Hamed Nastoh's Feeling Power: Emotion And Education

It is a basic need for humans to be able to care for others and to feel cared for. Just like our physiological needs such as eating and sleeping, feeling loved and feeling as though we belong is just as important. In Noddings’ article “The challenge to care in schools,” the author discusses specifically why care is a necessary component in schools. In Boler’s “Feeling Power: Emotion and Education”, the author focuses on how emotions are perceived in school based on characteristics such as gender. To further analyze the outlook of the authors regarding emotions, I will use the story of Hamed Nastoh to prove that teachers must be aware of the needs of students to help them not only gain knowledge, but to also help them emotionally. What is shocking in this issue is that many of the teachers and

Hamed Nastoh was a 15 year old boy from British Colombia, Canada who took his own life on March 11, 2000. The reason behind his decision was due to the bullying he was experiencing in his school. One of the devastating facts about this case is that many of the teachers were aware that Nastoh was bullied in school. However, they either chose to ignore and avoid reporting the issue or didn’t think it was serious enough. Thus, for many years Nastoh suffered in silence. He was bullied non-stop by his peers. One of the reasons why he was bullied was because he chose not “to smoke or do drugs or anything else that would make him cool” (Nastoh, 2004, p. 35). They would abuse him physically and verbally. Nastoh also wrote a note for his parents to read before going to the bridge, explaining why he made this decision and how he wanted his parents to bring awareness of bullying so other kids would not have to suffer like he did. After his suicide, schools have been talking to students about the importance of asking for help if they are being