Judge: Stamp out bullying

Bermuda High Court Judge, Barbadian Carlisle Greaves, says the time has come to adopt a “zero tolerace” approach to school bullying.While he admits there were always bullies in school, Greaves argues the practice should have been stamped out long ago.He told the Weekend Nation: “We allowed it to get too far. “But I think there was not a proper analysis of it and a real philosophical approach to it and I think it has grown and passed on from generation to generation and it has reached the stage now where it seems to be endemic not only in Barbados but in societies around the world.”The High Court Judge reflected on his own school experience  “with a whole set of bullies” and the way it has influenced him as a judicial officer. “I seem not to find a lot of mercy for bullies, people who just take advantage of other people just because they feel they can and I think a lot of that comes right out of the school system,” Greaves remarked.He recommended putting “a lot of things in place”, making education an important priority among them.“You have to preach certain  principles  and morality in school, every day at assembly, how important it is to treat your neighbour as yourself.”On corporal punishment, Greaves stated emphatically: “I think beating people physically is wrong whether they are children or whether they are adults, and that is from what people would describe as a tough judge.”“It makes you afraid,” he said, while suggesting that the timidity exhibited by Barbadians could