Oh I agree, the world is a better place without "bullies" but when you really get down to it for the victim of a bully, its a whole lot easier to fix their situation on a one to one basis than it is to fix the whole bad parental line that created a bully. I am a simple man, and I like simple solutions. In my own simple personal experiences, putting a fist to the bully ended any said bullying. I prefer to go with a tested theory than spending all day pondering every possible negative outcome of every possible action/solution. Sometimes its simply better to just act, and to do so directly, and deliberately.
I have issues with the school BEING the bully. Am not looking forward to oldest starting middles school next year. He is small for his age and geeky; doesn't always act socially appropriate. He will be at MMS :cry:
We teach that there is a difference between tattling and telling. We explain what tattling is and the difference between that and telling. We encourage children to tell, if someone has threatened them or another with physical violence or bullied them, or if they feel endangered. They are urged to act immediately to let an adult know if they perceive a threat. To their credit, Cleveland Middles School tells that to incoming 6th graders during their 6th grade parent-student orientation. They dispel the rumors and concerns, as in..I'll get locked inside my locker, or the older kids will pick on me, or I'll get lost in the school. The keep 6th grade on one hallway, segregated unto themselves, which I believe eases the transition into middle school. The methods in which bullying is addressed is drastically different than when I was in school in the 60s and 70s. Yes, we handled the situations differently then. Yet, kids didn't brings guns and knives to school then. And, teens then seemed to have more of a conscience or at least a sense of dire choices ensued by unwanted punishment. These days, it seems that even the smallest disagreements have a specter of gun violence attached.
