Comments on: Should teachers stop bullies?

By: Teacher World

Teacher World — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 16:03:06 +0000

As a teacher, I have spent valuable time this past year dealing with the issue of bullying in my classroom. I had read “Nineteen Minutes” by Jodi Picoult, a book that explores bullying and that left me enraged that we aren’t doing more as educators. Through brutally honest discussions and confessions, my class began to see the need to take a stand. They signed a declaration against bullying and teasing, and campaigned within the school to get everyone to sign it. I am not going to lie and say that my students never teased or bullied after this, but I will say that when circumstances required it, we sat down and talked about better ways to deal with these situations and resolutions were reached. I have never been so proud of a group of students.

Bullying does occur, and it makes our schools an unsafe place for some kids to attend, let alone learn. As educators, we need to tune in to our students and deal with these situations as they occur. No more turning a blind eye or thinking the problem will go away. And principals need to be supportive of our efforts to build safer schools. In addition, parent education is required. I believe that many of the bullies we deal with at school have been created by their environment. Also parents may need to learn to be more sensitive to the warning signs either that their child is being bullied or is bullying others.

Putting all of the responsibility on the school is obviously not the answer, but I think schools are the reasonable place to begin. And we must begin now because the ramifications of turning a blind eye to bullying are becoming disastrous. It is way past time to look for a cure!

By: Julie Clark

Julie Clark — Fri, 22 May 2009 02:40:54 +0000

To stop bullying, long before it reaches such a horrible conclusion such as bullycide, everyone should be educated on what bullying is–all of the forms–and get people to stop believing the myth that bullying is a rite of passage, etc. Bullying hurts, and bullying can kill. Everyone should be educated in what to do about it. Schools should have and implement anti-bullying policies. Bullying is getting worse. We can dress itup with fancy terms such as social aggression or relational aggression but that does no good and doesn’t help anyone.
see http://www.stopratoday.com

By: Parent

Parent — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 12:13:49 +0000

I totally agree with Teacher,Too children get their behavior or bullying
from there parents. It is the parents responsiblity to raise there children teacher’s are suppose to teach, In society today we want
the teacher’s to shoulder the responsiblity of teaching our kids and being a parent to them. I think all teacher’s should get combat Salaries for the children they have to deal with today!

By: Teacher, Too

Teacher, Too — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 15:59:58 +0000

I’ve noticed two situations. One, the kids learn bullying from their parents. I had many parent conferences where the parents have tried to bully me, and then I see where the child gets his/her bullying from. Or, second, the child has learned to bully his/her parent. I see this in parent conferences all the time– the child actually controls and bullies the mom or dad (more frequently, the mom).

In either case, the teacher can only give consequences, but often the admin negates them because the parent bullies them and gets their way.

By: Ernest

Ernest — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 14:28:26 +0000

Well said, V!!! Most of us grew up in the days of “Sticks and stones may break my bones but words can never harm them”. The things I hear my children mention that happen in today’s classrooms are far different that hearing “you’ve got cooties” from my day.

I empathize with the schools given the responsibilities and blame placed on them. I hope we can find out what happened in this case so we can collectively learn from it. Given the mother has a lawyer now, I will bet this will be quietly settled out of court.

By: vft

vft — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 13:15:34 +0000

Reality, I tend to agree with you on a lot of what you’re saying, but kids are two-faced sometimes, especially in the higher grades. As a former middle-school teacher, there were a few parent-teacher conferences I was in that prominently featured some trash-talk or objectionable comments, in the little darling’s own handwriting…because that was the only way the parent could believe that their little angel knew those words, or would proposition a boy/girl, make threats, etc.
Note though, when I was in the classroom, I made it a point to be out in the classroom doorway to monitor my own classroom and the halls. Why? Because school bullying is in my book a common sin, and one I am NOT going to tolerate.

By: Reality

Reality — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 12:36:02 +0000

My point about PARENTS is that bullying should never start. Should teachers stop it if they are aware – of course. But good parents teach their children how to interact with others properly. Bad parents do not and then their children become the cause of so much grief in schools (and other places).

As I have stated in other posts, GA needs to require a parenting class in high school as a requirement for graduation. These poorly parented kids are the ones that have more kids and the cycle continues.

By: Sarah H

Sarah H — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 11:23:10 +0000

We have been told at our school that we are not to use the word bully. Can’t hurt some poor child’s self esteem by labeling them. Of course the one student that I keep an eye on uses her weight (literally) to push people around. She has verbally abused students in my classroom. She has been reported to the office. She got a slap on the wrist. I still struggle to force her to leave the smaller children alone.

By: V for Vendetta

V for Vendetta — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 02:28:42 +0000

I absolutely agree with what many of you have said: If a teacher is aware of a bully then that teacher should take the necessary steps to address the situation. (I’m leaving it at that because, as many of you have also said, what the administrator does or does not do is not in the teacher’s hands.) However, I do want to point out one very important thing: This blog topic focuses the responsibility on the teacher or, if you want to look at the bigger picture, the education system. But I have to wonder, what are we teaching children by taking this sort of stand. Back in the day, kids defended themselves and had the self esteem and confidence to ignore petty name calling. It no longer seems that way. My dad’s dictum of “Don’t ever start a fight, but make sure you finish one,” seems to have disappeared. Granted, some will say that schools now are “more dangerous” and all that. I’m not trying to be Jeff here. But what I AM saying, is that we should be teaching the KIDS how to handle the bullies, not merely stopping the bullies once they’re caught in the act.

Eliminating bullying is as much about teaching self esteem and confidence as it is about preventing physical or social harm.

By: Teachers can't do it all

Teachers can't do it all — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 01:44:53 +0000

Many teachers are able to identify a bully at the upper grades only to have the administrators turn a blind eye. I have seen firsthand a principal refrain from discipline because the bully was a child of a PTA member! This child blatantly bullied other students all year. She would hit, kick, name call and make others cry. The victims often left school feeling less of themselves because of the bully. The principal did not want to deal with the PTA mom. She herself was a bully. It is all relevant though because the principal often bullied the staff, particularly in situations such as this. She’d rather allow a child to feel bad than have the PTA pull back their support. Sad.