Are the schools doing anything? (Bullying in Schools)

Member Name: jimmibb

Product:	Bullying in Schools
Date:	19/06/02 (129 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: none

Disadvantages: mucking up peoples lifes

With the work I do in primary school’s, not only do I work with some bullies I also get to see the schools actions against bullying. The work I do with individual bullies is a very small part of my work and only if there are other problems with the child. I won’t go into to much detail about my work but a lot of children who do bully are sometimes reflecting the behaviour that they see at home, parents and local people using physical violence to get what they want. This does not justify what they do but can help to see why they bully.

My real problem with bullying lies with the schools, local authorities and the government and the way they deal with it. While the schools have wonderful bullying policy’s they do not seem to be implementing them. I have heard Teachers reactions to a child reporting bullying, “I told him to keep away, if he can’t manage that then it’s his own fault.” The child had been kicked very hard and a big bruise was forming, the child who kicked him wasn’t going to be spoken to until I intervened. Another thing I heard was actually told to a parent after complaining about her child being bullied, “While we can keep an eye on the children in the class, we can’t watch them in the playground.” The problem with some schools (the ones I visit anyway) is there is only usually only one person in the playground which is normally the janitor and on a good day two, when the head teacher isn't at meeting etc. I am not having a go at teachers as I know they need breaks but I feel if the schools or local authorities were serious about stopping bullying then they would release money to employ people to work specifically in playgrounds during breaks.

A few friends have also told me of their experiences with the schools their kids go to. They have also come up against “we are doing all we can” attitude while not actually doing anything. One person was told that
it was her child that was the bully not the other way around, when she showed the teacher the bite marks her son had it was brushed off, my friend then went on to say if her son was bullying what were they doing about that, their answer, “nothing”.

As has been pointed out in other opinions in this subject, society as a whole is geared to rewarding bullying, right from Nursery’s through advertisements right up to the politicians in the House of Commons. I believe if the government is serious about stopping bullying then not only should they show a good example to us in the House of Commons by stopping their booing etc, they should also put in a lot of money and research into stopping it, giving the schools the staffing, training and resources to make a difference.

As a footnote I too was bullied at school and after a long campaign of suffering, I saw the bully on his own and all my anger and frustration boiled up and I laid into him, knocking him to the ground and I only stopped hitting him when some passers-by pulled me off. I had become the bully to this person, even if it was only the once. Please understand, while this stopped the bullying from continuing I DO NOT condone this as a way of dealing with bullies, as it can sometimes escalated the situation. I believe that if my school had taken the bullying seriously and intervened. I would not have had to resort to violence.

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