By Elena Smith, Year 11
All LGB High School Students recently attended an assembly, quite different to the usual uplifting ones, as it focused on addressing the recent issues here at Ecolint. However, while the School’s perspective on the matters has been heard, it is important to know how students feel about the assembly and the issues it tackled.
It is only natural that after such disturbing incidents, one would feel concerned that this brutish behaviour from certain students will only continue. Despite the many rumours being created, it is important to remember that the school is addressing these issues, such as the pepper spray incident, and is clearly conveying the message that incidents like these will not be condoned here in our school.
The pepper spray was probably the most worrisome issue; this is not to say that fights and body shaming should be brushed over, but pepper spraying the school is truly at another level of violating the rules and blatant disrespect.
Although in reality, it was likely that the person who was found guilty meant it as a ‘funny’ prank (how one could think pepper spraying a school is a ‘funny prank’ is another question…). The school has addressed the issue and most students say they feel “relieved” now that the matter is resolved. One student said “he deserves the punishment he received” as it was “an idiotic and cruel joke”. The assembly was successful and crucial as it made it clear that our school will not tolerate such behaviour.
Some students felt that the assembly should have only addressed the pepper spray, and that there should have been a separate assembly for body shaming and fighting. One student felt that “pepper spraying and body shaming are two very different things”, and another student was under the impression that “the fight and body shaming was kind of ignored after the pepper spray”. However, many students concurred along the lines of “the assembly was good and addressed all the problems without beating around the bush”.
Moving on from the chemical assault this school faced, it is equally important to talk about the other issues, such as the body shaming that has been increasing at a worrying rate. In the assembly, we were told that many girls were unfortunately being body shamed, usually by boys in our school. It is troubling that so many girls at our school have been targets of body shaming. This behaviour is unacceptable and perpetuates harmful stereotypes, but is also extremely damaging to one’s mental health. It is incredibly disheartening to see this kind of behaviour from male students, especially after the recent International Women’s Day talks, and it definitely shows we have a lot more to work to do concerning misogyny and sexism here at our school. LGB should feel like a safe and inclusive environment for everyone, no matter your body type and physical looks.
Unfortunately, it is difficult to address and ‘fix’ issues such as body shaming as often it is impossible to hold one person accountable, however some more education on the subject would help raise awareness and educate our students on the subject.
Finally, the assembly also addressed a physical fight that happened between two Year 9s. The assembly was once again successful in expressing that LGB does not accept such childish and aggressive behaviour demonstrated in fights, and that anyone who took part in the fight would be facing serious consequences.
In conclusion, the assembly was important to address and bring to light all the incidents that recently took place and was a key step in addressing these concerns within the school community, especially those of our students. This assembly allowed students to fully understand the gravity of the situation, but to also be reminded that LGB does not condone actions such as pepper spraying, body shaming and fighting. Though some students believed the assembly was not conducted as well as it could have been, as a whole most of the student body thought it to be successful, and useful.
As for the incidents themselves, students clearly felt worried that they might reoccur, but that the school acted correctly and dealt with the issues effectively.
Bullying, harassment and fights have no place in LGB, nor in Ecolint as a foundation, which both strive to create a safe and respectful learning environment to “educate students to be global citizens with the courage and capacity to create a just and joyful tomorrow together”.
