<p>My DS2012 and some of his classmates will be observing the Day of Silence today at his public charter school today. Just curious to hear about the experiences of others across the country. Do you think it is effective? How do the teachers and administration handle it?</p>
<p>azcpamom-My daughter did it every year she was in high school. She really appreciated the opportunity and did not experience prejudice/grief from teachers as a result. The school she attended is relatively supportive of LGBT kids. One teacher in particular reached out to her (and us). She was the faculty sponsor of the Gay/Straight Alliance.</p>
<p>Nice to know, Cayuga. My son’s school is relatively new, first graduating class last year, and predominately conservative. Last year was the first time they did Day of Silence. No problems with teachers, but a group of boys, mostly football players, were very confrontational. There was some name-calling and quite a few menacing looks. I was disappointed that the administration did not deal with this in a way that said: “This is not ok”, but I think they are very afraid of a vocal evangelical group among the parents. Many of the latter will be very incensed that this observance will be “tolerated” at the school today.</p>
<p>azcpamom-hooboy…</p>
<p>They did this at my high school every year. I researched it my senior year for a newspaper article and found that it was largely ineffective-- at our school, at least. Mainly the only students who knew what day of silence was were those who were participating, so the effect of the silence was lost because no one who would have gained awareness from the demonstration knew why they were being silent in the first place, those who were being silent were those who were ALREADY sympathetic to the LGBT experience, and the few non-participators who had picked up on it would just use it as an opportunity to openly bash gays without anyone calling them on it because those who would usually do so were too busy being silent. </p>
<p>Generally speaking my school was a friendly environment for LGBT, very active gay-straight alliance, but it was gigantic school so it was difficult for the administration to effectively handle some of these isolated incidents that were reported for my article. If a random boy said something nasty in the hall, there is a VERY good chance no one on the scene knows his name to report him, so if staff isnt there to act RIGHT at that moment, nothing ever happens because the administration never hears about it. At least at our school, I think different sorts of events would be more useful, “silence” doesn’t work for us.</p>