NO PLACE FOR BULLIES
AT the height of an anti-bullying campaign the Bulletin conducted three years ago, kids, parents, teachers and the reading public were urged to Think, Ignore, Block, Talk and Act.
These were the five steps in the Stop crusade which, while largely aimed at halting online trolls, was also relevant to dealing with the taunts and standover harassment of schoolyard bullies.
The steps advised people to think before they posted something online; to ignore awful comments; to block nasty people from networks; to talk to someone they trusted about what had happened; and to act to help others. It’s much the same in face-to-face confrontation – don’t say something horrible; ignore taunts; talk to a teacher or parent when harassed; and don’t walk by and pretend you didn’t see someone vulnerable being bullied when you can help by stepping in or reporting the incident.
The advice remains the same and applies just as much to the problems parents say exist at Pimpama State Secondary College now as it did three years ago and to several sad incidents since then.
Of course, all this advice can come crashing down if people in authority fail to act or are hamstrung because the perpetrators deny any incident occurred, leaving officers who like to stick to “policy’’ with little room to move. This is especially the case in a big school where despite the best intentions of dedicated classroom teachers, the complexities of their roles and the pressures of workloads can mean kids – victims – fall through the cracks.
Surveys show bullying is a problem around the globe, but it seems to show up consistently in Australian schools.
Bullying has always existed, but that does not mean it was ever acceptable. Oldschool philosophy once had it that as soon as a kid stood up to the bully, the problem would go away quickly.
Maybe, but not always. And things have now changed.
When bullies urge children to kill themselves, a seriously warped element has crept in.
These people must be dealt with immediately and effectively, and if anyone has to leave a school it should not be the child whose life was made hell.