our consciences, do we?
John Kirk is a Teacher-Librarian and currently a History/English Teacher with the Toronto District School Board.
But mostly, John teaches Geek.
Comics, Sci-Fi (Notably Star Trek), Fantasy and Role-Playing and table-top games all make up part of John’s repertoire, There is a whole generation of nerds-in-embryo who rely on him to make sense of it all, to teach that with great power comes great responsibility, that the force will be with us always and that a towel IS the most useful thing to have in one’s possession.
When John isn’t in the classroom, he can be found in his basement writing comic reviews for www.popmythology.com and features for Roddenberry Entertainment's www.1701news.com.
