Thoughts on Bullying... (Kari)

I believe that schools and the people that are in them are all a part of society, and schools should not be thought of as places where kids go to learn how to be a part of society once they graduate. In that regard, I don’t completely agree with Gribble’s quote that says “educators have overlooked that children are actually members of society already”, particularly in relation to school violence.

I think that schools today are more aware of the challenges that they face regarding violence issues (especially bullying) that are happening in and out of the school building. However, I do not think that they are always sure how to handle these situations; especially because each situation is unique and it often takes a lot of time to resolve. It can oftentimes be difficult to know who is involved in these situations because a lot of the bullying behaviors are done when adults may not be paying attention or even when there are no adults around (especially indirect bullying).

The reality is that schools today are typically so large that teachers, especially in high school, do not have a chance to connect with their students. This leaves students that are having issues with bullying not knowing where they can go or who they can talk to. Cliques/social groups are a natural part of the junior high/high school environment, but they are often where this harassment occurs (you don’t have to have seen the movie Mean Girls to know what I’m talking about. I really think that the movie made some excellent observations, and it was actually based on the book Queen Bees and Wannabes by Rosalind Wiseman.). It is my belief that this “social exclusion” is something that a lot of adults can also be guilty of; it just seems to be handled differently when people are older. The teen years are so critical to social development, and that is why schools should have the necessary support in place for students that are having difficulty with their peers.

Although these don’t typically happen in the elementary grades, school shootings are realities that usually occur after prolonged harassment/bullying. As Brian showed us in his presentation, there have been shootings in schools dating back to the early 1900’s, and the frequency has continued to increase over the years. I don’t think that it’s any coincidence that the media outlets (radio, newspaper, television and internet) have increased their coverage over time as well. The media tends to “glorify” violent acts, and this is one reason I think that it is important for teachers (especially in the older grades) to be able to have discussions about what is going on not only in the world, but also in student’s everyday lives. Unfortunately, there is not often time to do this, and it is only when a major disaster occurs that students are able to have those discussions. (I remember when Columbine happened back in 1999. My high-school English teacher let us watch part of the news coverage and then we had an hour long discussion about it).

I think a lot of problems occur in schools because most of what students do outside of the classroom is their own choice. They choose what they watch on TV, what movies they see and what songs they listen to on their IPods. When they are younger it is often monitored more closely by parents, but as children get older it is impossible for parents to know everything that their child being exposed to. It is my belief that teachers/school personnel are not oblivious to what their students are seeing and hearing, but they may not always know how to approach the subject. They usually do not feel that it is their “job” to approach those topics, and leave it up to parents to raise their children.I read an article in Education Week that talked about how students are actually video taping fights in schools and posting them on YouTube. The article says that a lot of it is being done for attention and kids want their “15 megabytes of fame”, even going so far as to “faking” fights and planning them in order to get as much attention as they can. Schools have said that students’ posting the videos has actually helped them in a way to identify who was involved in order to administer the proper punishment, however the fact that this is even happening is something that really needs to be addressed.

There is so much that goes into this issue, but what I think it really boils down to is the basic human desire to be acknowledged. People, especially children, want to know that others care about them and are paying attention to what they are doing, and when they don’t feel that then they may start to act out. It is important for schools and teachers to be able to recognize the signs of bullying and have a plan on how they will handle it, before something extreme happens. I think that the programs that were discussed in class regarding bullying are great ways to bring up the subject, but it needs to be something that is discussed frequently, not just a one-time thing.