Bullying at school?

Question

Here it is - spread all over the Yahoo front page 07-30-06

"Bullies in the Schoolyard"

Un-freaking believable. Then again, it's 2006, not the early-mid 1970's. I seem to recall a lot of bullying - on me no less, back then. Um, but funny that while all this 'insensitive' bullying was going on, we had much higher test scores, lower drop-out rates (not to mention, less teen pregnancy and other social problems among our youth), but I digress...

Although I was a 'victim' for many years of 'bullying', I wouldn't have had it any other way. It toughened me up physically and mentally. And it prepared me for the real world, not some fantasy arena where there are time-outs and bad folks are sent to a corner...

We have grown way too soft. Especially in the upbringing and education of our boys/young men. And we're going to reap the fruits of the current educational/psychological mindset for years to come. Watch it and see - or should I say Read it and weep.

Answer 1

teachafish,you're an idiot.to some kids the solution to being bullied is to grab a gun,go to school and start shooting.not all kids are capable of punching out the school bully.God didn't give us all equal abilities.But Sam Colt made us all equal.The graveyards are full of bullies thanks to this,and the inaction of fools like you.

Answer 2

I can't believe that I just read someone believes that bullying is actually a GOOD thing that helps a young person to become "toughened up" and get them prepared to meet the real world head-on! Get real. I am a high school principal and have seen the devastation that bullying can bring ... to the student, to the family, to anyone else that is involved. This isn't the type of "real world" preparation we need for our children.

Here in my state, bullying is against the law and we have signs posted at the front door, in the hallways, and in the classroom. Bullying is addressed in our student handbook and the types of repurcussions a student will face if found to be a bully. It is demeaning, degrading and highly insensitive to think that bullying should be continued in a civilized culture to help our students grow up tougher.

The bully is male AND female. In fact, the largest trend of bullies is now female. The psychological damage done by female bullies is far more intrusive with the advent and use of the internet. The IM's sent by the bully to other members of the cohort will set up the guidelines of what "they" will do to the "weak one" in order to facilitate MORE bullying. Do these kids not realize they are now adding a possible felony charge by using Interstate Commerce to facilitate a crime? The airwaves are federally protected and governed. Now, THERE'S some real world lessons that some bully is going to learn!

I saw first-hand how a young girl in school used the internet to strengthen her "group", dole out bullying, make harrasing phone calls to the family's home late at night, send menacing, hateful, threatening e-mails. I put a stop to it as soon as I was able to gather "evidence". I helped the bullied family in filing charges against the bully AND the parents. There is NO room for bullying in school and can not be tolerated.

When the young girl(s) and the parents involved were confronted with real, hard evidence ... they found out what the "real" world was all about. If one of the people that wrote an answer to this earlier was bullied as a youngster and saw it as a way of toughening her up physically and mentally and wouldn't have it any other way, my guess is that her children are probably perpetuating the same degrading mess. It is my hope THAT person doesn't send her children to my school. My school is safe for all that enter, where education takes place, where we prepare students to face a fruitful future. I am at one of the smallest schools in the state, yet we rank in the top-10 in the state in test scores. Our drop-out rate is 0% ... meaing we graduate 100% of our students. They go on to colleges and it is my hope, that when they see bullying after leaving high school, they have the KNOWLEDGE to deal with it and stop it.

Answer 3

I really don't see a problem in our schools with bullys. I just recently graduated from High School and sure there are a select group of kids who do get bullied and teased, but it's an everyday occurance. Some people can't handle it and that's when they start shooting fellow students, but those kids that do that have a few loose screws and it's not from being bullied or any other "school related issue". The only reason bullying has become more of an issue than in the past few years is because it's getting more publicity and attention. It's part of life growing up and it's part of life after school and into your work.

Answer 4

America we are soft...... there are some that think we shouldn't hit are children instead we should be friends with them. Well I'll tell you this My child gets smacked. I'm teaching that there is a consequence to there action and its not a time out.

Gangs are a direct result of parental guidance. Look at the history of when gangs popped up into prominence, parents lacked in there duties.

School teachers are for math, English, history, and science. They are not for social problems or discipline and yes your child did exactly what the teacher said not what your child said. You do not listen to a child they lie through there teeth and if you listen to your child because they come home and cry and say how unfairly they been treated put them on the spot and confront them with there lies. Don't fool yourselves children's problems come from parents delusions.

Slap your child into conforming with social behavior and lose the time outs. Bullies are an extension of this, so we need them.

Not everyone wins only those gifted in the said activity so stop awarding children for last place. Life will crush these kids who think they will be awarded for just showing up.

Answer 5

Is there a question in there?

I do believe that in the day-and-age of gangs, etc, bullying is getting worse.
I'm sure it is having an effect on test scores.

However, I think the far bigger impact is caused by the fact that being smart,
especially if you are male, is no longer considered cool. Our President
doesn't know how to pronounce "nuclear", etc.

What does it say that we knowingly elect a person that repeatedly
mispronounces a word - even though he has thousands of aids that
KNOW how to pronounce the word.

It seems to me like he is trying to be JUST ONE OF THE FOLKS.
That is, he does not want to appear educated.

On that line, he is doing a remarkably good job.

Kids pick up on that very early - and adjust accordingly.

It used to be that girls thought they had to act stupidly to get men.
However, we've had a few decades of "A woman can be anything
she sets her mind to" and that is no longer as pervasive. Indeed,
girls are quickly out pacing boys in education simply because
being smart IS cool for them.

Significantly more women will graduate from American universities
this year, and that will ultimately turn into poltical and economic
change.

Answer 6

I have to agree with that. The worst preparation for adulthood is a happy sheltered childhood. I was bullied in middle school all the way from grade 7 to grade 9. I tried the whole "walk away and ignore them" approach, all it did was make them angrier and then things would start to get physical. All these doctors and so called experts would say that all you have to do is ignore it and it wll go away. Know what? It only "went away" when I nailed one of them with a left hook. I know that some of you reading this might think that going to the teacher or principal would have been a better alternative....guess what? Bullies have friends that will get involved. If the bully gets suspended or what have you, his/her friends will exact their revenge on the "rat" that got their friend in trouble.
The best solution to dealing with a bully, in my 3 year experience, is to show some backbone, and when the SOB wants to make himself look tough by pushing you around, thats when you make him look like a wimp in front of his friends when you,the guy that is always getting pushed around, lays the bastard out. I got 3 days off for doing it, but the guy that was pushing me around never did it again.

Answer 7

Bullying is a problem in today's schools. I don't think that we are soft on the upbringing and education of boys and girls. I am an elementary school teacher and we are not soft on the students. We do the best that we can with what we are given. Students come to us with so many attitudes and uncontrollable behaviors it is unbelievable. Parents need to step up to the plate and discipline their children and teach them some manners and correct behaviors. If this would happen many of the bullies in today's schools would disappear!!!!!!!

Answer 8

Where is your research on the drop out rate? We are graduating a higher percentage of kids now than ever before!!! This is because of the compulsory attendance laws that enforce attendance until the age of 18 and also because of programs and services for at-risk students.

Secondly, it is a proven fact that children who bully grow up to be adult bullies unless there are research-based interventions put into place. This involves creating a community of students who will not tolerate bullying, will speak up when they see it, will include others who are left out and are taught to be accepting of others. Bullies have very good self-esteem and have no reason to stop bullying unless the community lets them know it is unacceptable and that they will not put up with it.

Life is hard enough on it's own without some bully terrorizing students who are physically or socially weaker than they are. Life itself, with all the unpredictability and challenges that are presented are enough to "toughen" us up.

Answer 9

Blah blah blah everything was better in the past blah blah blah.

This is typical conservative backlash bs. The "crisis" in education is not that test scores have been dropping, but rather that they have been stagnant. Dropout rates are 30+% lower than they were in the early '70s. As to teen pregnancy rates:

"Since the early 1990s, teenage pregnancy rates, birthrates and abortion rates have declined dramatically; pregnancy and abortion rates have reached their lowest points since they were first measured in the early 1970s, and birthrates are similar to those that prevailed between the mid-1970s and mid-1980s."

If you want to live in some macho fantasy world where everyone is better off because their dad hits them with a belt and teachers turn a blind eye to bullying, go ahead; but please check your facts before you interact with members of the reality-based community.

Answer 10

You know what? Dealing with the kids is NOT the answer. You have to deal with the parents. Bullies are often the kids whos parents abuse them. Violence gives power and superiority, kids see that from their parents and reflect it act school. Telling a teacher doesn't help, walking away or ignoring them surely doesn't help, the only way for a child to stop being bullied is to fight back. I was bullied around until 3rd grade, even though I was the biggest kid in my class. Teachers just laughed about it, the principal told me to grow up. Finally I just knocked the bully on the ground and whipped him like a read headed step child and he never touched me again. Of course I got kicked out of school for it when he had been beating me up forever and never even got a detention for it. If you want a child not to be a bully, you have to "discipline" his parents. There is no other way. A child whose parents beat them too much is most likely to be a bully. Often the lower income, alcoholic type parents. I think teachers need to be more attentative to this matter. The problem is half the teachers were bullies in school themselves, and they think it is funny to watch one kid bully another. They don't like it when the one being bullied defends himself though. Does this make any sense to anyone? Hell, when I was in 5th grade I had a teacher bullying me, even gave me a bloody nose one day.

Answer 11

In Collinsville, Illinois, it has always been considered cool to bully the kids from State Park, which is the poorest community in the district. About a half of the kids from State Park drop out of school before they graduate. mostly due to this. I've heard teachers say things like "I know John Doe is a little wierd, but..." which actually encourages bullying by agreeing with it. The basis for this crap is usually clothes. The poor kids have clothes from Walmart, if they're lucky, yardsales and cousins if they're not. The wealthier kids have clothes from upscale department stores with all the hottest designer labels. Two year old cheap clothes are like a sign around the kid's neck that says "pick on me, because I have nothing." They are bumped, tripped, poked, and worst, sneered at and laughed at. The school district has 'dealt' with this by instituting a variety of policies aimed at 'stopping the violence'. I call it stopping the self defense.