Article Author name(s): Laura Sofen
Title of article: Closing the Gossip Pipeline
Title of journal: Teaching Tolerance
Date of publication: January 31, 2011
Volume of the journal: Spring 2011
Issue number of the journal: Thirty nine
Topic: Student gossip and quashing it
Introduction: Gossip is the exchange of all sorts of misinformation, lies, rumors and occasional truths. In schools, gossip spreads like wildfire in a matter of minutes, often getting more and more distorted with time and travel.
Intended audience: Fellow teachers as well as students needing to address the issue of gossip.
Key Points: Share all the information about yourself that you want, but crossing the line into sharing information about others is gossip, which can get vicious and out of control very quickly. Teach students to question the source and the type of “information” being relayed to determine is accuracy. And finally, students acknowledge that teachers gossip too, so we must lead by example by 1) not gossiping ourselves, and 2) how to confront such a rumor mill in school and stop further spreading of rumors.
Relevance: This issue is more and more relevant with the issue of bullying and how prevalent it is now within school walls. Gossip can be a form of bullying and often leads to intentional humiliation on the part of one student against another. To allow gossip to breed and spread among students is to passively allow bullying to take place right under our noses and give the impression that creating an uncomfortable learning environment is acceptable.
http://www.tolerance.org/blog/closing-gossip-pipeline
I hate to gossip about others, and also others gossip about me or someone else. Because that's how misunderstanding happens between the "gossiper" and "gossipee". To me, I can not understand why people working in a same place talk on others' back. Then they can still work together as nothing happened. And some people really enjoy there's someone gossiping about others. In my opinion, in order to eliminate gossip goes on, we should leave the "gossiper" alone.
ReplyDeleteI found this article both interesting and informative. I really liked how you said "To allow gossip to breed and spread among students is to passively allow bullying to take place right under our noses and give the impression that creating an uncomfortable learning environment is acceptable." It made me think about how even at the elementary level this is happening. I was wondering if we did at better job of squashing it when they're young, would we reap dividends in the later years? I feel pretty blessed that I don't see a lot of this among either staff or students but I am under the impression we are in the minority here.
ReplyDeleteYinyin mentioned leaving the "gossiper" alone and I thought that was a simple but pointed idea. How often do I sit and listen lest I be rude and leave. Ha. The rude one is doing the gossiping.
I am curious what our school policy is regarding gossip. I seem to have some research to do.
I touched on this in one of our first classes when we took a survey about our ideals around diversity. I find it interesting that while I have strong personal beliefs around respect and diversity, I find myself wildly uncomfortable with the idea of confronting someone else regarding their rudeness or inappropriatness.
ReplyDeleteI too would be curious to see more details about current school policy, as well as suggestions as how to proceed.