School Yard Bullies |
Ever been beaten up? Threatened? Ridiculed over and over? Ever watched on helplessly while someone was humiliated in front of you? Ever picked on a weaker person because it made you feel better about yourself? Most of us have either seen or experienced bullying.
"If a school is rife with bullying, it doesn't feel safe," says Canada Safety Council president Emile Therien. "Bullying poisons the social environment for everyone, has long-term consequences for the bully and the victim, and is a factor in suicides and violent incidents."
The National Film Board of Canada's Bully Dance video was the starting point for the Canada Safety Council's school safety campaign this year, explains Therien. In it, animated characters show what can happen in a bullying situation, and how the whole community must be involved in the solution. A poster which features Bully Dance graphics and content provides a resource for children in grades four to six.
Bully Dance is part of the ShowPeace conflict resolution series which has won 20 international and national awards. Janet Perlman is the series creative director and the author of Bully Dance. "It's a cartoon with no words so it lets kids explore the issue," she explains. "It opens up their minds to think about the experiences of the bully as well as the impact on others." "This public education campaign recognizes the fundamental importance that early intervention plays in addressing the problems of victimization and crime," says the Honourable Anne McLellan, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada. "The Government of Canada is pleased to support the Canada Safety Council in its efforts to address the serious social issue of bullying by reaching out to young children directly and providing them with resources and helpful information so that we can reduce the incidence of bullying in our schools."
Bullying is Bad for Everyone
Bullying is a social relationship where an individual repeatedly picks on another individual. It can be physical, verbal or psychological. Perpetrators are equally likely to be boys or girls. Boys are more likely to be physically aggressive - for instance hitting and kicking - whereas girls are more likely to be verbally aggressive when they bully. Extortion, intimidation and destruction of property are all part of the behavior pattern.
Bullying affects the whole community, not just the bully and the victim. Peers are more important than they realize. They can be part of the audience, support the destructive behavior, or intervene in a positive way, perhaps by reporting the situation. As they grow up, playground bullies may transfer their abuse of power to other forms of harassment, violence, or abuse, and they may become workplace bullies. Boys who were bullies in elementary school are more likely to have criminal convictions by the time they are in their 20s. This is not surprising, according to Therien, when you consider that many bullying activities are offenses under the Criminal Code.
Victims, on the other hand, typically suffer withdrawal and anxiety. Their school performance may drop and they may try to avoid going to school. In rare cases they lash out in revenge, endangering the entire school.
Hear No Evil, See No Evil...
"Most children know when there's bullying," says Debra Pepler of the LaMarsh Centre for Research on Violence and Conflict Resolution, "but they don't report it."
Dr. Pepler has been researching this topic for several years with Dr. Wendy Craig of Queen's University Department of Psychology. They have found that bullying problems tend to fester under the surface.
A study of Toronto schools found that a bullying act occurred every seven seconds but teachers were aware of only four per cent of the incidents.
- Seven out of 10 teachers but only one in four students say that teachers almost always intervene. Close to 40 per cent of victims say they have not talked to their parents about the problem.
- Ninety per cent of children say they find it unpleasant to watch bullying.
- Peers are present in 85 per cent of bullying episodes on the playground and in the classroom.
Dr. Pepler and Dr. Craig worked with the Canada Safety Council to develop an assessment tool to help teachers and students identify bullying problems and hot spots in and around the school.
First Steps
Lack of intervention implies that bullying is acceptable and can be done without fear of consequences. Bullies and their accomplices need to understand the harm they cause and that their behavior will not be tolerated at school. They can change. "Victims are often too fearful to ask an adult to intervene," says Chris Simmons-Physick, Vice President of Child and Family Services of Kids Help Phone. "But they can start by calling Kids Help Phone, or joining a Kids Help Phone online forum. Every day we talk to kids about bullying." The toll-free number is 1-800-668-6868, and the forum is at kidshelp.sympatico.ca.
The Canada Safety Council initiative is funded by the National Strategy on Community Safety and Crime Prevention, the Government of Canada's initiative to help Canadians deal with the root causes of crime and victimization. To obtain a poster, send a self-addressed 9" x 12" envelope with 94¢ postage to the Canada Safety Council, 1020 Thomas Spratt Place, Ottawa, Ontario K1G 5L5.
