Although I doubt prosecution will do any good, that is not the real question, it is just the only response a failed society has to clean up the mess its made, to lessen the shame of failing to provide a safe learning environment for Phoebe. Stalking, assaulting and verbally abusing an adult is a crime. It ought to be treated seriously when one child commits violence on another.
Bullying is a serious violation of human and civil rights of the individual. Those rights do not disappear just because a person is a child. Ensuring the right of an individual to autonomy and safety requires greater vigilance when a child is concerned, because they are less capable of defending their self or even prohibited from self-defense by school rules, which the bully does not care to follow, but the victim must to avoid being doubly victimized, first by the bully and second by the clueless school administrators.
The bullied child is often put in a situation with no way out. They are forced by law to attend the place of torture (school). They must choose between suffering the assaults of the bully or the punishments of the place of torture (school). They may see the only way out of their predicament to be suicide or violence. It is the school that ties the hands of the victim for the bully. In that way they are responsible.
Although children must be given room to make mistakes, it seems absurd on its face to classify bullying, a premeditated, systematic and consistent assault on a child, as a mistake. We are told teenager's brains are not fully developed. The victim's brains are not fully developed either, yet there is no protection for them, no consideration for them; the bullies are adept at manipulating the school rules, pulling the wool over the eyes of administrators and teachers, while the victim may be without the social tools to deal with them. Most children are not true bullies and they make mistakes in teasing, but bullying is not teasing. If we can't recognize the difference between teasing and bullying, perhaps the adults need to go to school. Our concern should not be for bullies, but should be for the victim of bullying. The bully has made their bed, let them lie in it. That is the best way for the them to learn the folly of their ways.
It is claimed the bullying was no more than that experienced by other children at the school. Are we to say she did not have a right to a safe learning environment because others did not either? Are we to judge and determine Phoebe's experience, moreover, by those who would bully her, who may have bullied her, who were indifferent to her and who are said to not be as sensitive to bullying as her? It only matters what the experience was to her.
Research into bullying at school and in the adult workplace shows a connection between bullying and the prevalence of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. This is a serious matter with life long psychological and health consequences. Who will pay for these consequences over the lifetime of the victim, society? Are those who say a certain amount of bullying is just part of growing up willing to compensate victims?
Each child has the right to a safe, peaceful, comfortable learning environment without exception and it is the responsibility of society to ensure it as long as children are required by society to attend public school. If society cannot secure such an environment, then children should not be required to attend public places of torture (so-called schools).
Bullying is a serious violation of human and civil rights of the individual. Those rights do not disappear just because a person is a child. Ensuring the right of an individual to autonomy and safety requires greater vigilance when a child is concerned, because they are less capable of defending their self or even prohibited from self-defense by school rules, which the bully does not care to follow, but the victim must to avoid being doubly victimized, first by the bully and second by the clueless school administrators.
The bullied child is often put in a situation with no way out. They are forced by law to attend the place of torture (school). They must choose between suffering the assaults of the bully or the punishments of the place of torture (school). They may see the only way out of their predicament to be suicide or violence. It is the school that ties the hands of the victim for the bully. In that way they are responsible.
Although children must be given room to make mistakes, it seems absurd on its face to classify bullying, a premeditated, systematic and consistent assault on a child, as a mistake. We are told teenager's brains are not fully developed. The victim's brains are not fully developed either, yet there is no protection for them, no consideration for them; the bullies are adept at manipulating the school rules, pulling the wool over the eyes of administrators and teachers, while the victim may be without the social tools to deal with them. Most children are not true bullies and they make mistakes in teasing, but bullying is not teasing. If we can't recognize the difference between teasing and bullying, perhaps the adults need to go to school. Our concern should not be for bullies, but should be for the victim of bullying. The bully has made their bed, let them lie in it. That is the best way for the them to learn the folly of their ways.
It is claimed the bullying was no more than that experienced by other children at the school. Are we to say she did not have a right to a safe learning environment because others did not either? Are we to judge and determine Phoebe's experience, moreover, by those who would bully her, who may have bullied her, who were indifferent to her and who are said to not be as sensitive to bullying as her? It only matters what the experience was to her.
Research into bullying at school and in the adult workplace shows a connection between bullying and the prevalence of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. This is a serious matter with life long psychological and health consequences. Who will pay for these consequences over the lifetime of the victim, society? Are those who say a certain amount of bullying is just part of growing up willing to compensate victims?
Each child has the right to a safe, peaceful, comfortable learning environment without exception and it is the responsibility of society to ensure it as long as children are required by society to attend public school. If society cannot secure such an environment, then children should not be required to attend public places of torture (so-called schools).
Comments