How to get rid of Bullies
February 10, 2012
Topics: School Discipline;
Dealing with schoolyard bullies is a constant problem for school administrators and students alike. Bullying is a unique kind of behavior. It is a constant harassment and torment by one person against another.
In some cases, a group of students will gang up on another student, but in most cases bullies act alone, and only call in reinforcements when they are feeling particularly mean. Many people associate bullying with boys, but in every school there are numerous girl bullies who are just as mean as boy bullies, sometimes even worse.
Every class has a bully, and every bully has a few favorite victims. Many school administrators and sociologists have tried to sort out the root causes of bullying and the best solutions for it.
The most common approach is to enforce a zero tolerance policy against bullying, meaning that anyone who bullies someone else is immediately given a strict punishment. No three strike rule, no mercy, just an immediate punishment.
This policy works well when teachers know exactly what is going on and which students to watch. However, most bullying takes place throughout the day, at lunch, at recess, in class, in the hallway, and on the school bus. A single teacher may only hear a single insult, and not be aware that it is part of a constant and degrading pattern that continues all day, everyday. Individual insults or threats can be bad in themselves, but bullying is significantly worse. It is a pattern.
Because of this problem, other administrators argue that the best way to prevent bullying is to empower the victim. It is much easier to teach students how to stand up for themselves and to promote mutual support among students than to try to single out individual cases of bullying. Many bullies are perfectly friendly to most students, but extremely mean to a select few victims. Teaching students to support each other and to stand up not only for themselves, but also for each other, may be a better way to reduce bullying. The downside to this approach is that it relies on students to take matters into their own hands.
Can you think of a good way to end bullying? How can students and teachers work together to put an end to it? Have you been bullied? Have you ever joined in picking on another student just because your friends did? Have you ever bullied anyone? How can this problem be resolved?
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