Nullius in Verba

Monday, November 16, 2009

Anti Bullying Week

It's anti bullying week at school. What constitutes bullying? Why does bullying take place? Have you noticed bullying at our school? What can we do about it? Please share your thoughts.


29 comments:

Duwane.A said...

It is? ...Well, its very low key then, has anyone heard anything about it?!

Bullying is everywhere. Period. Theres no denying it at any school, even with the strictest rules and regulations something is bound to happen. As for noticing it? Well not that I can really remember. But I'm sure its lurking around somewhere.

Its just an occurance of some mislead child who wants to take his/her anger out on someone. And as I was saying, it happens everywhere, in a school of 1000+ people your bound to find some of the examples. And my interpretation of it is just that it's whenever a person wants to take out their anger on the outside world by means of intimidation.

Unknown said...

Well we were told that it was anti-bullying week, but I really dont see anything different happening in thw school. Bullying is something that can be found anywhere and everywhere. It does not neccesarily have to take place at school, it can be at your workplace, it can be anywhere.

Bullying takes place due to various reasons. It can be that someone is simply putting out his anger through bullying. It could be a sign of dominance. Or simply, it could be that the bully just wants to have some fun and uses a poor kid as his source of entertainment.

I have noticed bullying at our school, but not to a decree that should be taken seriously. Compared to my school in Sri Lanka, Winchester is loads, loads, loads, loads, loads, and more loads better. :D

Unknown said...

Yes yes, Duwane would know. He bullies me everyday, :(

Back to the point.
I think bullying is a deranged, emotionally unstable and otherwise a social outcasts' way of getting attention. I mean, if you can't come to love someone they'll just find a way for you to start hating them. Either way, they're getting SOME form of attention!

It's difficult to find a solution to this complex problem. Not everyone bullies for the same reason and so the ways to deal with them are different. Like, if a boy is having distressing problems at home and removes his frustration in school, you can't punish him in the same way you would punish one who's just trying to exhibit his 'machismo'. The problem would only get worse. I think the key factor is to identify WHY a person is bullying others and try to help him in the best way possible, give him an outlet to express himself by other means rather than violent behavior.

Remember: every bully has a scared little, weeping wuss hidden inside. :)

Mo Nour El Din said...

True, it will happen everywhere, not only in school, but, literally, everywhere. Teachers might get bullied, who knows?

Anyway, as others stated before, it can be due to mental, or nervous, breakdowns, or just a personality problem. But I dont think thats the case. I think its an environmental issue, something that we create, as a society in general, to beckon others to follow. We all have this little adrenalin rush when we are about to break a rule, thinking of the consequences, and, when it has been broken, it gives us great joy. Bullying is a form of this feeling, believe it or not, and it is just an example that that person can break the rules. Not only break it, but escape with it.

Bullying is, most frequently, a personality problem, where one person just picks on the other as a joke, but, the person being picked on is not happy, therefore that person is being bullied. Bullying can take on so many forms, but, it eventually narrows down to the individual person, who is purposely trying to prove to his/her friends that he/she is funny, and, in this way, it spreads faster than a virus, so that more and more people are bullying others. See, it all starts with the one rebel, to create an entire army of rebels, marching for a vague reason, or for no reason at all, thus, it is in this form that I find bullying, mostly, environmentally inflicted.

There is of course the people who are immune to the virus, and, this proves that it only occurs from an individual or individuals.

Payam H.D said...

Bullying, as the above comments have mentioned, can be found anywhere and everywhere.

Though I have not yet witnessed a bullying of an extreme level in this school, there are bound to be some lurking in the shadows. :p

An individual may use bullying as a way to extract his/her own anger on to someone else who has shown a sign of weakness, because bullies themselves, I believe, are even weaker than the innocents they prey on as they cannot think to choose another alternative to soothe their emotional periods.

Others may bully to show a sense of dominance or superiority, although I think authoritative and superior qualities are better seen through team leadership, aiding people when they are in need and much more.

In conclusion, bullying is a sign of weakness and having emotional instability and a person who thinks bullying young kids is the answer to all their problems is in for a rude awakening as they eventually realise it leads to nothing but criminal behaviour.

Sorry for the essay! :P

Duwane.A said...

Was it just me or was that comment specificaly directed towards me?

Speaking of types of bullying, Sonal was right, it doesnt have to be in school. It can be taken out of school, like onto an english blog! The internet is just another place where people can exhert their anger through "Cyber-Bullying".

And Faiza the contradiction in what you said was outrageous... Saying that all bullies are deranged and emotionally unstable for "Reasons... Different for each" is just silly. To even start to describe who bullies are or why they do what they do would take some serious writing if you get into specifics...

Unknown said...

Perfect example of bullying: Duwane's comment just above this one.

NOTE the 'I think..'
I have every right to personal opinion. Stop trying to cyber bully me. :)

Duwane.A said...

!?

Your personal opinion on a subject where we needed fact! If everyone does have there varied reasons how can you believe that all of them are like that?!

I'm not going to continue this argument... I think we're starting to turn the blog site into a place for us to debate...

Unknown said...

No, Sir's question CLEARLY states 'Please share your thoughts'
Quit trying so hard Duwane.

And for once, I agree with you. Let's stop arguing here.

Nadine said...

A girl on my bus, in 2nd grade was crying a week back because some of her classmates were being mean to her. In fact, my bus is full of mini-bullies. I think bullying could be a product of two things:

1.As in the case of mini-bullies, they just think it makes them more revered or respected by their classmates. It's human nature isn't it, to want power, even in the youngest of kids.

2. As everyone stated earlier, misdirection of anger, stress, and confusion basically. I have seen bullying in school, the bullies are no longer in school though, but the ones I knew particularly always had a point to prove: That they're strong, that they should never be underestimated. To me, that all comes down to lack of self confidence. Bullying in that case was just a facade to hide their actual fears and weaknesses.

neineisharie said...

Bullying, whatever definition or reasoning you might want to give it, is a disgusting thing. Preying on someone smaller, more vulnerable than yourself is equivalent to the worst possible kind of harassment. You're destroying someone's self-esteem, you're taking advantage of someone's weaknesses. Whatever the reason behind the bullying it is just. plain. wrong.

People need to stand up for themselves. In most cases, the minute you shout back at the bully, that is the minute they will back off and leave you alone. Show them you're strong, show them you can't be intimidated by petty insults. No one deserves to be pushed around and when we realize this, that is when the world will become a better place.

Sappy, yes, but so very true.

Ishi_S said...

Bullying... vast topic, I couldn't even begin to list out all the possible reasons why bullying occurs as it seems the list is constantly growing. The most elementary reason: personal stress.. family problems, friend problems or self problems, take it out on defenceless person = smile on bully's face. But I think there's another very vicious reason for bullying - fun; yes, some people actually find it fun to bully, it makes them feel powerful and gives them a thrill, we may find it distasteful but they find it exhilirating, infact it could escalate to the point of addiction. I've seen many instances of bullying and surprisingly the dominant age group is elementary school children. For some reason the need to be established as a leader is embedded within their system already, alarming but true. But at the end of the day, there may be many reasons but the conclusion is one: bullying is bad and more often than not, it affects more than just 2 people, it needs to be stopped.

Kris_BG said...

As everyone has mentioned above, bullying takes place in various places, due to various reasons and in various ways. What I think is interesting is that bullying is such a common thing that we are somewhat conditioned to view it as something normal. In fact, we can often see it in between friends. Because, honestly speaking, what we do to each other IS bullying. We search for faults, point and laugh, apply peer pressure, mock , all sorts of thing that if we did to some stranger would be immediately pointed out as bullying. Why is it ok to do it between friends?

I'm sure there a complex and interesting explanation if one cares to look deep enough. Then again, maybe it's just how we get our kicks out of life. :)

Unknown said...

There are a lot of reasons why bullies bully. It could be that they do not get love and affection from their parents. It could be that they want attention due to no one paying attention at home. They also might bully to feel strong and dominating.

Bullying happens everywhere, it could be really sophisticated like discrimination or racism. I haven't really noticed bullying in the secondary other than the usual joking around. However, in the primary I really do see this happening. For e.g My sister's class, there is one girl who seems to think she knows everything (shes also a prefect) and well basically dominates the whole class by telling them what to do and if they don't they get into big trouble!

Unknown said...

Bullying is human nature. Getting rid of it would be like getting rid of the oppisite sex.

Can't live with it. Can't live without it.

So just deal with it.

Unknown said...

Bullies are people who have an un-stable life or lifestyle. They take out the anger formed by family, peer pressure, harsh times and maybe even being bullied.
There is hardly any physical bullying in our school but there is alot of verbal bullying; gossiping, ignoring and backbiting... and not surprisingly always with girls.
I just think our population (including our school and many others) needs time to mature

Unknown said...

Just like Nadine I saw this Year 6 girl being ignored and talked bad about in the morning and then in the afternoon the same bullies were eyeing her chocolate brownies and she KINDLY OFFERED! I gave her a huge lecture that 'they talk about you behind your back and you're giving them food now?' lol poor girl but I may have contributed to her being an independent woman :P

Nnamdi said...

Bullying is a horrible deed that may ruin ones high school years.I dont get bullied but if i did get bullied i know that i would not be able to handle the pressure of getting bullied.Bullying happens in all kind of ways and im sure we have all bullied someone without even realizing it.And im pretty sure that hunting is a method of bullying animals.

Aliza said...

Sometimes, even I do bully people. That is saying that deliberately ignoring others in the feeling that, 'Oh, I'm better than you' is bullying.

But physical and oral bullying must have repurcussions. And the punishments should be harsh. Because it can really shake the confidence of a person.

I dont know whether it would be called bullying or not, but I have this teacher who calls me by my whole name whenever she addresses me infront of everyone else. Now, normally, teachers never address a student they teach regularly by their full name. Aliza would be just fine. But 'Aliza Khalid, can you explain that answer' is seriously nagging! And she does it only with meee!! Always! :(:(

Mr. Roberts said...

Aliza,
If it bothers you so much, you should tell the teacher (nicely, with a smile). I'm sure she doesn't realise the effect it is having on you.

asima...=D said...

BULLYING..... a topic that really sets me off!!! i can talk about it non-stop!! i really feel that people who bully are emotionally unstable, its generally caused by peer pressure, even children who are spoilt tend to feel superior to others and take out their anger on them!!
to be honest im sure bullying exist somewhere in school, in some form but i haven't really seen it, ( except MR ROBERTS torturing us in English lolzz hahahha just joking)!!!

priyanka.nathaline.lopez said...

I think that bullying is definately something found world wide. It is one of those Human traits that all of us carry within us due to our highly developed minds and different personalities. It only depends on whether we are provoked by factors or not to lead us to "bully" our peers or in many cases, people we do not know or perhaps hav not even ever met before.
I think most of the comments have correctly stated why people are provoked to become bullys,
1.Peer pressure,influence of gangs
2.Family problems
3.Self-esteem issues
4.Rare but in some cases true-bored

Master Rahul said...

There is going be bullying everywhere, it is not possible to find out everytime when bullying takes place. The bully may say: "If you snitch on me, wait and watch what I do to you". This will scare the victim and he/she will probably stay quiet in most cases.

The bully does what he/she does because he/she wants to show everyone that he/she has power and respect.

Normally, bullying takes place where not many people are, e.g. the toilets, corners, alley-ways etc. In school, one way of preventing bullying is to have somebody with authority monitoring places like the ones mentioned above. The person with authority shouldn't be scared, if he/she is scared then its pointless having him/her there. This person should be firm, straight to the point and preferably somebody who can protect themselves!

I, myself havnt noticed any bullying in school but I'm pretty sure there will be people who are being bullied!
If at anytime I do witness bullying, without any hesitation I will make my way to stop it immediately.

Unknown said...

Well, Im sorry, but I feel bullying is just a way of life. It just happens.

There are the crude forms like big students picking on smaller students, but I can find NO difference between that and parents punishing their kids for not getting good grades.

As far as bullying is concerned, I think peer pressure AND parental pressure is pretty much the same!

Only difference, One is frowned upon, the other is encouraged! So, Im sorry if I don't think that beating a child is NOT the best way to make him open a textbook.

memomadness69 said...

Shouldn't we be more reasonable with bullies? Understanding why and what their purpose for bullying is also to consider.

It's easy to say that bullies are monstrous creature with low i.q's that are not capable of understanding there self. But, everything people do has a purpose or reason.
We may not want to admit it, but bullies tend to have a trait we admire: courage.
What they do may not be smart, but they have the guts to challenge other people.
Bullies are so mad at everybody for not liking them, all they want to do is be like everyone else.
Bullies may not know to approach people either.
Based on their personal life experience, it may have accumulated to much anger held inside them.
Then again, is it our problem?

Well fire fought with fire creates more fire, if we "expell" and "call parents" it only makes things worser, how about a student counciler? or school psychologist.

Anonymous said...

There are many things that constitute bullying, such as; problems at home, low self esteem, jealousy, and rivalry. But I also think there are many types of bullying. We all have those friends that bully us for fun, but we do not mind because we know they do not mean it. Then there are the bullies who hurt others to be macho, and because they themselves are being hurt and they need to transfer that energy to someone else. Sort of like everyone standing by a tree during a thunder storm and holding hands, the shock would go from one body to the next.

Unfortunately, there will always be bullies in the world and there really is not much we can do to change them, we can definitely try and help them but they must also want to change.

And i have witnessed bullying at school, more at this school than i remember there being back in America to be honest. Especially amongst the primary children, sir it almost scares me to think of what the next generation might become at this rate. I mean i know kids bully and its natural, but some of the things i've seen are just extreme! And i do not see one adult doing a thing about it.


The perfect solution i think would be all of us turning into hippies :D

Unknown said...

Bullying occurs wherever you go, theres no doubt about it. People bully for various reasons. Sometimes people are scapegoated as bullies venture out their anger they have, due to their own personal issues, on innocent individuals. It may be because they feel superior when bullying someone who is weaker than themselves. There are more reasons which I'm nt going to get into now.
Sometimes we may notice it but don't do anything about it, however in other cases we may just be oblivious to it.
There are different forms of bullying, even continuously insulting someone, for example and targetting them 'for fun' is bullying. The person doing this may not be conscious themselves that they're bullying the other person and in the same way the person BEING bullied may not realize it. Bullying is basically hurting someone emotionally or physically and we sometimes may do it as a joke but not realize the circumstances it has on the person.

Yusra Shah said...

People who are depressed, who (for example have family) problems take out their anger on other people by bulling them…well of course bullying happens everywhere but I have not seen bullying in this school (yet).. but I’m pretty sure it happens out.

The solution: I think what Mr. Green said might work.

Unknown said...

I think bullying is part of life and bullies are everywhere and its just the pent up emotions and anger that people and children have that they went out on people that they think will take it. It happens in the workplace and schools..its just that when there are kids who are bullies..its easy to spot. There are loads of bullies in the adult world and who knows there are some teachers who bully too!
As long as its not drastic and physical, it is part of life.
Reporting people who bully only makes it worse for the receipient. Having a few discussions in school and with teachers about this topic and the teachers taking action against the perpartrators by shaming them would be a start.
'Survival of the fittest' is all great, but stepping on people and proving your bravaodo is just that a mean a viscious person who is a BULLY.