Recently, I asked my friend’s son, a boy in 2nd grade, who had just entered a new elementary school in northern New Jersey, what he liked most and least about his school? Having earned my parent wings via a now 25 and 23 year old, I should have expected the unexpected; but, I was taken aback to learn that the best and worst part of this child’s day was recess. It was during recess he was free to play and also where another boy waited to bang his head into a fence.
Bullying is abuse. Bullying creates a hostile environment, affects everyone, and cannot be tolerated. Each of us is entitled to a safe environment to live, work, and play. The State of New Jersey enacted legislation (NJ 18A;37-13-19) in 2003 mandating all schools develop an anti-bully policy and implement anti-bully training and education. This initiative was implemented after research tied bullying in schools to bias crimes. The State invited the Guardian Angels headed by Curtis Sliwa to spearhead the program in New Jersey’s schools.
Contact information for your school district to prevent and stop bullying can be found at the New Jersey Child Assault Prevention Network. The New Jersey State Bar Foundation has also done significant work to help educate and promote safety within our schools and community and created a number of videos addressing different aspects of this problem. If you or someone you know is affected by bias related bullying, please call 1-877-NO-BULLY.
Post By Kim
posted by Unknown @ 4:13 PM
3 Comments:
My name is Leisa-Anne Smith and I am the Director of the NJ State Bar Foundation's Violence Prevention Initiative. I apreciate the mention of our organization and the efforts we have expended in anti-bullying in New Jersey. I invite you all to visit our website to learn more about our extensive teasing and bullying training program at www.njsbf.org. All our programs are FREE!
The mere thought of children and bullying makes one’s heart break. This common situation can be viewed through several types social lenses. I have chosen to represent two, a functionalist theory and an interaction theory.
Using a functionalist theory, it can be argued that each person has a niche in society and in the case of bullying, both the bully and the bullied behave this way because this is the way it is, and always has been. The results of this type of interaction can be predicted because society, historically, has followed a given set of responses to this predicament. Either the bullied will tell an adult and the bully will be dealt with, or the bullied will stand up to the bully and the social dynamics will change. A functionalist can state both of these results still fall into the parameters of functionalism and everyone have a place in the social infrastructure of society. It is necessary to have people in dominant and subordinate positions in order for the society to florish.
An interactionist may say that bullying is an example of the roles people play. The dynamics within a group are ever changing and the roles each participant in this situation takes can realign and have a positive result. The relationships that the children have in the school setting has meaning and the way students present themselves reflects the way they understand their present situation to be. They react to others the way they perceive they are supposed to. With guidance, the child who is bullied could be taught to alter his or her view of being the “weaker” and portray confidence. Given that interaction theory is open to change and growth, this situation can improve once the roles of the participants have been updated.
I do believe that a majority of the school systems have put bullying on top of the list of priorities to address in the last 10 years and they have implemented policies and punishment for those who break the rules. We have been moving in the proper direction but let’s face it, kids will be kids and when unsupervised these types of things can happen. When I look at the school system I feel that most of these occurrences take place during lunch, in the halls, on the bus, basically where this is a lack of structure and supervision. The part of the system that needs to be addressed is the structure and supervision during these times.
In order to address this problem we must look at how many hall monitors we have during changing time, how many lunch aids are at lunch, is there an authority figure on the buses to address these problems besides the driver. We must take a look at the student to faculty ration in these situations and find a way to implement as many authority figures as possible. Let’s face it, kids are always going to push the envelope, and we must be there to stop them and address the situation. The policies are in place, what we need is structure and supervision.
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