“You Keep Using That Word. I Do Not Think It Means What You Think It Means.”
A few weeks ago, Buckeye Institute President David Hansen called Columbus Education Association President Rhonda Johnson a bully for her allegations of potential political links between Hansen’s organization and the campaign of Mayor Michael Coleman’s Republican challenger Bill Todd. Now Hansen has taken the finger pointing and name-calling to a whole new level— calling four-fifths of the entire state’s teaching force bullies.
In a few misplaced keystrokes, Hansen has managed to impugn the individual and collective reputations of the 4500 member-strong Columbus Education Association as well as the other 126,000 educators throughout the Buckeye state who are card-carrying members of the Ohio Education Association. To divine Hansen’s intentions from such a petulant diatribe, it is essential that one examine the etymology of the word “bully”.
The origins of the word date back to the 16th century, and most likely originated in Middle Dutch as the word boele. The Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary gives several definitions of the word as a noun; perhaps Hansen meant to apply the most negative definition of the word towards members of CEA— people who are “…habitually cruel to others who are weaker”.
Do bullies individually spend hundreds of dollars out of their own pockets to provide school supplies for students and equip their classrooms for learning?
Do bullies collectively donate over $60,000 to the United Negro College Fund?
Do bullies come to work early, stay late and work on weekends to help “others who are weaker”?
Do bullies join together and give $382,000 to the
Do bullies painstakingly invest a year of their time and untold personal hours to become a Nationally Board Certified Teacher so they can better meet the needs of their students?
Do bullies raise thousands of dollars to help the fight against Breast Cancer?
Do bullies constantly advocate for great public schools for every child?
We didn’t think bullies did those things, either. Perhaps David Hansen meant to use the other definition of bully, the one that means “a fine chap”.