Bullying and the School System
I've been reading some of the recent accounts of teens who were driven to suicide due to being bullied.
In many of these accounts the parents said they went to the school and the administration did nothing.
Parents and classmates of the one who suicide due to bullying talked about how teachers would see it happen and do nothing.
This reminds me of an incident in high school more than 40 years ago.
We were at a speech tournament.
Today I would say that one of my classmates was terribly insecure and had to put people down to make himself look better.
Then I just said he was a jerk.
I don't remember the context of the event, but he was verbally laying into me while the teacher listened.
I finally had enough and told him to "Shut the hell up.
" This adult sponsor jumped up immediately and yelled at me for saying "hell.
" Mistakes Teachers Make I can't tell you why she chose to lash out at me instead of chastising him.
She did tell me she had been enjoying my comments in response to him, but saying "hell" was inappropriate.
I'd be interested to discover if there was a difference between the way male and female teachers handled bullying.
Men are generally not as aware of the emotionally aspect of what can happen within a child with bullying.
They may be the ones who say, "Boys will be boys.
" Many teachers of both genders also want the teens to learn to stand up for themselves.
This is a crucial skill.
The problem comes when teachers can't tell the difference between the ordinary disagreements that occur among the students and when the line is crossed into bullying.
I've not seen it discussed, but I'd be interested to know how many of the teachers who stand by while bully is occurring were bullied themselves.
Does what they see send them back to their own school years? Are they filled with fear and reluctant to take a stand? Teachers have so much they are required to do that is not related to teaching.
They may not notice when a student becomes more withdrawn due to bullying, or is engaging in bullying.
The Administration Needs to Take Bullying Seriously In the Houston area, the parents of a child who suicide because of being bullied said they had gone to the school numerous times about the issue.
The administration says they have no record of this occurring.
The administration must take such reports seriously.
The one doing the bullying needs to be confronted with his or her parents present.
Such behavior is damaging to the one bullying as well as the victim.
In many of these accounts the parents said they went to the school and the administration did nothing.
Parents and classmates of the one who suicide due to bullying talked about how teachers would see it happen and do nothing.
This reminds me of an incident in high school more than 40 years ago.
We were at a speech tournament.
Today I would say that one of my classmates was terribly insecure and had to put people down to make himself look better.
Then I just said he was a jerk.
I don't remember the context of the event, but he was verbally laying into me while the teacher listened.
I finally had enough and told him to "Shut the hell up.
" This adult sponsor jumped up immediately and yelled at me for saying "hell.
" Mistakes Teachers Make I can't tell you why she chose to lash out at me instead of chastising him.
She did tell me she had been enjoying my comments in response to him, but saying "hell" was inappropriate.
I'd be interested to discover if there was a difference between the way male and female teachers handled bullying.
Men are generally not as aware of the emotionally aspect of what can happen within a child with bullying.
They may be the ones who say, "Boys will be boys.
" Many teachers of both genders also want the teens to learn to stand up for themselves.
This is a crucial skill.
The problem comes when teachers can't tell the difference between the ordinary disagreements that occur among the students and when the line is crossed into bullying.
I've not seen it discussed, but I'd be interested to know how many of the teachers who stand by while bully is occurring were bullied themselves.
Does what they see send them back to their own school years? Are they filled with fear and reluctant to take a stand? Teachers have so much they are required to do that is not related to teaching.
They may not notice when a student becomes more withdrawn due to bullying, or is engaging in bullying.
The Administration Needs to Take Bullying Seriously In the Houston area, the parents of a child who suicide because of being bullied said they had gone to the school numerous times about the issue.
The administration says they have no record of this occurring.
The administration must take such reports seriously.
The one doing the bullying needs to be confronted with his or her parents present.
Such behavior is damaging to the one bullying as well as the victim.