Staff writer – Maureen Gordon
Bullying is a phenomenon which is rife in schools and in the work place. But what makes a person become a bully. I believe it is all about power and often the bullied becomes the bully. I was a victim of this at primary school, it was a very unhappy and unpleasant phase in my life and I would not wish this on anyone. Bullying in secondary schools in the U.K are said to be the worst in Europe, statistics show that almost half of children and young people 46% say that they have been bullied during their time at school.
I was also interested in an article I read in the Jamaican observer which stated that bullying is a reflection of society; children bring what they learn in society to school. In Jamaica what seems more prevalent is that bullies tend to target children who seem to have no visible adult in their lives, and therefore it is unlikely that the behaviour will be reported.
Bullying can take many forms, from teasing, to pushing someone around to spreading rumours, it could be name calling, mocking, taking someone’s belongings, such as extorting money, to physical violence. The 21st century has also brought another form of bullying to the forefront, cyber bullying which is the use of technology such as mobile phones and the internet, particularly social networking sites mostly to send malicious and threatening messages designed to cause the maximum amount of distress to its victim.
The fact is bullying makes people’s lives a misery it undermines confidence and leaves people feeling insecure about themselves, people who are bullied can feel very alone it can appear that no-one can help them to make the bullying stop, or punish the perpetrator. Many young people tell me that they don’t want to be “snitches” and will suffer in silence because they fear the situation will get worse if they tell anyone. Bullying can and does have devastating consequences, newspaper headlines often depict the aftermath: a young person or an adult taking their own lives as a result of bullying. Often the question people ask, is why did this happen, and I wish I had done something to stop it.
Photo courtesy mormonman.edublogs.org
What can parents do?
If your child is being bullied do something about it. Find out from the school what is being done; find out what is the school’s anti-bullying policy. Make sure your child knows that you are taking their concerns seriously and working with the school to deal with it.
If your child is the one being accused of bullying, make sure they are not being influenced by what they have observed in the family, people using force or aggression to get what they want. Make sure they understand that their behaviour is unacceptable. The message has to be clear, that any form of bullying should never be ignored or tolerated. We have to learn to treat others as we ourselves would like to be treated.
I look forward to hearing your views on this subject.
