Quote:
Originally posted by Aelia Jusa:
To me the playground sense of honour helps the bullies and makes it worse. Now you have a situation where the bully can do whatever they like and make some kid's life a living hell, and they can say 'you tell anyone and you'll be breaking the code of honour', basically giving them a 'legitimate' reason to bully them more if they do tell. So the kid not only has to endure torment from the bully, but if they tell, also the ostracising of most of their classmates. The whole concept of protecting people like bullies because of some idea of 'honour' is ludicrous! If people are beaten or raped or mugged out in the real world and they know their attacker are they encouraged to keep silent so the perpetrator won't get into trouble? And yet if a bully beats up one of their classmates or engages in insidious mental and emotional abuse leading them to fake illnesses to miss school and totally withdraw into themselves and someone asks them who's responsible the honourable thing is to say 'no one'? What rubbish [img]graemlins/idontagreeatall.gif[/img] .
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I agree. But a lot of kids don't see it that way. Not so much for girls, but for boys the stereotype is to simply suck it up and deal with it, or to fight back and stand up for yourself. I'm not saying they shouldn't say it, simply that that's what they think. I work at a summer camp, and oftentimes, the best way to deal with a bully is to talk to them, and get them to express themselves. Usually their pretty good kids, but they are angry and confused.
I also agree with Bardan. IMO, bullying is treated as a nuisance, a problem for kids to deal with in order to mature. However, it's so much worse than that. I remember watching a TV special on bullying a few years back. The parents and kids reported it to the administrator who said, "You've got to learn to deal with people. It's a fact in the adult world." And I think my feelings were best summed up with the comment of one of the parents, "When was the last time I got body slammed standing in line at a grocery store?"
It's adults not being able to understand kids, quite honestly. And if they can't, what the hell are they doing in education?
