School Bullying…Let students know that YES, it is starting to be considered a CRIME.
No one asks to be bullied. Kids don’t wake up in the morning hoping for someone to pin them down in a locker room and call them names. But yet it happens every day in schools nationwide. And name calling is the least of it.
In the past school year alone, 32 percent of students ages 12-18 experienced bullying. That number is up from previous years and it just represents those cases that are reported. Sometimes it is calling names, making fun of someone, laughing at someone. And sometimes, it is physical…pushing, punching, kicking…sexually assaulting. One of the most horrifying cases of school bullying occurred in Tampa, Florida. Four teenage boys held down a teammate in retaliation for a bad play during a flag football game. They raped him repeatedly with a broom handle and a hockey stick. They told him that if (the game mishap) happened again or if he told anyone, the abuse would happen again. It wasn’t until school officials began questioning those four players about a fight after a game that the truth came out. And the brutality is happening elsewhere.
California-a member of a debate team is wrapped in plastic and tape by other team members.
Ohio-a basketball player is attacked by three teammates while waiting for the team bus. They punch and kick him; one team member exposes his genitals and rubs them in his face.
South Florida-Two teens are charged with stalking and battery after an attack and “pretend” rape in a school locker room.
Why is this happening? One kid made a bad play on the football field. Another was younger than the other teammates. Bullying doesn’t have a rhyme or reason. It can happen because of a person being shy or different. Or simply because of the color of someone’s hair. And with the new technology, bullying has taken on a whole new face…on Facebook, MySpace, and other internet sites. Many may remember the case in Missouri in which a girl committed suicide after being taunted by a “boy” she thought liked her. The “boy” turned out to be the mother of a classmate of the girl. She set up a fake MySpace account, got to know the girl by pretending to be a boy who liked her, and then began to trash her. Suicide because of bullying has a name. Bullycide.
This past year a student in our school began cyber-bullying students over a social network. While it was brought to the notice of the staff, we weren’t given enough information to be able to watch for any activity at school. How can we as teachers be effective in stopping bullying? We need to be kept in the loop information-wise so that we can help battle this problem. But we also need to be sure to take a stand against bullying.
The Tampa, Florida case? Witnesses (yes, there were witnesses who did nothing!) said that the boy being raped screamed. Why wasn’t he heard by a coach or other staff? Why were they so far from their students that they could not hear a young man screaming?
We as educators, as those charged with the well being of children, need to always be mindful of what is going on with our students. Yes, we are only human and we will miss things. But talk to students. Let them know that if they are being bullied or know someone who is to please talk to someone. Please, be aware.
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Those stories and statistics are horrifying! I'm glad that in our school we never see anything that extraordinary. Not that I'm happy that we see any bullying at all, but the worst I've personally dealt with was a punch to the face that caused a nose bleed. Do you wonder sometimes if maybe kids won't be so anxious to go out for a sport when they hear stories like this? I remember my brother telling stories about when he was in basketball (mid 70's) and the big joke was to put Icy Hot in someone's underwear. What an awful thing to do for such a sensitive area. I would like to see students that carry bullying to this extreme to be expelled. There is absolutely no excuse for such cruelty.
ReplyDeleteWhat sad situations. I think the problem with cyber bullying is if it isn't happening on school time or using school equipment, what can/should we do about it? If the kids don't talk to each other at school, are there any signs to watch for? I feel a lot of responsibility needs to fall on parents for monitoring usage and even having key stroke identifiers so they can see what their son/daughter is typing.
ReplyDeleteThere is no easy solution to bullying because it something that has been around since the invention of schools. When you put a group of children together there is always a need to fit in and be “cooler” than the next person. Bullying is a horrible epidemic that needs to be stopped, but as you wrote students always promise that the bullying would be worse if they tell any one. There is also the added pressure of being labeled as a “tattle tail”. I agree with you then you wrote that teachers needs to be vigilante and monitor students in hopes of minimizing the opportunities that bullying can take place. Programs need to be introduced that promote telling about abusive bullying, and only then can teachers work on stopping bullying within thier school.
ReplyDeleteI think the most frightening part of cyber bullying is that it isn't just kids--its adults, people who should know better doing some of this. Just like escpecially in many of the locker room sports relating bullying incedents--a child feels so much pressure from the parent to be good at whatever the task is that the idea of failing--even if it wasn't their fault has to be taken out on someone. It is a cycle of abuse and a learned behavior--and we need to be more vigilant than ever!
ReplyDeleteCyber Bullying simply allows cowards to speak out and do things that they normally wouldn't do to your face. It attempts to offer anonymity to students and adults who believe this is a way to get back at others and/or simply a way to bring shame and harm to someone else.
ReplyDeleteEverybody knows bullying is terrible and it has been going on for years. I believe we live in times though where students don't face retribution for there actions. Parents are busy or don't monitor what kids are doing, either in school or after, and especially on the technological devices they possess.
The fix to much of this is parents getting involved in their kids lives. Parents teaching their kids right from wrong, and yes, parents taking their kids to church and giving them the chance to understand forgiveness, kindness and love.
With that said, I believe bullying has taken on a new meaning, especially as technologies continually branch and allow for more and more faceless actions that hurt people. Teachers should be aware of what is going on and where possible attempt to intervene when signs of poor treatment of students are obvious. Still, we need the victims to speak out and talk. Teachers can only go so far when not armed with the knowledge of what is going on and with whom.
Parents, wake up, you can stop much of the bullying. Find out what your kids are doing and make sure that they understand early on that poor behavior, face to face or cyber, will have harsh consequences. I am always caught off guard when parents say, I didn't have any idea my kid was doing this. Sure there are some instances where parents have probably done everything they can do, but more times than not parents are simply not involved enough to elicit communication from their kids that would flag a warning sign of either being bullied or bullying.