My school has recently put in an "anti bullying policy", as I'm sure you're aware this is utter rubbish. My school in particular has a system that normally results in the bully/bullies getting a watered down punishment and the victim getting the same/a similar punishment.
From my experience, two schools and similar views from friends, schools are lazy about bullies and tend to be happy as long as they're high enough in their statistics. I certainly think schools shoupd sort out bullying in more deph, however, there's only so much people can do and it's also hard to catch.
What do you guys think, should schools punish bullying properly or just give it up all together?
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I think schools are freaking stupid when it comes to anti-bullying. If you tell a teacher that someone bullies you, they barely even get a punishment. All they get is a 'don't do it again, kid' pretty much.
If you end up flipping your shit at them, you get suspended for a couple of days and they don't get shit.
Agreed, when I was younger I was bullied heavily, I reported this one guy about 5 times he never got a punishment.
When I was in high school I got bullied heavily mainly because I was different to 99% of other people in terms of race/nationality/religion. At one stage I got sexually bullied, and for the rest of the time I was physically bullied, called names and beaten up on a fairly regular basis, but I came out the other side and I made some good friends despite all the shit heads the world has to offer.
TBH, if you're a difference race, nationality or religion to most other people you should expect to get bullied heavily in most instances.
A lot of the time I think that kids that get bullied are [B]sometimes[/B] as much to blame as the bully. There needs to come a time when schools realize that bullying isn't some new problem that only came into existence with the advent of facebook and CNN, it has been around forever.
Sometimes it is also difficult for schools to do anything about it in cases where the person being bullied is part of the problem. Little 11 year old kids are just like they are on garry's mod... annoying shits who will believe anything you tell them. I don't think nowadays it is as easy as we'd like to think it is, there can't always be one person who is magically 100% in the wrong and one person who is 100% in the right. Especially in ridiculously large, understaffed schools where the teachers might not even know some of the students that well.
I think what has more worth than any policy is making kids get self confidence and making sure that the dumbass kids who cause problems have shit to do that they actually care about. Far too much education is a glorified daycare system nowadays. If kids actually had an interest in what they were learning I have no doubt bullying would be cut down.
The biggest issue is school bullying is it's only each others word to go by, no proof
Almost everyone goes through bullying either as a bully or as bullied, or both, and by the time they are old enough they should have learned that bullying is stupid. It's kind of simple.
As for those who do get bullied, they should also learn to deal with it in some ways. They shouldn't let bullying ruin their lives at least, just focus on school and/or some healthy, good hobby like sports of sorts.
You can also always ignore a bully, or just say "Fuck you" or something, it's not like a bully would ever have the balls to kill you on the school yard for standing up to him.
Even a physical assault should lead a bully into more serious trouble than the bruising he gave you, especially if you are both nearing the age of 16-18-20 when kids actually become responsible for the stupid shit they do.
[editline]12th November 2012[/editline]
I'm not sure if I even presented me stance on this, punishing bullies. But I guess my stance is on the first sentence that I wrote.
[QUOTE=Gekkosan;38419335]As for those who do get bullied, they should also learn to deal with it in some ways. They shouldn't let bullying ruin their lives at least, just focus on school and/or some healthy, good hobby like sports of sorts.
You can also always ignore a bully, or just say "Fuck you" or something, it's not like a bully would ever have the balls to kill you on the school yard for standing up to him. [/QUOTE]
Waaaaaaaaaay easier said than done, man.
[QUOTE=Gekkosan;38419335]Almost everyone goes through bullying either as a bully or as bullied, or both, and by the time they are old enough they should have learned that bullying is stupid. It's kind of simple.
As for those who do get bullied, they should also learn to deal with it in some ways. They shouldn't let bullying ruin their lives at least, just focus on school and/or some healthy, good hobby like sports of sorts.
You can also always ignore a bully, or just say "Fuck you" or something, it's not like a bully would ever have the balls to kill you on the school yard for standing up to him.
Even a physical assault should lead a bully into more serious trouble than the bruising he gave you, especially if you are both nearing the age of 16-18-20 when kids actually become responsible for the stupid shit they do.
[/QUOTE]
Very, very difficult if you are in the position of actually being bullied.
People who get bullied are often socially awkward. I was, at least. It makes it that much more difficult to deal with.
punishment?
That would be great, They made me leave the school and let all of them stay after they threatened me and my family's life.
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I definitely support schools dealing with bullying in a fair manner, but unfortunately here are a few issues that generally complicate things. Your school may operate differently.
Firstly, it takes a lot of effort in sorting out the person at fault. If the victim is ever stuck in a situation where all the information comes down to his word against the bully's, a school probably won't risk pissing off the bully's parents in the event that the victim was faking it.
Also, if the bully gets his cronies to take his side while the victim has few witnesses, the bully gets away scot-free too since it would take too much effort to determine whether a witness is reliable. This isn't a court of law; this is an investigation that the teachers would rather get over with quickly.
Secondly, some parents may stick up for their children, even if they are the ones at fault. Can't blame them - who would want their kids to get in trouble? Even if bullies were caught, how does the school punish them without raising the ire of the parents? It's easy to say 'ignore the parents, spare the rod, spoil the child', but of course, the school has a reputation to protect.
Thirdly, repeated cases of bullying would result in the victim being punished more instead, in the case of lazy/incompetent teachers. When I was 7, I was constantly bullied every week (physical and verbal abuse) by a few classmates, my grades suffering as a result. Instead of punishing those responsible, I was punished instead by my teacher because I was apparently a 'complaint king'.
Hopefully, your school's teachers are better than that, but there is also the case where the teachers start thinking it is the victim's fault that he is being bullied.
Just my 2 cents worth on bullying policies.
If one looks at the architecture of public schools, they seem to resemble prisons. In practice, that is what they are.
Bullying is looked upon favourably because it keeps the other students in line and, in a way, legitimises the violence inherent to the system. Solzhenitsyn makes a similar observation of the gulags.
I would never subject any offspring of mine to a public school, and I denounce the whole apparatus and their apparatchiks.
Bullying is really a difficult subject, schools do jack shit about it and do not really protect or listen to you in any way.
I got bullied earlier in school and I started bullying. It is like a cycle, but it is fairly stupid. I only bullied extreme idiots who had no degree of intelligence whatsoever. It is dumb but an experience that you have to face nevertheless. Ironically I became friends with some of my bullies and we keep in touch even after we went seperate ways, it is rather funny to be honest.
[QUOTE=Fenrisulfr;38433524]Bullying is looked upon favourably because it keeps the other students in line and, in a way, legitimises the violence inherent to the system.[/QUOTE]
[I]Really?[/I] I get the impression you have no idea what you're even talking about. Nobody at schools looks on bullying favourably; just with varying degrees of apathy.
[QUOTE=Robbobin;38433927][I]Really?[/I] I get the impression you have no idea what you're even talking about. Nobody at schools looks on bullying favourably; just with varying degrees of apathy.[/QUOTE]
[I]Really?[/I] I get the impression you have no idea what you're even talking about. Nobody at schools looks on bullying apathetically; just with varying degrees of approval.
[QUOTE=Fenrisulfr;38433524]I would never subject any offspring of mine to a public school, and I denounce the whole apparatus and their apparatchiks.[/QUOTE]
Then for their sake, I hope you have the money for a privately funded institution. Studies have shown time and time again that homeschooling is one of the worst deprivations you can make to a child, some states were even trying to ban it if I recall correctly.
[QUOTE=Fenrisulfr;38433981][I]Really?[/I] I get the impression you have no idea what you're even talking about. Nobody at schools looks on bullying apathetically; just with varying degrees of approval.[/QUOTE]
Whaaaaat? Your experience at school must have been very different to mine. Literally nobody of authority approves of bullying in my experience and I'd hazard a guess that this is the same for most others.
Unless you're talking about peers?
[QUOTE=FFStudios;38434083]Then for their sake, I hope you have the money for a privately funded institution. Studies have shown time and time again that homeschooling is one of the worst deprivations you can make to a child, some states were even trying to ban it if I recall correctly.[/QUOTE]
What makes you think I would stay in this second-rate backwater?
[QUOTE=Fenrisulfr;38434154]What makes you think I would stay in this second-rate backwater?[/QUOTE]
I don't know, you're coming off pretentious and trying to act way too cool by using overly complex grammar words and try to convince us you're right that way.
Except then your argument comes down to schools looking favorably at bullying, which makes utterly no sense. A bully being violent towards a kid does not reduce violence. What would reduce violence is advocating a culture in which everybody was more openly accepted.
[QUOTE=FFStudios;38434083]Then for their sake, I hope you have the money for a privately funded institution. Studies have shown time and time again that homeschooling is one of the worst deprivations you can make to a child, some states were even trying to ban it if I recall correctly.[/QUOTE]
I'm homeschooled....I like it personally...then again I have no friends...and I like that too! :dance:
And yeah bullying definitely needs to be dealt with immediately as it starts to pop up.
[QUOTE=etrius0023;38434635]I'm homeschooled....I like it personally...then again I have no friends...and I like that too! :dance:[/QUOTE]
You're missing out and are being deprived of social experiences, and this will hurt you sooner or later.
[QUOTE=Zally13;38434646]You're missing out and are being deprived of social experiences, and this will hurt you sooner or later.[/QUOTE]
Perhaps but my Mom takes any chance she can to make me do something social that makes me uncomfortable.
punishment doesn't really solve anything in the long term. there should be a high focus on preventing bullying, and ensuring kids don't grow up into being bullies before you roll out harsh punishments.
keep in mind that behaviour at such a young age won't be subject to their own thought, but simply the way they've been handled by teachers and (more importantly,) parents.
I couldn't stand it in my school. All this shit plastered everywhere talking about anti-bullying and when you actually told someone the bully would just be told off and sometimes you'd get shouted at too, for not coming to the teachers sooner or some shit. It's utter bullshit.
I think they should punish them fairly, rather than just a "Don't do it again" speech, which normally happens.
[QUOTE=Zally13;38434646]You're missing out and are being deprived of social experiences, and this will hurt you sooner or later.[/QUOTE]
But likewise bullying can be absolutely devastating to the ego of a victim. I confess I sometimes wish I had been home-schooled. How does little social exposure compare to negative social exposure?
You shouldn't let yourself be bullied, stand your fucking ground, I was bullied for 4 years because I have a hearing aid and I'm almoast deaf, so everyone thought I was some kind of mentally handicapped loser. After 4 years of bullying I finally snapped during arts class because someone threw a pencil at me.
Hit that kid full in the face and nobody fucked with me anymore, life's hard, you gotta deal with shit.
I do understand that some people are in almost no position to hit someone because of whatever issues, like someone's much bigger, older or more intimidating than you are, in that case you should just become friends with people who can kick his ass and do a tag-team.
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It's all bullshit you folks
In middle school I once sustained verbal abuse from some random kid of mine that I didn't really have a problem with but since I was kind of irritated that day I decided to give him a light bitch slap
I triggered his chronic nosebleed.
After that I was suspended for a day despite me and the kid's attempts to explain that it was just his chronic nosebleed but you know how stupid school administration is.
In another case, some other guy who I had been having problems with for a long time had kept shoving me around and stuff, and when I tried telling the administration they just turned their heads
IMO they should just stop punishing people for self defense because clearly they're not doing a good job of defending students for them.
[QUOTE=BFG9000;38439027]It's all bullshit you folks
In middle school I once sustained verbal abuse from some random kid of mine that I didn't really have a problem with but since I was kind of irritated that day I decided to give him a light bitch slap
I triggered his chronic nosebleed.
After that I was suspended for a day despite me and the kid's attempts to explain that it was just his chronic nosebleed but you know how stupid school administration is.
In another case, some other guy who I had been having problems with for a long time had kept shoving me around and stuff, and when I tried telling the administration they just turned their heads
IMO they should just stop punishing people for self defense because clearly they're not doing a good job of defending students for them.[/QUOTE]
I can agree that self defense needs to be more lenient. In the real world cops won't go around arresting assholes.
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