Upswing in bullying is appalling
Bullying is not a new phenomenon, but the viciousness woven into many recent acts of violence by students against other students is nothing short of horrifying.
In Massachusetts, a 15-year-old Irish immigrant hanged herself after enduring months of relentless bullying in person and online.
Nine students face charges in connection with the girl’s death, including two teen boys charged with statutory rape and a clique of girls charged with stalking, criminal harassment and violating the victim’s civil rights.
In Florida, a 15-year-old boy continues to recover after being set on fire by five boys who surrounded him, splashed him with rubbing alcohol and lit him ablaze. The boys have been charged with aggravated assault. One of them also is charged with attempted second-degree murder.
And in the same Florida community a 15-year-old girl was beaten so badly doctors had to put her in a coma to treat her severe head injuries. A 15-year-old boy is facing a first-degree attempted murder charge, and a 13-year-old girl has been charged as an accomplice.
How did we get to this point?
It’s a question parents and school officials had better be asking nationwide, and thankfully it seems there are some renewed efforts even locally to bring awareness to bullying.
Like I said, bullying is nothing new. As long as there have been school playgrounds, there have been bullies.
Even in the docile, mild-mannered Minnesota community where I grew up, there were bullies, but not many. I was a glasses-wearing, pudgy “smart” kid who’d probably get pummeled on the playground these days, but I can’t recall ever being singled out or taunted.
I do, however, remember exactly how bullies were dealt with at my elementary school in the mid-1960s. When Gary T. picked a fight with a couple of other boys, Mr. Carlson, the sixth-grade teacher who probably was 6’4” and weighed 250 pounds, grabbed Gary by the shirt collar, lifted him up in the air to eye level and held him against the brick wall while he shouted at him to “cut it out.”
Humiliated as a crowd of his peers gathered, Gary started crying and ran off. I don’t remember him picking on anyone after that. Mr. Carlson hadn’t hurt the boy, of course, even though there was some bruised pride.
This was back in prehistoric times when teachers were actually able to discipline kids by cuffing them on the ears without fear of being sued. I’m not saying these tactics were right, but they were effective.
We had mean girls back in my day, too, especially in the sixth grade. I was only mildly ostracized when I refused to join the “People Against Monica O.” or PAMO club started by one of my best friends. Using the old “keep your friends close and your enemies closer” strategy, Monica invited both her friends and the mean girls to a lavish all-night slumber party (she was one of the rich “town kids”).
In other words, she killed them with kindness and soon the PAMO club disbanded and everything was more or less back to normal.
My heart goes out to today’s parents as they try to keep their children safe in a culture where online harassment is just a click away and can be even more relentless than face-to-face confrontations. We’ve created a society in which kids are handed cell phones and allowed to set up Facebook pages without a second thought.
We’ve made bullying so impersonal that anyone can do it. We know this, just as certainly as we know that violent video games and raunchy TV shows are rotting today’s youth.
We can’t undo technology, but perhaps we can unplug from it long enough to teach our children right from wrong.
Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by e-mail at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com