Teachers and Bullying

Nine Massachusetts students made news this week when they were charged in connection to the suicide of a girl they have been accused of bullying.

The argument is that what went on with this particular student went above and beyond normal bullying. Some news sites have actually used the words "torture" and "torment."

From what I've read, it doesn't seem like "torture" is an appropriate word, but then again, those of us who remember high school know that being locked in a building with people who hate you five days a week can sometimes feel like the equivalent of a prison sentence in Turkey.

Now, principals are required to call in law enforcement when they see bullying happen.

Here's a better idea:

Why don't principals and teachers just do their jobs to make sure this doesn't happen?

Anytime I saw bullying, both in junior high and senior high, the teachers were well-aware that it was going on. I saw some teachers who wouldn't tolerate it at all, and others who looked the other way.

In the Massachusetts case, people are saying that faculty members knew about the bullying and were not consistent in trying to prevent it.

I realize it's difficult to stop something like this with the onslaught of social networking, but at the very least, they should try to make sure it doesn't happen on school grounds during school hours.

The problem is that students--girl students especially--have learned to circumvent the disciplinary system in schools by not physically assaulting anyone, but rather, by emotionally and mentally destroying them.

(Mean Girls wasn't THAT far-fetched.)

It's almost as if the Girl Bully as an animal has learned to evolve over the years to protect itself from school expulsion.

That means teachers and administration need to expand the definition of what they consider "bullying."

Anytime it seems like there's a grey area when it comes to disciplining students (and by "grey area" I mean, an area where effort is required) administrators seem to take the "not my problem" approach.

I would consider anything that actively disrupts another student's education with malicious intent bullying.

I think, for the time being, there needs to be a zero tolerance policy enforced in schools when it comes bullying. There's simply no way for a teacher/principal to know whether or not the first time they witness a kid being bullied is the actual first time or the fiftieth.

No, this will not stop bullying altogether, but it can least take it down a few notches.

I think kids are going to experience some kind bullying before they leave school, and to hope they won't is naive. That being said, if drug use goes up in schools, there's a response, or there should be. Everybody agrees on that.

We all acknowledge that when there's a problem plaguing kids in school, it needs to be dealt with urgency and intensity.

Hopefully this incident will bring about that kind of a response.