[Kiss]

You can't just simply answer that question that with one blanket response.

[ufo2012]

(Original post by Kiss)
You can't just simply answer that question that with one blanket response.

You are quite right... Here is an example:

Schoolboy, 12, found hanged at home 'after suffering at the hands of bullies' (29th Jun 2012)

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...s-bullies.html


This child did not deserve this, a quote in the article puts it well 'hope you rest well nobody deserves to be bullied I hope karma comes back to haunt the person or people that put you through this'.

I hope it does worse than haunt them, the bullies themselves should be hanged for what they have done in this case.

[ufo2012]

...and here is another one, hitting the news only a day later:

Autistic teenager 'was murdered by thugs who set him on fire with self-tanning spray at his own 18th birthday party'
Friends say the teenager had recently moved house after being bullied (30th Jun 2012)

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...ent-wrong.html

Again, how should we treat these bullies? Still think we should 'try to understand' these thugs?

No way... Torture them in the same way that they tortured their victims - in this case the bullies should be forced to suffer the same fate - starting with paint being thrown on them and then the rest...

[Dalek1099]

It is always the parent because good parents will always mean that their children aren't bullies-remember your personality comes from your parents genes+environment,which both should equal parents-the school aren't to blame because they have to except all the children initially and bullying can happen but in cases of extreme bullying the school could be to blame,for not expelling the children,before it happened but even these incidents are mainly the parents fault for incorrect parenting.

[OU Student]

(Original post by littlebluedinosaur)
Teachers are only likely to act if they are approached, and often the last thing a student being bullied wants to do is tell a teacher because a lot of the time this will only make things worse.

They don't always act when they get approached.

[NB_ide]

The thing with "bullying" is that it actually only exists in the mind of the victim. Bullying victims are basically the few people each school year, or whatever, who are the most sensitive and delicate, and least able to cope with normal youthful interactions and play. Perhaps the "bullies" should recognise this and completely ignore them, but that's not realistically possible and probably constitutes "bullying" in itself. From my time at school I really don't believe the idea that bullies target certain people and treat them terribly. Instead, most people treat most people terribly, but most people find it funny and OK.

[aspirinpharmacist]

It's the bullies fault for causing misery to other people, however, if parents and teachers know that bullying is going on and do nothing to stop it, then they also have to take a portion of the blame. Children need to be taught that bullying is wrong, and by that I don't mean just going "Don't bully. It's wrong" but showing children how their actions affect others, and check them when they're behaving in a way that's unacceptable. Also, the whole "Calling them into the office for a chat" thing straight after being phoned by parents/told by the child almost never works, when will teachers realise that it only makes the problem worse? Every kid has it ingrained into them that you never, ever tell on anyone, on pain of death. So when teachers call the bullies in and make them feel bad about what they've done, they turn on what they think to be the source of their guilt, knowing that they can't touch the teacher for telling them off, they just make things worse for the child. Schools can be quite apathetic as well, for example, a child is bullied, the bullies are told off, incidences in school cease but they continue on the way to/from school. Now, I'm not saying this always happens, but there are occasions where the school go "We don't have the power to do anything." Maybe not the power to discipline the bullies, but the power to protect the child is always there. If bullying happens when the child is going to/from school then the school and parents need to do their utmost to protect them. Which brings me to the parents role. Some parents don't do enough to make sure their child realises what is/isn't wrong, and sometimes a child doesn't realise that what they're doing is bullying, they need to be aware of this. It's all very well telling children that name-calling is counts as bullying, but they need to provide examples as well.

In short, the bullies need to stop being horrible people, the parents need to bring them up properly and set boundaries and discipline their children if they discover they've been bullying, by the same token, the victims parents need to look into ways about helping their child and making the school aware. The school need to provide a safe environment and go the extra mile to keep children safe. It's not just the classroom where you need to keep an eye out, it's the playground and the routes to/from school as well. I realise this is difficult in some cases but that doesn't mean it shouldn't be attempted. The school's role is to educate the child, without a safe, comfortable learning environment, that's not possible. It should be a matter of course to make sure that all the children are happy and well-adjusted, to the best of that school's ability. Obviously there are problems when the child has issues at home, but as far as I'm concerned, when the child is at school, the school is responsible for looking after them.

And we need to stop being so lenient with bullies. I'm not saying that children should be expelled for calling their classmate stupid once or twice or something, kids arguments can get pretty heated when they're losing at tig-and-tag, but in cases where the child is repeatedly bullying someone else, and they've been punished for it once or twice before, then we shouldn't just maintain this cycle of bullying and punishment, but the child doing the bullying should be removed from the school. There are too many cases where the victim is forced to move because of the miserable situation they're in. That's not fair.