TOTALLY missing the point!

I showed a movie to my class yesterday about bullying. It is a Feature Films for Families called The Buttercream Gang. They watched it and really enjoyed it. The basic storyline is about a boy, (Scott) whose friend, (Pete) moves to Chicago and gets involved in a gang. He comes back a few months later totally changed. When Scott and his friends try to befriend Pete, Pete totally fights against their friendship and starts his own little gang. Pete and his buddies beat Scott up, make fun of Scott's friends, and basically turn his life into a nightmare. Scott finally decides that the best way to prove he is Pete's friend is to not fight him anymore but just show him love. So, when Pete threatens to steal Scott's bike, Scott just gives it to him telling him that it's not stealing if it is given freely. Pete also goes to the neighborhood grocery store and demands all the money in the till. The store owner offers the money to Pete, asking if the $274 he has will be enough. Pete gets angry and tells the owner that he obviously doesn't get the point that he is being robbed. Again, the owner replies that it is not stealing if it is given to him.

Moving on to our class discussion. I thought the message in this film was one that my students could easily grasp. Apparently not. . .

During the discussion, one girl raises her hand and says, "You know, I was thinking about myself during this movie and comparing myself to the kids in it."

I'm thinking, "YES! It's working!!" (This is the girl, by the way, who marked down scores on the 6th grade microorganism museum just because she could--definitely not one of the super-sweet 5th graders.)

She finished with, "I realized something about myself. I am WAAAAAY better than those kids!"

SIGH! She kind of missed the point.

I thought to myself, "I really need to focus this discussion better." So I said, "How many of you would give your bike to a bully if he threatened to steal it?"

MY ENTIRE CLASS RAISED THEIR HANDS!!!!

I thought, "Yeah, right!" So I tried the money approach. "How many of you would give a bully $274 so he wouldn't have to steal it?"

HALF OF THE CLASS RAISED THE HANDS!!!!

This was rapidly spiraling out of control. I thought about calling them all liars, but that seemed kind of bully-ish, so I refrained. Instead, I said, "How many of you have ever been mean to a younger brother or sister?"

Again, the whole class raised their hand--at least this answer was honest.

"How many of you have every disobeyed or talked back to your parents?"

Most of the class raised their hand to this one, also.

I said, "Do you realize that is a form of bullying?" They were flabbergasted. "What???? I'm not a bully!!"

I told them that in movies it is usually pretty easy to see who the bullies are, but it is much harder to look at yourself and realize that you are doing things that are NOT nice to others.

Hopefully it caused some of them to really think about their actions--especially that small handful who REALLY needed the lesson. We'll see. . . :)