Bullying in schools has been going on from time immemorial. Some schools, in order to present and preserve a good face, would deny that it exists at their school, or play it down as not a major problem. Some would even ignore it. Hence it never got the serious attention it should have had.
But now, like a sore left unattended, bullying has broken out into an almost incurable sickness. I suspect that the exposure it has been given on the “social media” – mainly Facebook – has caused its astronomical rise in sickening popularity.
Regardless of whatever path it took to reach its present state, bullying is indeed a serious problem, and not limited to Barbados, but throughout the world.
However, we here in Barbados cannot solve the world’s problem until we solve our own. If everyone were to solve their own problem, then the world’s problems would automatically be solved.
First, we must establish what is bullying. It is explained that “bullying is the use of force, threat, or coercion to abuse, intimidate, or aggressively impose domination over others. The behaviour is often repeated and habitual. One essential prerequisite is the perception, by the bully and by others, of an imbalance of social or physical power. Bullying consists of four basic types of abuse – emotional, verbal, physical, and cyber”.
It can clearly be seen from the above compendium that some of what we in Barbados have been calling bullying is in fact not so. “The behaviour is often repeated and habitual” should tell you that to hit someone in their head with a 2×4 (piece of wood) which puts them in the hospital and causes them to be unable to walk is not bullying but it is really a violent crime.
It should also tell us that when a boy mercilessly beats a girl to an almost unconscious state, that too is not bullying but is certainly a cruel one-sided fight. A fight between two people is a fight.
It is true that bullying can lead to a fight, but what happens during the fight is no longer bullying. When a domestic quarrel, which starts from a “horning”, leads into a fight and then a murder, is the accused charged with “horning” or “quarrelling”? No! He or she is charged with murder.
Inflicting harm
Bullying statistics show that “violence may be defined as inflicting harm to someone, whether physical or mental. Under this definition, bullying would be considered a form of violence. Comparatively, bullying is different from other types of violence, however, because it usually occurs when one person or group of people singles out another person with the intent of being mean through name-calling, teasing, pushing, hitting, threatening, spreading rumours, playing mean practical jokes, or social exclusion”.
Again, it should be recognised, that although, semantically, bullying can be considered a violent thing to do, it still differs from what is considered a “violent crime”.
The bottom line is, however, that no matter how it is interpreted, bullying is unacceptable. So what are we going to do? Are we going to wait on the big countries to see what they do about theirs so that we can copy them as usual? Or are we going to finally show guts and courage and be proactive and think for ourselves about what is good for us?
Oh my God! I am sorry. We have done something.
We have said to our teachers “Do not part fights. Call the police.”
Is that not telling the children that they can go ahead and fight? Can a real teacher really watch children fighting and do nothing about it.
I was taught that when I am teaching, I am “in loco parentis” (in place of the parent). Therefore I am, at that time, the parent of the child. Can I see my children fighting and don’t do something about it?
Hell no!
I would think that if there are concerns about getting hurt while stopping a fight, then teachers should be taught the correct and safe techniques for such parental activity.
When I was at The Lodge, all fighting stopped when I put out the word that fights must be supervised by me. All those who wanted to fight had to report to me to be scheduled.
Any other attempt to do otherwise was seen as cowardly. They fought five rounds, refereed by me. A winner was declared and they both shook hands and went home.
Children look to adults for guidance. If they do not get guidance they will guide themselves.
These are our children. If we don’t take care of them, who will?
By the way, should our policemen be running from school to school stopping fights?
Is it a police force or police farce?
• Mac Fingall is an entertainer and retired secondary schoolteacher. Email [email protected].
