Related Articles Bully Prevention Creative programs show success against bullying
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By Lu Hanessian Another school year is underway and as millions of students get settled into new classrooms with their teachers and learn to navigate the sea of new and familiar faces, there is one subject that may become an inhibiting factor in their education this year. It's not teacher layoffs, fewer tech resources or concern about the economy. It's bullying. According to Stuart Green, founding director of the New Jersey Coalition of Bullying Awareness and Prevention, it's a very serious problem that "leaves a lot of children behind." "Kids are inhibited and distracted," says Green. "They're preoccupied about self-protection. Bullying takes their eye off the ball of learning. Unless kids feel secure and included in the life of a school, they do not learn adequately." "I think it's a very frustrating topic for schools because bullying is so covert," says Kim Pinto, coordinator of New Jersey Child Assault Prevention, based in Gloucester County. "A lot of people don't consider it bullying until it's physical. The black eye. I don't think it's taken as seriously as it needs to be taken. Schools often don't want to deal with it." But schools are faced with the reality of bullying—in all of its complex forms—and many are at a loss for effective solutions. Part of this frustration lies in our perceptions and mythologies surrounding bullying, as well as our own personal stories. Pinto says, "It depends on how the adult has processed their own history. If this teacher experienced bullying as a child and now has worked through it, he or she is going to be a great person to help a child out. "There's still a thought process that it's a normal part of childhood," says Pinto. "There's a perception that bullying makes you stronger in the end. Are there people who come out stronger? Yes. But that's not the majority." Green explains, "Up until about 40 years ago, we knew nothing about childhood bullying and everything we thought we knew was wrong. We had the "Lord of the Flies' model, the notion that bullying is something that arises naturally and inevitably and that it's a characteristic of childhood, that it's a developmentally normal aspect of growing up. The idea that children will turn wild and hurt each other." Read the full article at the Courier-Post: |