Dear Mr Dastagir

Hello, my name is Aaron and I am here to raise awareness about an issue around the school which students know as “banter”. You did an assembly a few months ago on this topic and people might have ignored your presentation. I suspect this because students are still using the phrase “it’s just banter” around the school.

The fact is that saying, “it’s just banter”, makes it seem acceptable to say rude comments   around the school and in the community, making people feel uncomfortable. Moreover it could destroy the reputation for the school.

Your students are insulting other pupils with rude comments about race, mothers etc and then saying that “it’s just banter”. In my opinion, people say that because they are “joking”. However the victim does not see it as banter. This is not acceptable because they are only thinking of their own feelings but not anyone else’s. Furthermore, the victim may feel worse because the student insulting him does not see the serious side of the insult: the part that is offensive.

Another use for the word “banter” is as an excuse for being rude as by saying, “it’s just banter”, they are trying to blame the offended student of wasting time to get out of trouble although the insult is very rude and the offender knows it is offensive. In addition it also shows a lack of responsibility as instead of owning up or apologising they try to make insults seem acceptable because they do not see it as serious as other students see it.

I said earlier that people had ignored your assembly. The reason is because students enjoy “banter”. It also because it causes fights for students to watch which allows students to use cusses for more “banter” or just to cause even more trouble. Most of the time fights are caused by a student taking banter too far and then making the matter worse by saying “it’s just banter”. Racist banter is usually when it is too far, or sometimes it is because  mothers have been cussed.

Banter is an issue which needs to be dealt with around the school because banter covers up bullying. Furthermore the community around our school will feel uncomfortable and the school’s reputation will go down. Eventually the school will be closed down due to the poor behaviour of certain individuals using banter as an excuse to be rude to others.

In conclusion, what I would like to see is a therapy where the student can understand why banter is not acceptable. I’m suggesting this because just giving a sanction will not help but just make matters worse. However if they still ignore the advice then a serious sanction , such as red cards, should take place because you have already done an assembly on banter. Another way of solving the problem is to have more teachers supervising the corridors and outside the school because this is where banter occurs most, when teachers are not there to see it happen.

I hope you have listened to my feedback because this is an important issue in the school

Yours sincerely

Aaron Asenso Boateng