divine_msn,
So what happens to the alleged perpetrators if they are found guilty and sent to prison?

Will they break the law again?

Possibly, if they like the notoriety and the attention they receive in prison. They might actually like punishment, because when they are being punished, they are getting attention.

It is best to put the lid on it at a younger age, but I doubt that punishment works very well. Other strategies can be used.

I have had to supervise many different people including a few ex-crims. One was a car thief as a teenager who eventually went to jail, and when they came out they joined a bickie gang and became their “cook” (or drug maker). He went back to jail again for a number of offences, and eventually I had to supervise him doing a job in a sugar mill.

I never had any problems with him, and for that matter I rarely had problems from anyone, and never enquired about someone’s upbringing or past life.

Their upbringing or past life didn’t matter that much, unless they were psychotic.

Any sort of trouble or cheek from someone, and immediately ask them questions. They learn that this will be the routine, and eventually they stop giving trouble.

Shorbe
It is interesting that males built the schools (and are still building schools).

How do you think males were supervised while building the schools?

And how do you think males were taught to be builders?

With corporal punishment?

I think this whole “school bully” and “disruptive students” thing is just being used as an excuse for poor teaching methods and lack of motivation by the teachers in the schools.

Why is everyone of the opinion that "institutionalisation" - in school or elsewhere - would bring out the best qualities in a human being?

(I know I'm wasting my time with that statement - but I thought I'd throw it in anyway.)

institutionalisation,
Poirot,
Institutionalisation ? Isn't that exactly what we've had thus far ? Teachers not thinking or acting on their own initiative ? Only doing what they're told to do ? That is institutionalisation.
That's why kids run riot because no-one's prepared to go against the system i.e. institutionalisation. If teachers were to make a move & lobby the authorities then they would have an impact on bullying. By doing nothing but blaming everyone else the kids get more out of hand. Why not strike for the right to slap a mongrel kid ? I bet 99% of parents would sanction it. Why not have cameras for those parents who think their little darling is innocent. Teachers must make the first move, after all they're the ones spending most time with kids & having most influence.

I agree with Shorbe. This issue begins with the ersoion of the power of the teacher to deal effectively with poblems. They are hamstrung by the stupid rules under which they are forced to work.

Every child deserves an education has turned into, 'any child who happily disrupts the whole class and prevents everyone else from learning - must be allowed to remain in their class" Same with those who assault other students and teachers.

http://www.urlesque.com/2011/03/16/zangief-kid-casey-heynes-bully-anonymous/

This poor fat kid being picked on by kids 3 years younger was lucky to be bigger and stronger and to finally overcome his fear. But He shouldn't have to be lucky. We need to be teaching our kids that we don't pick on people for being different, and that acts of bastardry like this are taken very seriously.

I don't believe in Vanna's tactics. Bullies generally operate within highly self-reinforcing social groups. The chance of a teacher being more influential than their peers is extremely unlikely

Houellebecq is just a simpleton. I deat with bullies with violence as well when I was at school. But the fact is that it is not always practical. I was never as isolated as some kids are. I had friends which makes dealing with these issues a lot easier. But I know many kids who were ostracised for no fault of their own (merely their inability to correctly mimic the dominant group behaviour)\ Often the kids doing the bullying are older and bigger/stronger. The idea that the victims of these attacks are inviting their attacks is OUTRAGEOUS. If not COWARDLY.

Yes children need to be taught anti bullying tactics, and the parents of bullied kids need to take some responsibility to find out if its occuring and to try and stop it. But the fact remains, that we need to hold people responsible for their behaviour. We need to send a message that bashing someone who won't fight back is a cowardly act that is deserving of serious punishment. Punishment that fits the crime.

PaulL
If you read the interviews of the boy being bullied in the video, he claims that he was bullied every day he was at that school, and I find it impossible to believe that the teachers didn’t notice this.

Looking at the video, it appears that the perpetrator also carried out the bullying with complete impunity.

The parents of the boy being bullied had handed their child over to the school, and the teachers had turned a blind eye to the bullying going on.

As I have mentioned previously, bullying can be stopped very effectively at a very early stage with just a few questions being asked of a perpetrator. No corporal punishment or detention is necessary.

But the teachers and the principal where most likely aware of the bullying, and had not acted, or whatever they did was ineffective.

Bullying is a safety risk, and under risk management legislation, I certainly believe the principal should be immediately stood down, for allowing a safety risk to occur for so long.

Then each teacher should be investigated by the police or other government authorities to see whether they should be stood down also, and whether the school should be closed.

Vanna,

Thats arrant nonsense. Your trumpeting of health and safety seems unbelieveable. The incident took a total of about 30 seconds. There is simply no way to monitor all of the students all of the time. Its not a prison and teachers aren't warders. There are fights at schools every day. When I was at school there was at least one every week, often more. If you sacked every principal whose pupils were involved in fighting you'd have no principals left.

We don't know if the kid reported any of his bullying. If he did and it was ignored then thats a problem. But reporting it it is almost never effective because the school is always hamstrung by rules imposed by the education department doo gooders. And it almost always leads to more bullying for dobbing

Their tack (ED), and yours, has been to de-emphasize the importance of the student and their parents in dealing with poor behaviour and overemphasising the role of the school and its teachers.

You may be right that talking to primary school bullies is effective if you catch it early enough. By high school I don't think so. The mix of testorone, peer pressure and the desire to rebel, trumps rationality and fairness every time. Some kids need to be expelled. Teachers have enough to do, teaching their students. They don't have time to be continually correcting the outrageous behaviour of students who have been taught that if they play it right they will never have to face serious consequences.

The way you would have it, all of a teacher's time would be consumed by those who are least willing to be taught. This is simply unacceptable and it is one of the reasons why we have far fewer teachers than we need.

It is a simple matter of fairness. The burden of bad behaviour needs to be placed first, upon the person misbehaving. If its a teenager we should still look to them first, their parents are next in line. Then we can worry about the teachers and whether they are complicit.