Posts Tagged ‘Bullying’

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Students “YouTubing” Their Teachers

September 1, 2011

Students have found new ways to demean and embarrass their classroom teacher.  In a digital age where students invariably have mobile phones at their disposal, teachers are often filmed without their knowledge and broadcast world-wide without their permission.

Take this prank, that for reasons unknown to me has not been banned from YouTube.  Not only is it allowed to remain, regardless of the hurt and embarrassment it must have caused the teacher, but children from all around the world have been given the opportunity to comment on it.  Apparently they think this is hysterical.  I most certainly do not:

At least Canada are doing something about it:

It’s called being “YouTubed” and the Internet is full of hundreds of videos of students either badmouthing their teachers or provoking them to explode in class, then recording the fireworks and posting it to the Web.

And parents have also gotten in on the action, posting videos where they verbally attack their kids’ teachers or post allegations against them.

But teachers have begun to fight back. On Tuesday, 800 delegates at the annual meeting of the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario voted unanimously to urge boards and schools to establish clear policies around the unauthorized use of digital recordings and photos taken by students.

Teacher Dave Buddell told CTV News on Wednesday night that he occasionally Googles his name.

“I’ve been online and looked around,” he said. “You do see instances where teachers have been filmed obviously without their consent.”

To me, there is a gaping double standard when it comes to education and social media.  Teachers are being told that it is not legal to conduct lessons and give support through mediums like Twitter, yet students are allowed to put horrendous videos like the one above without so much as a “please explain.”

It’s simply not good enough!

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Posted in Social Media, Teachers Stress | Leave a Comment »

8 Strategies for Standing Up to Bullies

August 28, 2011

I stumbled on a very useful article by Amy Kuras, giving advice for standing up to bullies.  I hope you find these suggestions very useful.

DO victim-proof your child. Kids who are different in some way tend to be targets, whether they have trouble learning, look goofy, or even are seen as being “stuck up.” It’s a fine line to walk between not stifling their individuality and making them feel like there’s something wrong with them. Help them develop social skills and enough confidence to deflect the bullies. If your child has a learning problem, enlist the school to help you help him. A counselor can teach better social skills. And if your child is kind of funny-looking, remember that everyone spends part of childhood in an “awkward phase.” Remind your kids of this if anyone picks on them for their appearance — and don’t forget to say you think they are perfect-looking the way they are!

DON’T mistake normal ebbs and flows of friendship for bullying. Bullying is behavior that is intentional, repetitive, hurtful, and comes from an imbalance of power between two kids or groups of kids. Someone not inviting your child to a birthday party isn’t necessarily bullying; someone announcing to the whole class who they invited and didn’t invite may be.

DO teach them assertive behavior. Teach your child how to take calming breaths, look the bully in the eye, say, “Stop doing that,” and walk away — or maybe they can turn it around on the bully and laugh, as if their behavior is just too ridiculous to be taken seriously. Bullies expect their victims to just roll over and take it; most won’t keep it going if they face resistance.

DON’T tell them to fight back. This is likely to backfire on your child in a big way … a classic bully move is to goad someone until they lash out, at which point the bully goes running to the nearest authority figure and plays the wounded party. As satisfying as it would be to punch that mean kid right in the nose, it’s just going to make things worse and will bring your child down to the bully’s level. And, um, this goes for you too, Mom.

DO encourage them to seek help from others. Make sure they know you’re proud of them for telling you about it. It takes a lot of courage for a kid to admit he’s being victimized. Talk to the teacher, the principal, and/or a school counselor. Most have finally gotten the message to take bullying seriously. It might also help your child to “buddy up” with a friend in the hall, the lunchroom, or the bus; if the bullying has isolated them to the point that they are socially radioactive with their peers, ask an older kid not involved in the drama to keep an eye on them. And stay on school administrators if you’re not getting satisfying results.

DON’T tell them to just ignore it. Saying this is like saying to them that you plan to ignore it too. And if your child could ignore the bullies, he would. Bullies want a reaction and will escalate their behavior until they get it.

DO talk to your child about bullying before it starts. Even if your kid never is victimized and never picks on someone, the bystander has an important role to play by letting the bully know that behavior is not okay. Encourage your child to stand up to bullies, even if he doesn’t like the kid being victimized. After all, bullies make life harder for everyone.

Most importantly, DO make sure your home is a place where your children can feel loved and accepted for who they are. Encourage them to pursue their passions through after-school activities that can help them meet more like-minded kids, boost their self-esteem, and gain confidence. That’s the best way to stop your kid turning into a bully’s OR victim.

Click on the link to read my post about the mistreatment of a girl who stood up to bullies.

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Posted in Bullying | 4 Comments »

A Nut Allergy is Not a Disability

August 16, 2011

Being a father of a young girl with a nut allergy, I really hope that schools work hard to reduce the stigma of a child with anaphylaxis.  It would be a shame if she was ostracised or treated differently because of the allergy.  I personally am in awe of how she can deal with eating differently from her peers without so much as a whimper.  She just accepts her lot and doesn’t let it get her down.

I hope she never gets bullied because of it:

Children with potentially deadly nut allergies are being bullied for being different, say researchers.

And their parents are stigmatised as ‘neurotic and attention-seeking’ by other parents, they found.

Relatives of some victims of the condition are even suspected of deliberately giving a child nuts to check they really are allergic.

Overall, the impact of a nut allergy is so great that it could be considered a disability, the Leicester University researchers found.They interviewed 26 families from the Leicester area about their experiences.

Some children told how they were bullied by classmates, who taunted them about their allergy and threatened to trigger it.

What loving family member in their right mind would feed nuts to a child with a severe nut allergy to check if they are really allergic?    And for those parents that think we are “too neurotic” about ensuring that our children are safe and not exposed to substances that can kill them, take a long walk down a short pier.

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Posted in Anaphylaxis | 6 Comments »

Bullying Parents Should be Severely Punished

August 16, 2011

I don’t understand why parents can’t be subject to the kinds of consequences their children are for bullying and harassment.  Parents who set up internet groups and Facebook pages to spread untruths about their childs’ teacher should be punished for their actions.  Anything from a warning to in the most serious offences expulsion of their child from school is appropriate.

Some may think this is a bit harsh and that children should not be penalised for the deeds of their parents, but bullying is a very serious offence and schools that take it seriously reap the rewards by maintaining a safe environment.  Schools are too dismissive of parents who bully teachers.  Teachers often feel marginalised and lacking of support.  The statement that bullying of any kind will result in strong penalties is essential to delivering the best outcomes from an academic and social standpoint.

Bullying like this should not be tolerated:

Teachers are the latest group found to be at risk of cyber-bullying, according to a recent report.

The study by Professor Andy Phippen found several instances where teachers had been targeted for abuse by social media users on websites such as Facebook and Twitter.

One head teacher interviewed for the study said she had a breakdown and was left feeling suicidal.

The headteacher suffered a year of abuse by a parent at her school who used a Google group to post libellous untruths about her and her school. “I eventually had a mini breakdown in the summer holiday, needing an emergency doctor to be called out as I had become suicidal,” she told researchers.

The message should ring loud and clear – Either play by our rules or find somewhere else to send your kids!

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Posted in Bullying, Cyber Bullying, Teacher Welfare | 1 Comment »

900 British Students Suspended Per Day

July 29, 2011

It seems student violence is a major issue in Britain.  Reading that 900 students are suspended each day for physical and verbal violence towards teachers and classmates, indicates to me schools in Britain are at crisis point.  It seems that whatever they are doing clearly isn’t working:

Bad behaviour is blighting Britain’s schools with almost 900 children suspended every day for attacking or verbally abusing their teachers and classmates, new figures show.

Every school day 13 pupils are permanently expelled for attacks and abuse and 878 are suspended in England’s primary and secondary schools.

The figures, from the Department for Education, include physical assaults, racist abuse and threatening behaviour.

In total, they show school children were suspended on 166,900 occasions for assault or abuse.

And pupils were expelled on 2,460 occasions.

And the level of violence in primary schools was also high with children aged four and under suspended 1,210 times and expelled 20 times.

Across all of England’s primary, secondary and special schools, boys were around four times more likely to be expelled than girls, with boys accounting for 78 per cent of expulsions

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Posted in Bullying | 4 Comments »

One of the Saddest Stories of the Year

July 24, 2011

After reading an article about how students hijacked a website in memory of a girl who committed suicide, I felt angry and deflated.  What makes the story worse is she killed herself as a result of cyberbullying:

PRINCIPALS have condemned “heartless” school bullies who hijacked website pages set up in honour of a Sydney teen who committed suicide last week.

Dannii Sanders, from Castle Hill, took her life on Tuesday after she was allegedly tormented on Facebook.

But when Dannii’s devastated friends created a Facebook tribute page, the bullying continued as users flooded the page with derogatory remarks.

“Guys I can’t take all this internet bullying. I think I’ma kill myself,” mocked a user.

“Deserved it. I (laughed out loud) hard,” another wrote.

When Dannii’s friends spoke up against the bullies, posting “Let her be in peace”, one tormentor replied: “What is she gonna do though?

Read the comments and kill herself again?”

During the week at least three Facebook groups set up in Dannii’s honour were removed after pranksters posted abuse.

One group’s page called “Stop bullying NOW: In memory of Danni Sanders” was defaced with a disturbing image of the 14-year-old’s head in a noose containing the caption, “place head here”.

Sheree Vertigan, the Australian Secondary Principals Association Head, said the online onslaught was some of the most vicious she had encountered and “an example of 21st century bullying at its worst”.

She said those making inappropriate comments should face legal action as it was defamation.

Ms. Vertifan is absolutely right.  Those responsible should be charged for their defamatory words.  But we should demand that cyberbullies of all types are banned from all social media.  Cyberbullies should not have Facebook and Twitter accounts.

I’ve got a message for cyberbullies:

Look at the consequences of being bullied!  Don’t expect to get away without consequences of your own!

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Posted in Cyber Bullying, Social Media | 1 Comment »

Some Principals Seem to Be Ignorant About Bullying

July 11, 2011

Pricipals are concerned that parents use the “bully” label too quickly, without properly understanding what a “bully” is.  They believe that parents often get “bratty” behaviours mixed up with bullying ones.

BRATTY students are being unfairly branded bullies by parents and teachers who do not know the meaning of the word, according to a Victorian educator.

Peter Hockey, head of Beaconhills College junior school, said the word “bully” was overused and victims of schoolyard nastiness should harden up.

“Rather than just say, ‘Well that person is a bully and that person is a victim’, we need to empower children to stand up and confront these people who are being nasty,” Mr Hockey said.

“I don’t like to say ‘toughen up’, but they need to be taught to argue back or stand up for what they believe is right, explain themselves more fully or use humour or whatever other skills they have.”

Sure, resilience is a valuable skill and one worth advocating, but Mr. Hockey’s approach sounds defeatist to me.  Harassed students shouldn’t need to stand up for themselves, they should have support from teachers and school administrators (including Principals).  Students will naturally “toughen up” when they have the support of others.  When they’re left on their own, they often fail to properly assert themselves.

 

The veteran educator said the correct definition of a bully was “a person who is habitually cruel to others who are weaker”.

Mr Hockey said he had only encountered a handful of bullies in his 36 years of teaching.

“I have taught many children who have been nasty to others, but these children are not bullies,” Mr Hockey said.

“They are very often simply being nasty because they have been hurt by a situation, or they are being selfish or are responding to an earlier problem.”

He said most “nasty” children could be taught to be nice, while bullies were born bad.

That’s just nonsense Mr. Hockey.  “Born bad”?  Bullies don’t need to be born bad, they just need to harass, torment or seek to undermine others.

 

“To label a child a bully who has made the mistake of being nasty is wrong,” Mr Hockey said.

“Nasty and naughty behaviour is fixable and we must educate all not to engage in this sort of behaviour.”

Are you saying that “bullies” are not “fixable”?

 

At the end of the day, these labels are irrelevant.  What really matters is that those students who are negatively affected by others are given the support they need and those that recklessly hurt others get the consequences they deserve.

 

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Posted in Bullying | Leave a Comment »

Teacher Humiliates Student For Not Doing Her Homework!

July 6, 2011

If proven, this is a horrible case of teaching at its worst.  To strip a student naked and make her clean the toilets all because she didn’t complete her homework is just shocking!  The fact that the parents couldn’t get a proper response when they took the matter up to the relevant authorities just makes matter worse.  Not to mention the allegation that other teachers watched the poor girl and didn’t intervene in any way:

The Gujarat government has ordered an inquiry into the affairs of a minority institution in Ahmedabad where a six-year-old student of class one was reportedly paraded naked in the all-girl school and made to clean toilets. All because she had not completed her home work and the class teacher found her handwriting to be “too bad.”

The class teacher was arrested after the parents lodged a police complaint against her and some of the trustees of the private high school in the minority-dominated area of Shahpur in the heart of the city.

The incident occurred on Friday, but the girl kept quiet and, under threat from the class teacher, did not even inform the incident to her parents till one of her schoolmates spilled the beans on Monday after the girl showed reluctance to go to school.

As the word spread in the neighbourhood, the enraged parents first tried to meet the trustees of the school and, after failing to get a satisfactory answer, lodged a complaint with the Shahpur police.

According to District Education Officer R.H. Patel, though the school was unregistered, the government had taken cognisance of the incident and would go to the root of the problem.

According to the father of the girl, she was stripped naked, made to do sit-ups, paraded in the school naked, was forced to clean the toilets and was locked in there for a few hours.

Though it is an all-girl school, some of the class four staff members are male and her parents felt outraged that she was watched by some male staff when paraded naked in the school. The trustees, however, claimed that only her veil was removed by the teacher.

This, however, is reportedly not the first such incident in the school. Another guardian complained that his daughter was given a similar punishment by the same teacher in March. When he tried to lodge a complaint against her with the trustees, he, in turn, was named in a police compliant lodged by the trustees.

I am appalled by this story.  It gives teachers a bad name.

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Posted in Classroom Management, Professional Conduct | Leave a Comment »

Middle Children More Likely to Become Bullies

June 28, 2011

A recent study has explored the so-called “Middle Child Syndrome”, and came to the conclusion that being a middle child increases your likelihood of becoming a bully.

CHILDREN with both older and younger siblings have a higher chance of becoming bullies, according to research.

The Institute for Social and Economic Research at the University of Essex and the University of Warwick conducted the study covering some 40,000 British households.

It was traditionally assumed that the oldest child is likely to dominate or use violence against his or her siblings. However, it turned out that those in between had a higher chance of being involved in physical conflict while striving for parents’ attention, as well as competing for power among siblings.

The study also showed that children who received corporal punishment are more likely to bully siblings or their peers. Of the about 2,000 children researched, about 42 per cent of those who experienced physical punishment resorted to bullying.

‘We know from experience that sibling bullying increases the risk of involvement in bullying at school,’ Professor Dieter Wolke, the co-author of the study told a local media.

‘Children involved in bullying are 14 times more likely to suffer behavioural and emotional problems; they have no place that is safe for them.’ It is known that the manner of bullying at home showed no relationship to the education or economic level of households.

I am surprised by the findings.  I can see how being the oldest or youngest child can draw one into bullying habits, but I am surprised that it is the middle child who is most likely to become a bully.

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Posted in Bullying, Corporal Punishment | 1 Comment »

“Fight Club” School Uncovered and the School Defends it!

June 24, 2011

Twenty four students are suspended in South Australian school Stuart High for starting their own version of a Fight Club at lunchtime.

What makes this story so bizarre is that the school knew about it and didn’t take any action until footage was disseminated online.

The school’s principal says fight club had been going on for some time and they’ll now offer army cadet training for students to exercise instead.

Not only did the school know about it, but they initiated the club:

One of the parents Mick says it started off as an organised activity by the school itself.

“It was an organised activity at the school but the teacher never turned up, so the students took it into their own hands to organise their own exhibition.”

So what does the school Principal have to say about the violent exchanges occurring in the schoolyard every day?

School principal Veronica Conley said the fights were based on the movie Fight Club, and some of the students followed the film’s motto “whatever happens at Fight Club, stays at Fight Club”.

“It was not horrible, they were using boxing gloves and if anyone got hurt they stopped the fight and checked if he was all right,” Ms Conley told The Advertiser last night.

“Some of the parents were upset that we suspended everyone we identified on the footage, even those who were watching, but it was not safe, some schools have boxing at their school but it needs to be supervised.

“When you have kids this young and energetic they look to use that energy. We first became suspicious when we noticed they all failed to come to a soccer competition that occurred on the same day.”

You have got to be joking!  At least the Education Minister is horrified, right?  Nope!

“They went into an unused room and in groups, using boxing gloves, carrying out a fight club was, of course, unauthorised and from time to time some students were injured through that,” he said.

“All of the students who participated and all of the bystanders have been suspended by the school and all of the parents have been notified.”

What about the school?  Who is supervising?  Who suggested such a practise?  What about the Principal that seems to be defending her students’ right to box at lunch time?

What an awful response to a unnaceptable episode.

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Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

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