I have lef a girl to take shelter behind a wall from punks throwing stones at her. Am I guilty?

Question

I was walking by on my way back from the shops and I saw a school girl taking shelter behind a school wall from stones being thrown at her. Should have I done something?
Note:
1)No teachers were around to help
2)I have been a teacher for 3 months so I have experience in dealing with kids
3) As a bystander I had no authority over the kids
4) By walking up to them it won't necessarily stop the bullying and create complications wih the school
5) By logic, the surrounding school kids would stand as witnesses and tell teachers tomorrow
6) By remorse, I am feeling very guilty for not stopping it
7) I would have stood out like a complete geek in stopping it
8) It wasn't any of my business

What is your verdict?

Yes I am a student. I was only on a teaching experience for 3 months.

Answer 1

looks like youve been putting a lot of guilt feelings on yourself already--------let it go

Answer 2

SHAME ON YOU!! what if the situation would have escalated and the girl had been killed? Would you want someone just walking by and letting your daughter, sister, mother, or other family member have stones thrown at them? You say there were no teachers around to help and then you turn around and say that YOU are a teacher.....as a bystander you have no authority...what about as an ADULT?? By logic the surrounding school kids will keep their mouths shut because most kids don't rat each other out...and it happened after school hours so the school has no jurisdiction....I'm not going to even address #6..you need to feel guilty as hell, you know you were wrong....you would have stood out as a geek? GIVE ME A BREAK...does what schoolchildren think of you mean that much?? These are not your peers, they are children....YOU are the adult in the situation..It wasn't any of your business?? If you see wrongdoing and are able to rectify it, then it is your business.....my verdict is that I wouldn't let you teach my child if you were the last teacher on Earth....you may want to rethink your profession if you can't stand up for children....You sent a powerful message to those kids throwing the stones....It's OK...people don't care about what we do....In a few years look for those same kids breaking into houses and beating up old ladies on the street.....

Answer 3

Well please excuse me, all of you apparently brave answerers, but had you been in that situation, very few of you would actually have stopped it.

Sure, that school girl probably didn't deserve it, and stepping in MAY have stopped the problem; however in the eyes of those throwing stones at her, this would be another reason to pick on her: "Oh look at your new boyfriend oooo!" and that would have made things worse. Or perhaps if these children are throwing stones, they come from a rough backround, so when they go home and tell their drunk daddy that a big scary man shouted at them in the playground, you may have been in danger yourself. You are a student and therefore have no obligation to do anything, and perhaps that is for the best. If you were actually a qualified and hired teacher at that school, then you could've intervened. But as I see it now, although you may feel really guilty about it, think of how much you ACTUALLY could have done - chances are they would've laughed and thrown stones at you too. This girl will probably be fine in a week or two from now anyway. So relax, you didn't do anything wrong, you just feel guilty and are therefore making it seem as you could have done a lot better when in fact there was probably very little you could've done to be of great effect.

Answer 4

True, it wasn't your business. But perhaps it should have been. Thats whats wrong with the world today, people don't take an interest in the things going on around them. Did you think it was OK for that to continue without interference? I think not or you wouldn't be beating yourself over it. I think you should have done something, anything. Stopped and called someone at the school to come take care of it, or walked back into the school to alert security or the principal. No one deserves to be bullied. Why do you think they do it, because no one was there to stop them from doing it. Perhaps if stopped, they might think twice before doing it again. You call yourself a teacher? What teacher would let a kid have stones thrown at them?

Yes, I think what you did was cowardly and if that had been my daughter I would have hunt you down and thrown rocks at you. Kids don't respect adults anymore and this is one example of why that is.

Answer 5

If you are a teacher, I can't believe that you didn't do SOMETHING. However, from your comments (I would have stood out like a complete geek... ) I doubt that you are a teacher. If you are indeed a student, and you were scared (understandable) you could have still found SOME way to get some kind of help. I hope I am right, and you are not a teacher.

Answer 6

When you sign up to be a teacher you take on an agreement to act as a parent in the parents absence. Many of us find that this comittment stays with us out of school. However you are under no obligation. I know of many teachers who have stepped in in situations such as yours and found themselves in the centre of trouble.

My suggestion is that you decide who you want to be. Sounds odd but I made the decision shortly after starting teaching that I would step in in situations like this. My husband hates it and always says that I'll end up as the 'Teacher Stabbed in Street' on the front of a newspaper but actually I think that my experience with kids means that I am often able to judge a situation a lot better than a member of the public might and I know when to step in and when not. You have to judge each situation on its own. If you feel out of your depth stop someone else and ask them if they'll help you break it up.

Hope this helps

Answer 7

I think the biggest thing stopping you was
"7) I would have stood out like a complete geek in stopping it"

You are a coward on multiple levels. You not only demonstrated fear for your physical safety (unless you weren't afraid of being harm in which case you are an absolute loser) but fear of ridicule by children! If you have such little regard for the well being of a child you should not engage further with teaching.

Answer 8

If the girls life was being threatened, I'd have stepped right in. You could either attack them or make a show of calling the cops on them. Try and do this with a few other people.

If the girls life was not in immediate danger, I'd have just called the cops on them. The punks could just have easily turned on you. Furthermore, if you had hurt them, their parents might have tried to prosecute you for daring to assault their little angel. After calling the cops I'd have hung around until they got there just to keep an eye on the girl and to help the police identify the perpetrators.

Answer 9

Next time it happens wear a mask or use a paper bag to cover
your Identity and then help,or in extreme cases beat the shite out of them.Its about time we became our own superheroes..funny as it sounds but I would..what ever desicion you would have made is the right one ,as you can see with the answers we have given theres 2 views youve got nothing to feel guilty about now Im going to design a costume..weres that needle......be vigil not vigilante.

Answer 10

You could at the very least have alerted someone. You were walking back from the shops, so you could presumably have turned around and reached a shop with a telephone. I'm afraid that I have to view you in the same light as a colleague who watched a poor girl being indecently assaulted on the London underground and did nothing. There would be obvious problems in pulling the communication cord and being locked in with the perpetrators, but he could at the very least have sprinted up to the driver's compartment at the next stop and reported the matter. I considered him a coward and said so. And clearly, from your asking the question, you consider yourself one.

Answer 11

Disgusting!
thinking back to a lad a year or so ago who got beaten to death by some other lads. someone witnesssed it but thought they were "larking about"! that lad would not have died if someone had done SOMETHING! i know its hard but if more people stood up to bullies i think many unnecessary horrible incidents could be prevented. I truly believe that people who allow crimes to happen should be charged with aiding and abetting.
And u r a TEACHER too!