After a recent speight of bullying incidents, the New Zealand Government has kicked into gear by …. writing letters to schools!
The letters, to be written by Education Minister Anne Tolley, will demand for schools to become tough on policing and preventing bullying.
What caused the need for such a response (albeit a lame one)?
This month, two teenagers were taken to hospital after schoolyard attacks. On March 8, a 15-year-old girl was punched and kicked as she walked home from Wanganui Girls’ College.
She was hospitalised and said the attack had left her unconscious, bleeding from the ears and with extensive bruising. The assault was filmed.
Also this month, a teenager was hospitalised after being beaten in another schoolyard fight.
The attack on the Lynfield College, Auckland, student was filmed on a cellphone and shared.
Whilst I find bystanders who film acts of bullying instead of intervening extremely upsetting, it seems that video evidence is the only successful device for waking Governments (as well as some schools) up to the realties of their inert response to this very serious issue. If the Casey “Body Slam” incident had not been filmed, his school would still arguably be hiding from its responsibilities today.
Will writing letters work? Of course not!
Mr Shearer (Labor MP) said tough action was needed not letter writing.
“John Key(Prime Minister) has a clear pattern of behaviour – he raises hopes high that he is going to fix things, and then comes up with wet solutions that don’t help at all.
Writing to schools about bullying is a good way of saying he is worried about the issue but a useless way of making a difference,” Mr Shearer said.
“If they want to get rid of bullying they will have to take on some tough and complex problems – including getting tougher on intervening with the families of bad kids and with bad parents.
“The Government has to start intervening in the huge gap between haves and have not’s in the education system, instead of making it worse. And the Government has to support anti-violence campaigns in the community instead of cancelling them to pay for high income tax cuts.”
In my opinion, schools that are failing to curb bullying, should be assessed and made to comply with the resulting recommendations. If they don’t, the Government should strip them of their funding.
A school that doesn’t take a proactive and emphatic stance on bullies and schoolyard bullying, doesn’t deserve a cent of taxpayers money!
Topical Teaching 