School bullies: Fighting back

by Editor · Published August 20, 2003 · Updated September 20, 2017

Statistics suggesting that half of all children subjected to bullying in schools are likely to develop psychological harm as a result of such harassment should alarm us.

The phenomenon of bullying has long been indulged as a rite of passage that forms part of normal schooling, and has been viewed inaccurately as involving physical violence only.

The problem is much more serious than that. Peer abuse is an infringement on the rights of the child, and has a way of compromising the victims’ personal and academic development. It is a social disease, no less.

As we report this week, peer abuse includes not only physical intimidation and theft, but also non-corporal forms of persecution such as persistent taunting and teasing, sexual harassment, gossip and social ostracism. The latter especially is an insidious type which is difficult to identify and impossible to legislate against.

In more affluent schools, bullies have even taken to employing modern technology, such as cellphones and the Internet, to harass their victims. Again, it is difficult to root out such forms of peer abuse.

Bullying is, of course, contrary to gospel values. It also is an acute problem with far-reaching consequences for individuals and society.

The two American teenagers who in 1999 committed mass murder at the Columbine school in Colorado received little sympathy for their actions, understandably so. At the same time, few observers noted that these boys were driven to their brutal assault partly as a consequence of being bullied and marginalised at school.

It is evident that neither educators nor parents were conscious of the extent of bullying at the school, nor did they know how to recognise or confront the warning signals.

The lessons of Columbine, although an extreme case, magnify the need for educating parents and teachers in how to spot signs of bullying.

Schools and parents must take a proactive approach to bullying. This involves not only identifying and ending bullying when it occurs, but also prevention of peer abuse.

Such prevention would, of course, include reactive measures. However, as our report rightly stresses, prevention must be based on a change of values in schools and homes.

Likewise, an effective anti-bullying approach must seek to identify why a child or teenager engages in abusive behaviour.

Often bullies are themselves bullied, by schoolmates or at home. Others may have psychological problems that may require intervention, or are not receiving adequate supervision from their parents. It is evident that by addressing the causes for bullying, the effects of the phenomenon can be reduced.

There should be no room in schools for situations that cause children hurt and anxiety. This also includes initiation rituals that are designed to humiliate and degrade.

Bullying is not a rite of passage or part of normal school life. It can do permanent psychological harm, to victims and perpetrators alike.

Children have the right to be educated in a safe environment without fear.

The Catholic Institute of Education through its Centre for School Quality Improve-ment and participating Catholic schools are to be commended for creatively working towards that right in South Africa. May their initiative be followed in all schools.