The National Forum   Donate   Your Account   On Line Opinion   Forum   Blogs   Polling   About   
The Forum - On Line Opinion's article discussion area



Syndicate
RSS/XML


RSS 2.0

Main Articles General

Sign In      Register

The Forum > Article Comments > Home education can help prevent bullying > Comments

Home education can help prevent bullying : Comments

By Susan Wight, published 29/12/2005

Susan Wight argues home education is an answer to bullying

  1. Pages:
  2. 1
  3. 2
  4. 3
  5. ...
  6. 10
  7. 11
  8. 12
  9. Page 13
  10. 14
  11. 15
  12. 16
  13. ...
  14. 42
  15. 43
  16. 44
  17. All
I presume we are only talking about junior school, as with our current assessment methods, how can home schooled kids qualify for uni. Very few parents could supply the range of subjects my kids wanted in high school.
My father was a company trouble shooter, so I went to 17 schools.
As the new chum, I was bullied at each new school. When I was 8 my father took me to a gym, & had me taught to box, & then to fight. At my next school I took out the first 2 bullies. When I did not take over the bully roll, the bullie's followers did not know what to do, & the system collapsed.
The same thing happened at the next couple of schools.
My next experience with bullying was when my daughter was 8 & was punched as she got off the school bus. When it happened again, I made some arrangements.
The next day, when the bus stopped, at our country stop, I was waiting with a borrowed 10 Ft stock whip over my sholder. I had never touched a stock whip, but I was the only one who knew that.
I will never forget the look of fear, & horror on the face of the bus drivers face as I climbed on the bus.
Not knowing who the bully was, I looked down the bus & said, "I can take a bot fly off a horse with this". "Put your bloody hands in your pocket, & keep them there". "If ever I hear of you punching anyone again, I'll chop your ears off with this, & jam them down your throat".
For the next 2 years, anyone with a bully problem, had my daughter threaten the bully with my whip.
The only way to stop any bully is with strength, & the fear of retribution. By comming down hard, you not only save the bullied, but the bully as well. Perhaps its time to give the school principal back his cane, in the interest of all concerned.
Posted by Hasbeen, Sunday, 1 January 2006 12:00:52 AM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
Let's face it the epidemic of bullying is too important for any parent, teacher, or adminstrator to ignore. For those who are interested in suggesting a bullying program to the schools that works, I have one. The Compass Program is being given to schools at no charge, it only needs to be requested.
If we become involved and work together it is amazing what a difference we can make. We need to hold students accountable for their actions otherwise how will learn about responsibility.

The Compass Program is available at www.stoppingschoolviolence.com let your school know.
Posted by Randel, Sunday, 1 January 2006 1:43:35 AM
Find out more about this user Visit this user's webpage Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
When my youngest began high school he was excited and happy to be moving on from primary school to the next stage of his life. He'd been School Captain in Year 6, a bright and studious boy, organised, kind and respectful. Bullying began the day he went for high school orientation, when he was punched in the stomach by an older boy during lunch, unseen of course by any staff. The first week of high school saw it resume in almost daily incidents by a couple of class bullies, one who came from primary school already in an established gang - teasing, intimidation, breaking of his pencils, cut up pencil cases & ruined zippers, school bag kicked, thrown and ripped, lunch snatched out of his hands and thrown in the dirt, hard slaps or punches to the head as bullies ran by, ears pulled, legs stuck out as he walked by so that he tripped, phone calls at home, etc. My son, early on, was fairly horrified by all this behaviour and reported various incidents to the staff. Then, as he felt little or nothing was being done, he told me and I/we spoke to staff. It reached the point where he didn't say anything to the teachers or assistant principals or me as he feared further, more sneaky, attacks. He became depressed, withdrawn, despondent, and his academics were suffering greatly.

It was months of slow and consistent eroding of his confidence and self esteem. Classes were changed, programs were put in place but not effective. The gang ended up throwing him against a brick wall and issued a death threat. My son was advised by the school, for his safety, to remain in either the library or a special classroom during all breaks. The bully and his gang were supposedly not allowed to enter these rooms at any time (but did manage it on a couple of occasions) but apparently were allowed the run of the rest of the school which left me wondering who was the one being punished here.

To be continued
Posted by eco, Sunday, 1 January 2006 2:56:08 AM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
Continued…
No staff/AP I spoke to seemed able to understand my problem with this, although the school prided itself on it's Zero Tolerance policy.

One day I dropped my children off, wondered as I drove home if this was the day my son would be bashed and taken to hospital, and decided I would take them out, that day, to homeschool. This is a much abbreviated retelling of a problem with affected both sons at that school.

I felt for the children who had to remain at that school, however I had to take care of the safety of my children. Sadly, this is not an isolated incident at either that school or others.

A couple of years on, my sons are feeling happy and eager to learn in the real world outside of school. My youngest has regained his confidence and self esteem to the point he is feeling very good about himself.

To those who say that bullying is almost a requirement, to toughen one up or prepare one for the future... well, I do hope that any or all future jobs, companies and projects that my children are involved in as adults do not have co-workers that regularly go round breaking their belongings or punching them in the head as they pass, so why should that be acceptable to children?

Bullying is a huge problem, in my opinion, and one not easily solved. First thing to do is to get the heads of educational officials out of the sand and seeing the problem for what it truly is, for more people to speak up and speak out and let those officials know that what is occurring is not acceptable.

M
Posted by eco, Sunday, 1 January 2006 3:00:43 AM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
Bullying in schools is a symptom of a wider problem of violence
in society at large. We need to adopt a zero tolerance against violence
in all aspects of life. Dealing with this problem requires a whole community approach. If we all did our part in condemning violence of any form then we may make some headway.Home schooling is not the best option as it is only a temporary solution. When the whole school community is involved in stemming bullying then a more sustainable solution to the problem will be found. Many times I have found that the bully at school is bullied at home. There is no one solution to this problem. We need to take a wholistic approach and attack this problem as a whole. I support zero tolerance for violence in any form or kind.

Jeshua
Posted by jeshua, Sunday, 1 January 2006 9:00:43 AM
Find out more about this user Visit this user's webpage Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
There are so many ways to bully. My family have made formal allegations of bullying and are taking it to the highest of levels in the Department and we have done this for the sake of all the children. For that my children and family have been black marked and are targeted by the system.

One school even formerly accused my son of harassment. The acting Deputy Principal told parents at parent teacher interview to keep their sons away from my son as he was a trouble maker! However, my son had never done anything wrong. It was me who had made formal complaints and allegations against the Education System of neglect and misconduct including bullying on behalf of my children. When I challenged the allegations of bullying against my son as my son believed he was being victimized and targeted, I was told that the details of the incident didn’t matter that they had three teacher statements that said my son did it and also student statements. After I pursued the matter and insisted that my son had a right to defend the allegations they finally gave me the date of the “alleged incident”, it worked out that my son was at home sick on that day, he couldn’t have done it. They should have checked their roll before they plucked a date out of the air. It wasn’t the first time this had happened. It was a witch hunt. The school was trying to ruin my son’s reputation and it isn’t too difficult to do because although my son is a good polite and high achieving student – he is of Lebanese background. The message has been clear all along in schools. If you speak up – your children will suffer. It really is irrelevant whether the bullies are teachers or students – the process used is the same.

More parents have to complain and have to support fellow parents who do complain. People are scared to speak up against the bullies as they know that the system does not support victims or whistleblowers. That needs to change
Posted by Jolanda, Sunday, 1 January 2006 9:04:47 AM
Find out more about this user Visit this user's webpage Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
  1. Pages:
  2. 1
  3. 2
  4. 3
  5. ...
  6. 10
  7. 11
  8. 12
  9. Page 13
  10. 14
  11. 15
  12. 16
  13. ...
  14. 42
  15. 43
  16. 44
  17. All

About Us :: Search :: Discuss :: Feedback :: Legals :: Privacy