Anoka-Hennepin ISD#11 Magazine Article in Rolling Stone. (Minneapolis, Brooklyn Park: homes, theater)

[MN-Born-n-Raised]

Originally Posted by danielle_pal

I worked in an E.R. in that neck of the woods and I have to say, it is a whole other world up and over there in Anoka don't cha know. And not in a progressive way!

It depends on the area. On Monday, I was in the USbank across from Northtown. Let's just say things have changed over the past 10 years. The clientele in that Blaine location looks a lot different that a USBank near the TPC golf course (also in Blaine).

[golfgal]

Originally Posted by danielle_pal

I worked in an E.R. in that neck of the woods and I have to say, it is a whole other world up and over there in Anoka don't cha know. And not in a progressive way!

I would have to agree with this general assessment...

[nick is rulz]

There is definetly a cultural difference in the metro area amongst the city and suburbs. I think this article gives a decent representation of how stark the contrast can be. Its kind of interesting how different it can be from town to town, and county to county. The viewpoints, attitudes, and values you get from people in Richfield or Bloomington will probably differ greatly from those of individuals in Anoka or Blaine.

Im not saying that conservative values are wrong necessarily (for me they are)...but simply turning a blind eye to this is clearly doing nothing to resolve it.

[audadvnc]

Santorum won the GOP primary in MN. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, he's probably the closest thing to what's her name left in the running.

What a wreck of an election year. What other choices are there? A couple guys (one in each party) who would cut your grandmother up and sell her for parts, a lying serial adulterer/proto fascist, and some old racist coot who's maybe the only honest one in the lot.

[MN-Born-n-Raised]

Originally Posted by audadvnc

Santorum won the GOP primary in MN. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, he's probably the closest thing to what's her name left in the running.

What a wreck of an election year. What other choices are there? A couple guys (one in each party) who would cut your grandmother up and sell her for parts, a lying serial adulterer/proto fascist, and some old racist coot who's maybe the only honest one in the lot.

Let's be honest. If I knew you really well, I bet I could make you sound just as bad (or worse). No one is perfect. That person doesn't exist.

We all lie and cheat to some level and we all rationalize that we don't.

[chilaili]

What do the last two posts have to do with the topic we're actually trying to discuss here?

[MN-Born-n-Raised]

Originally Posted by chilaili

What do the last two posts have to do with the topic we're actually trying to discuss here?

Nothing (just like this post as well as your post).

[xandrex]

The article was certainly horrible to read. I suppose it was even more shocking to me because despite the fact that I graduated high school in 2008, I never saw the same level of bullying in my school. I think it was small enough (I graduated in a class of 158 students) that everyone knew everyone and generally accepted others. For a while we had some bullying incidents when the emo look started coming in, but that faded pretty quickly and seemed to be fairly targeted (only specific students who dressed that way were bullied at all, many others dressed the same and got no flak at all).

What it does show, though, is that we need to be empowering teachers to address the issues they see. It is absolutely unacceptable that one student should take their life, let alone nine. That starts with spelling out a clear policy that any bullying of any kind is completely unacceptable, with absolutely no grey areas that were clearly in place at Anoka-Hennepin. Then, get teachers to recognize bullying and the signs of a student who may be struggling because of "hidden" bullying (if at all possible...not asking for miracle work here) and ways to stop it in its tracks.

So many families are left with a huge gaping hole of pain and loss. Something really, really needs to change.

[MN-Born-n-Raised]

Originally Posted by xandrex

The article was certainly horrible to read. I suppose it was even more shocking to me because despite the fact that I graduated high school in 2008, I never saw the same level of bullying in my school. ...It is absolutely unacceptable that one student should take their life, let alone nine.

The title reads "One Town's War on Gay Teens". In Anoka High School alone, there are teens from Anoka, Ramsey, and a pocket of students from Andover and Elk River. That's 4 different towns in one (extremely large) school. Additionally, there were suicides in other schools and towns (still within the largest district in MN).

There is a problem. But the article does it's best to make it sound like the districts make-up is 100% Bible thumping Bachmann supporters. Far from it. 40% of Bachmann's district is Dem's. As we know, the majority of the teachers are liberal. Teachers are absolutely empowered to correct bullying (just not allowed to teach the gay lifestyle).

There are THOUSANDS of high school students in the district. Anoka high school alone has a class size 3 times the size of your school. All my point is take the square root of the article and that's closer to the truth. Again, it's still an obvious problem but you cannot believe everything that you read.

[xandrex]

Originally Posted by MN-Born-n-Raised

The title reads "One Town's War on Gay Teens". In Anoka High School alone, there are teens from Anoka, Ramsey, and a pocket of students from Andover and Elk River. That's 4 different towns in one (extremely large) school. Additionally, there were suicides in other schools and towns (still within the largest district in MN).

There is a problem. But the article does it's best to make it sound like the districts make-up is 100% Bible thumping. Far from it. 40% of Bachmann's district is Dem's.

All my point is take the square root of the article and that's closer to the truth. Again, it's still an obvious problem but you cannot believe everything that you read.

I'm quite aware that the school extends into many towns. I don't see how this relevant. That number is still 9 times more suicides than occurred in my school.

I would not say that the area is all Bible-thumping. So I think you read into my post wrong. What I'm really saying is that we need to make sure this doesn't happen anywhere, whether that be Anoka-Hennepin district, Minneapolis, or school district in the middle of nowhere. It doesn't matter that it was in Michelle Bachmann's district. I'm sure the author added that only for flair. The point is that the area clearly does have a problem they need to solve, but it touches on the bigger problem that every school district needs to look into: making students feel safe in the learning environment.

There are many great people who are strong in their Christian faith who would never bully or tease. In fact, a decent amount of the bullying probably doesn't even come from strong Christians, but rather an element of students who lack a moral guidance at all. We can all agree to disagree on whether or not homosexuality is a choice or biological. Or if it should be fervently discussed in the classroom. But what we all need to agree on is that no student should ever be bullied in school or feel they need to take their life and that this is a tragedy. It's a clear failure in society to realize that we need to respect everyone, even if we disagree with the beliefs or practices they hold.