First, I apologize for posting such a heartbreaking story. The necessity of bully education is very important. Because of this terrible crime, the child's father has now become devoted to preventing bullying for special needs students.
I would like to learn from you, what are the schools doing to prevent bullying?
Thanks
This story is indeed heartbreaking but it was a good share. I do not know specifics as to what schools are doing to prevent bullying. It is extremely empowering though how someone can go through so much pain yet use it to better the lives of others. There is something so noble in that. It would be so easy to cower away and suffer from the pain enflicted upon you but it takes so much strength to stand up and work to ensure the pain enflicted on you doesn't happen to others. This child's father is a hero in my eyes. I don't know much about what schools are doing overall but there is one program that I think is highly beneficial. My school had a thing called Challenge Day for the Freshman class every year. This day was dedicated to learning more about your peers, seeing what they have been through and the support systems they have. It opens students eyes to the fact they are not alone and there are others who are also struggling equally if not more than they. It really bonds the class together and minimizes bullying at least for a little bit. I think this program would be a lot more beneficial if it was repeated every year rather than just the one time Freshman year.
ReplyDeleteLike Stacey I am not in the schools and so I do not know what the latest attempts at bully prevention are, but clearly, overall, it needs to be better because things like this are still happening, and there are plenty more kids just like him out there dealing with these issues everyday.
ReplyDeleteMy high school did not ever talk about bullying, at least not to us directly. We had no events or awareness flyers anywhere on our campus. I know girls who were bullied or stigmatized or just put on the margins and kept there, and it was horrible.
I hope they are doing more today
I think as bullying has become more openly discussed schools are doing what they can to help the issue. I will agree that my school didn't do much if anything at all to prevent bullying. Everything takes time to get implemented, now with texts and social media issues just get spread even faster.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, there has been an increasing number of stories like this in the past few years. It is truly heartbreaking that students even consider suicide as a "way-out" of their problems, as it poses the question of whether or not they have a positive role model that they can confide in.
ReplyDeleteI definitely feel that social media has made bullying much more prevalent in the past few years. Ten years ago, when bullying consisted of cliques, name-calling, and being left out at recess, it never really followed students home. Today, however, there is little escape, and schools may feel that it is not their place to address social media bullying. I feel that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to bullying in schools (there have been several situations in which a "zero-tolerance" policy has gone awry), however schools do have an obligation to teach positive youth development and peer social skills early on as a way to prevent bullying before it becomes out of control.