Stop the bullying

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A 15-year-old boy at Santana High School in California opened fire on his classmates, the most recent in a rash of such incidents attributed to unchecked bullying.

Bullying is now considered a criminal act and is referred to as "harassment." On Feb. 21, Dilico Ojibway Child and Family Services hosted two presentations on understanding and addressing the problems of bullying.

Dr. Debra Pepler of York University was the keynote speaker for the sessions, which attracted educators, community workers, and parents.

Pepler, a professor of psychology and director of the LaMarsh Centre for Research on Violence and Conflict Resolution, has been working to understand and combat bullying for more than 10 years. She is currently examining aggression and victimization among adolescents, paying particular attention to the problems they develop during their lives. She was honored for this research with the Contribution to Knowledge Award from the Psychology Foundation of Canada. Her research can be found at www.yorku.ca/research/lamarsh/articles.

"There are a lot of myths in our society around bullying," said Pepler, "such as it is a normal part of growing up. Ignore it or push the bully back. We now know these tactics don't work. Bullying patterns only escalate unless they are changed."

She explained that the bully gains power with each bullying act whereas the victim increasingly loses power. This power imbalance must be broken before the problem can be solved and it may involve bringing in a parent, teacher, mediator, or the police.

"Bullying needs to be recognized as a community problem and not just a school problem," she said.

Many children who bully are also victimized.

"It is important to promote a child's strengths so they can gain status in ways other than bullying. And families must establish warm open relationships so that children feel safe in telling parents they are having problems with bullying."

The workshop included a video presentation about a little boy who had trouble sitting still in class. As the recess bell rang his teacher told him to run off some of this energy and come back ready to concentrate. During the 15-minute break, the child was harassed and bullied by several children in a variety of ways.

He was called names, sworn at, had his toy taken away and was physically pushed around.

Dr. Pepler asked participants how they would feel if this had been their coffee break at work.

Dilico's executive director Joyce Pelletier said the organization is "trying to educate educators and the community about the various types of bullying.

Bullying is not just physical. It also involves isolating the victim or verbally attacking them about their clothes, their race, their sexual orientation, or any number of things. It is a form of aggression and early prevention is the key," she said.

Racial bullying

Bullying on the basis of race or ethnic background occurs when children assume power on the basis of race and/or recognize a sensitivity related to race in another.

Racial bullying can take the form of racist comments or slurs, isolation and exclusion based on race, physical attacks, etc.

About 17 per cent of elementary and high school students said they had been bullied because of their race.

Developmental perspective

The nature of bullying and victimization changes with age and differs in gender. Previous experiences influence the likelihood that a child will become a bully and/or victim.

There are many different pathways into bullying and victimization and many different ways in which we can make a difference to stop children's experiences of bullying and victimization.

Systemic perspective

Bullying and victimization do not occur in isolation. Therefore, intervention with the bully and/or victim are necessary but not sufficient.

Need to extend focus beyond children who bully and are victimized to include: parents, peers, school, community, and society.

To address the problem effectively, changeis required at all levels of the system.

Systemic approach presents a challenge to professionals working outside children's natural systems: school, peer group, etc.