"I'm beginning to believe them!" A 12 year old boy who attends a local school, spends his nights worrying about what the local school bullies are going to do to him the very next day. Education takes a back seat to bullying, which remains unchecked, and paramount in this young man's life.
"They keep calling me "Bad things" and I'm beginning to believe them." "There are six fights at my school every day." This sounds all too familiar; it happened to me and it happened to my children while they were in school. This type of unacceptable behavior has proven through the years to have amazing "staying power."
Decades have passed since I was in junior high school and still; bullying is alive and well! It appears that the rules governing incidents of bullying should be reevaluated. I have heard of two incidents of bullying where the victim could no longer take the repeated abuse, and finally decided to fight back. As it turned out in both cases the victim was suspended, and the Bully received a free pass; in both cases the bully remained unpunished.
I'm sure someone has what they consider to be a valid explanation as to why the bully was not punished, but the bottom line is that bullying has for generations, remained resilient even after causing massive damage to many wonderful young adults. I am also one of those victims. There is no excuse for this twisted rule; the Bully should have been suspended and the victim should have received the "free pass."
I know for an absolute fact that bullying has had a lasting negative impact on my life. In junior high school I should have been thoroughly engulfed in cultivating a solid educational foundation; but in fact I was in fear for my life, most of the time.
Here I am, 50 years after attending junior high school, once again dealing with the issue of bullying on behalf of a 12-year old young adult. I actually felt my heart drop when this 12-year old boy told me that he was starting to believe that he was "worthless," because of the abuse by bullies.
Lost for words I quickly said, "do not ever let anyone tell you that you are worthless! You can do anything, as long as you set your mind to it. It is the bully that is worthless. The Bully is pushing you around because he does not believe in himself."
Bullies are predators, just looking for anyone, who might appear to be vulnerable.
I choose not to name the school or school district where this particular problem proliferates because abuse by peers thrives in many schools. It would be criminal on my part to taint all of the other wonderful things that principals and teachers have done for our children. Most teachers commit their heart, soul, and life, in an effort to make our children the best that they can be.
One possible solution to this problem is to report all instances of bullying first to the teacher and the principal. If nothing is done within a few days report the incident to the school superintendant; this action has the effect of putting the administrators on the same playing field. If the bullying still persists contact your local board of education. The act of informing the teacher, principal, superintendent, and the board of education, has the effect of bridging the communications gap which often exists between different levels of administration. I would expect results after this action is taken.
Please! Please! Please! Forward this article to your friends and ask them to share incidents of bullying that their children have experienced, in the comments section of this blog. Please include suggestions that might help quench bullying in our schools! It would be wonderful if you would refrain from verbally destroying a particular school or school district; this has the effect of punishing our teachers that have always been advocates for our young adults.
Again, please report instances of bullying first to the teacher and principal, then to the Superintendant, and finally to the Board of Education. Together we can eradicate the scourge of bullying , from our schools.
