I finally took some time to read a bit about the father in Kaukauna that posted a Facebook picture with his son displaying an anti-bullying sign. His son, a 6th grader at River View Middle School, had his shoes taken from him by two boys, and then lifted over another student's head. He was then body slammed on a wrestling mat three times. The boy had a sore back and neck, but was not seriously hurt. The school said that the police school liason officer interviewed 11 students and teacher, but determined that no crime was committed. I don't want to comment on that aspect because I don't know the entire story. However, something must have occurred!
Recently, a friend of mine posted a status on Facebook about how her son, who has a disability, was bullied at a local school. Someone pushed him off a chair, called him the "R-word," and then began to cry. He was then yelled at for crying. Other students went to report it to the school office, but my friend was never told about the incident! Come to find out, it wasn't the first time something had happened to her son. Eventually, the mother of the bully called her to apologize and talk, and the bully wrote the boy an apology letter. Some closure, but to me, no where near enough!
Another friend of mine recently began home-schooling her daughter because of how much she's been bullied.
THIS MAKES ME SICK! How on God's great earth can this sort of stuff keep happening? How can SOME (not all!) school administrators, teachers, and other students turn their heads and not do anything? Why does ANYONE deserve to be treated like that and not be stuck up for??? Something needs to be done with this. I remember throughout school that there were kids that were picked on--it even happened to me early on in grade school. It makes me wonder if I was ever the one doing the teasing. If I did, I sincerely apologize to anyone that I did that too. I know it's cliche, but it's these types of injustices that made me want to become a police officer, and I look forward to helping these victims get some sort of justice.
So, what can we do as a society to help and prevent this type of stuff from happening? I am leaning towards supporting the proposed bill by a state lawmaker to penalize school officials and teachers if they find out they've ignored bullying--it's a start! I know some of my teacher friends don't agree with that, but to me it's a start to the broader discussion. It's no different if I neglect to report abuse that I hear about--both with my role as a law enforcement officer, as well as my role as a religion teacher at my church. I know the problem comes down to how to enforce the issue, but I think something has to be done to hold the ADULTS in these situations more accountable. If someone fails to report something (ie. Joe Paterno), they are JUST AS GUILTY as the kids doing the bullying. I know it's hard to "trust" our system, but something has to give.
Here is the link to the Post-Crecent story about the Kaukauna man and his son: http://www.postcrescent.com/article/20130328/APC0101/303280304/Father-s-Facebook-post-prompts-Kaukauna-schools-investigate-bullying-story-video-
It's worth a read. I sincerely hope and pray that this stuff can have attention drawn to it VERY SOON in order to make this problem go away. Until then, treat each other with respect...please.
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In my soc class last semester we discussed the problem with bullying and the concept behind it. She beleives that it comes down to a couple different componets and I couldn't agree more. It seems that most bullying comes from neglected children and children that see bullying from their role models or parents. For some of these children they may be acting out to finally gain the attention they are lookign for from their parents, even if it is in a negative and violent way. In terms of the role models it comes down to learning and if your at that age where you take in information like a sponge they're going to repeat what they see. Either way it needs to stop and is 100% unacceptable!!!!!!
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