POSTED RESPONSES TO AN EDITORIAL IN TORONTO'S GLOBE AND MAIL
Bullying in Canada is nothing more than a soapbox topic.
The soapbox gets pulled from the closet every now and then,
as when Amanda Todd was so brutalized, to stand on for a cheap speech.
The fact is that complicit bystanders generally are teachers
and school officials.
They are the ones in authority, and it is owing to nothing
less than a cowardly shirking of duty that bullying happens in our schools.
You cannot blame the children when their local adult example
is an example of indifference or cowardice.
It really is a very simple matter: are we to have civil
society in our schools so that we have some hope that the generations passing
through grow up as more responsible citizens?
You cannot teach civility or human decency when this goes
on, as it does regularly.
Slogans and programs are pointless expenses are not much
more than a cover-your-behind effort and an utter waste of time and money when
a poor example is shown by those with the authority.
I know the difference that is made by a responsible adult
from my own childhood experience, and I have never failed to intervene when
there is genuine bullying or violence involved.
Also, we should not forget that there are more than a few
teachers who are themselves bullies.
There were when I was a child, and the experience of a
friend brought the fact powerfully back to me recently, a case of a horrible
teacher going beyond bullying to vicious verbal abuse and the baring of teeth
against a woman worker for a Board, in front of others, including a school
superintendent, who did nothing.
And what powers do the higher authorities have in these
matters?
Virtually none because they have abdicated to the teachers'
union and to bullying parents.
So, it is time, politicians and senior school officials and
editorialists, to put up or shut up. It is very tiresome to keep hearing about
a problem that is completely avoided other than buying some t-shirts or other
slogan-laden promotional premiums.
Either take some genuine action or quit talking about the
problem you deliberately avoid even as you speak of it.
And what do I think are the chances of that?
About the same as were the chances for zero-tolerance of
violence in the schools. The policy, a sound one, was swept under the rug
quickly with the firsts objections from affected parents.
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"Public shaming -
reduces the big, strong men who threaten little girls anonymously or from
behind automatic weapons to the wee, limp men they are."
Again, an example of the soapbox pulled out, but the
statement helps no one because it is utterly non-operational.
Someone has to lead and direct the effort.
Just saying "public shaming" is a bit like saying
bullies should be told their behavior is unacceptable.
Yes, but who does the telling?
This issue has always been about leadership in the defense
of human values.
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I see good old Margaret Wente is at it again with her
predictably titled squib, "The best protection against bullying isn't
legislation."
Of course no one is permitted to comment now on the
dishonest words of the Globe's only demonstrated plagiarist.
But it is fitting she too should chime in on bullying.
She's been a verbal bully for years, often attacking what she
doesn't even understand.
And does anyone remember her filthy words about Palestinian
mothers not loving their children a few years back?
The words of a genuine bully, surely.
