Posts Tagged ‘Suicide’

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Labelling Children is Extremely Harmful

July 27, 2012

We have all cheated on something in our lifetime. I’m not endorsing cheating by any means, but we have all done it.

A child who is found to be cheating should be confronted, but not in front of the class and should definitely not have to put up with unnecessary and unhelpful labels and be subjected to gruesome corporal type punishment:

Unable to bear the trauma of being labeled a ‘cheat’ and unable to bear the taunts of her teachers, an 11-year-old girl jumped to her death from the roof of the five-storied apartment building of in which her school. The incident took place is located in Howrah’s Bijoy Kumar Mukherjee Road on Thursday morning. The incident highlights the poor state of affairs in educational institutions across the state. In spite of a blanket ban on corporal punishment, students are regularly falling victim to high-handedness of teachers. This is, however, the first time in recent years that a child has been driven to suicide by those she is supposed to trust and respect.

The principal of the school and the concerned teacher were detained following a complaint from the girl’s father Shiv Narayan Mishra. He claimed that principal Dilip Kumar Dubey gave his daughter a tongue-lashing, telling her to ‘go to hell’ and remain uneducated for the rest of her life. This may have led the Class-VI girl to suicide. While the school operates from the first floor of the building, the other floors have residential flats which had given the kid access to the roof.

Click on the link to read Child Commits Suicide Due to Alleged Systematic Bullying and Inept Teachers

Click on the link to read The Cure for Suicide Isn’t Another Educational Program 

Click on the link to read Sick Teachers Need to be Arrested not Fired!

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Posted in Professional Conduct | 2 Comments »

The Difficulties of Parenting a Bullied Child

March 2, 2012

It must be so difficult on parents to keep their child’s spirit up when they are getting bullied at school or online. My heart goes out to parents of bullied children. It must take quite an emotional toll.

None more so, than father of bullied teen Catherine Bernard:

A government partnership with Facebook is also on the cards to try and stamp out the scourge after schoolgirl Catherine Bernard took her own life earlier this month.

She died after returning home from her first day of year 12.

The 17-year-old Emmaus College student from Melbourne’s eastern suburbs told her dad Michael the night she died she had been bullied at school, and later on Facebook.

An emotional Mr Bernard this morning thanked Education Minister Martin Dixon for taking the issue seriously.

“He has pledged money to support the cause and if he does what he says then it can only be a good thing,” he said.

“All I wanted is to open people’s eyes and I think that is happening.

“People have to take this issue seriously.

“If we can save just one person then it means Catherine didn’t die in vain.”

Psychologist Jodie Benveniste has outlined some tips for parents who suspect their child is a bully.

SIGNS TO LOOK FOR
– Aggressive behaviour beyond the usual sibling spats at home.
– Talking aggressively or negatively about others at school.
– Coming home with money or items that don’t belong to them.
– Spending more time on the internet than usual.
– Being hyped up, aggressive or arrogant after time on the internet.

WHAT PARENTS CAN DO
– Model good behaviour. Don’t be aggressive towards your child.
– Teach them appropriate ways to interact with others from a young age.
– Teach them appropriate coping strategies to deal with life’s challenges and disappointments.
– Keep the lines of communication open with your child. Talk to them often.
– Don’t be in denial. Work with your child’s school to address the bullying.

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Posted in Bullying, Cyber Bullying, Parenting | 2 Comments »

Schools Should Become More Involved With Cyberbullying

October 8, 2011

At present schools have been able to turn a blind-eye to cyberbullying.   As the offence occurs out of school hours, schools have been only too happy to handball the problem to the parents of the bully.  Whilst I believe that parents are ultimately responsible for the actions of their children, I ask that schools do more to help deal with this ongoing problem.

The reason why I feel schools should involve themselves more actively with this issue is that most cases result from pre-existing schoolyard bullying.  Having started in the playground and classroom, the bullying then gets transferred online.  Whilst the school isn’t liable for what goes on after school, the problem is often a result of what started during school hours.

To me, the best schools are the ones that work with the parents in a partnership for the wellbeing of their students.  For a school to excel it needs to show that it cares about its students beyond its working hours.  That is why a teacher or staff member that is aware of cyberbullying must be able to do more than discuss the issue with the class.  They must be able to contact parents, impose sanctions and actively change the situation at hand.

We also have to understand what cyberbullying is and why kids do it.

I disagree with ABC online columnist, Hemu Nigam, who is of the view that cyberbullying is about “hating” others:

Suicides from cyberbullying are extreme cases that draw attention. Media and government attention are creating a panic around the wrong issue. The issue isn’t so much that a child killed himself because he was cyberbullied. He did it because he was subjected to hate crime — harassment based on sexual preference, race and the like — couldn’t get it to stop, and felt hopeless, eventually leading to suicide. Thus, the attention needs to go to the source. How do you teach young people to be kind, open, or at the very least accepting of kids different from them?

If we are to ever put a stop to bullying — wherever and however it takes place — we must step back for a moment and think of what we have done for many years before “cyber” became an indelible part of our language.

I am reminded of this lesson my father taught my brothers and me as we were growing up. Like many kids do, we would say we “hated” something or someone. Perhaps it was a certain food or a person in our school. My father always reminded us not to hate by not allowing us to use the word “hate.” We could simply express our feelings by talking about what we didn’t like about a thing or agree with about a person.

As we adopted this house rule, we found ourselves talking about things and people we liked more than the things and people we didn’t like. Today I find myself sharing the same lesson with my own children. I am hearing them talk about things they like about a person or thing without mentioning hate. The lessons that strengthen tolerance begin in the home, “cyber”-connected or not.

It is my belief that cyber-bullying is often based on “dominance” and “popularity” rather than “hate”.  I don’t think most cyberbullies hate their victims.  Instead, I think they see them as stepping-stones to wider acceptance from their peer group.  Often the victims are minorities or outcasts.  The pressure to be in the “in group” has always been high.  For an “in group” to exist there needs to be a clearly defined “out group”.  It is often seen as a sort of right of passage for someone seeking popularity to kick the easy target.

If my theory is right, there is even more reason for schools to see cyberbullying as a problem that they have a significant share in.

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Posted in Bullying, Cyber Bullying | 5 Comments »

Introducing -The Truacy Drug!

August 2, 2011

Sooner or later there will be a drug for everything.  No problem self-made or genetic will be without its own medication.

And we will all be worse for it.

I have a very cynical view of the pharmaceutical industry.  I don’t believe what they are telling us about how they are giving children with poor concentration a quality of life they wouldn’t ordinarily have.  Maybe I should buy in to it, but I don’t.  Instead, I believe that they are replacing one problem with the threat of a much bigger problem.  The effect of drugs on a child isn’t fully known yet.  I fear that when we do have comprehensive data on the effects of drugs such as Ritalin on young children, we won’t like what we see.

The latest drug to concocted is a truancy drug.  That’s right, a drug for not wanting to go to school!  It is recommended that no child under 18 take it, but whoops, that rules out school aged children!  Not much point making a truancy drug for adults.

So  they scrap the idea, right?  Nope.  They find a way to trial the drug on kids aged as young as 11:

SCHOOL truants as young as 11 are being given a powerful ADHD and antidepressant drug in a controversial trial.

The drug, Lovan, is not recommended for anyone under the age of 18 but is being prescribed for children as part of a School Refusal Program being led by Professor Bruce Tonge.

Prof Tonge is chairman of a federal government committee setting new guidelines for the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

But the side-effects are minimal, right?  Nope.

Prof Tonge said the children on the trial and their parents had been warned of potential side-effects of Lovan, including suicidal tendencies.

The question I am bursting to ask is, why do we need a drug for something which is a product of  factors likely to be unrelated to the child’s mental state.

But asking that questions will show me up as a pharmaceutical non-believer.  Because logic isn’t important here.  What is important is that every problem must have its own approved drug.

I’d love to write more on this issue but I’ve got to take my pills now.  I’m trialling a new drug for people who don’t enjoy paying bank fees.

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Posted in Children and Medication | 1 Comment »

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 »

Teacher Stress a Real Issue

April 27, 2011

At a time when teachers are being unfairly picked on by politicians and the media and forced to take the heat for standardized test results and missed benchmarks, there is no wonder why teachers are suffering from stress.  The paperwork is ridiculously high and the support is nowhere to be seen.

Just look at what toll it is having on teachers in Britain:

An increase in Government targets and high-stakes Ofsted inspections is fuelling a rise in serious mental health problems among school staff, according to teachers’ leaders.

Most teachers said behaviour policies in schools were inconsistently enforced, allowing many pupils to get away with bad behaviour

The National Union of Teachers claim stress is now the main reason for driving teachers out of the profession.

It follows the publication of figures last year that showed almost 309,000 school teachers – more than half of the workforce – were signed off sick for an average of two weeks in 2009.

The NUT claim that staff are now routinely expected to work more than 50 hours a week after being swamped by marking and form-filling.

Speaking at the union’s annual conference in Harrogate, activities told how many teachers were resorting to alcohol to get through the day or even attempting suicide because of the workload.

Sue McMahon, branch secretary for Calderdale, West Yorkshire, said: “As a divisional secretary I have seen a meteoric rise in work-related stress and in more than one occasion have had to support a member who has attempted suicide.”

She said the problem was being caused by “the demands being placed on our members to hit Government targets”.

“We got into teaching to teach, not to be beaten by the target-driven culture of those Stepford heads who relish the Government agenda,” she said.

“The target tsunami escalating from the aspirations of this Government is sweeping away those [teachers] that you are struggling to support. And as the wave gets bigger it is leaving a trail of devastation in its wake that used to be a world class education system.”

Teachers need more support and consideration.  It isn’t an easy profession, and yet it continues to be more taxing and highly stressful than ever before.  Less paperwork, less beaurocracy, more support and more leadership from our politicians and administrators please?


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Posted in Teachers Stress | 1 Comment »

The Cure for Suicide Isn’t Another Educational Program

March 11, 2011

I think that schools should implement suicide prevention programs and should certainly train teachers in how to deal with students at risk of self harm and suicide.  However, often these programs are nothing more than scapegoats for schools with poor cultures to pretend they are dealing with the problem responsibly when they aren’t.

The program in itself sounds like a good one.

Dr Martin Harris, who is on the board of Suicide Prevention Australia, says a suicide prevention program should be considered as part of the new national curriculum.

“I think it ought not to be the prevail of a particular teacher, but it ought to be a program which is embraced in a robust way by a school when they think they’re ready to do it,” he said.

Mr Harris says mental health experts could prepare teachers on how to broach the subject in schools.

“I think for us to be saying, ‘well, it’s not my problem’, increases the risk of it being isolated and for it to be stigmatised,” he said.

“I think it’s high time the community took off the blinkers and looked more carefully about what they can and can’t do.”

But Dr Michael Carr-Gregg, a child and adolescent psychologist, has dismissed calls for a suicide prevention program in schools.

“We’ve adopted a policy for as long as I can remember, that basically says let’s talk about suicide in terms of what leads up to it, which of course is by and large mental health problems; so suicide is the outcome of what happens when you don’t treat it,” he said.

“My view has been that we’ve been doing that very successfully for the last 15 years or so – the suicide rate’s come down. I see no reason at all why we should change our policy and I would urge schools to stick to their original idea and ignore the advice from Suicide Prevention Australia.”

My worry is that every time there is a glaring problem facing school aged children, somebody develops a school program to counteract it.  The advantage of a problem is that it creates awareness in students and encourages students to talk candidly and openly about important topics.  The disadvantage is that often all it ever amounts to is a lot of talk and very little real substance.

Suicide is indeed an issue facing our students.  Many of the reasons for suicide and suicide attempts relate to problems faced at school such as social pressures, bullying and academic pressures.  Schools claim to be safe, caring environments, but we know that many aren’t.  It can be argued that many schools come across cold, distant and out of touch with the issues facing their students.  Such schools should not be allowed to hide behind programs.  They should be pressured into changing their culture by spending as much time investing in connecting with their students as they do covering themselves legally.

In my view school’s must do a lot more than take on programs.  They must do everything in their powers to support and nurture their students.  They must fight for their students’ self esteem, help them find a sense of self and give them every chance to leave school with a positive attitude and real purpose.

If you think what I’m saying is just “airy fairy”, then you’d probably be in the majority.  Meanwhile programs come and go and problems still remain.

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Posted in Suicide Prevention, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

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