School Bullying Council

If our children behaved privately like our politicians behave publicly, I would imagine many would run the risk of violating school district policies against bullying. Bullying is all about exerting power or influence at the expense of another. This is exactly what we see every day in the unfettered bickering of politicians.

One might argue that political candidates share information about their opponents as a civic duty, so that the voting public can make informed choices.

If it were only a matter of sharing factual public information, then why would fact-check organizations be needed to determine who is telling the truth, partial truths or “pants on fire” tales? These political strategies are not much different from the social media character assassinations conducted by teens who want to beat down their opponents.

Bullying should be connected to the behavior of people we elect to public office. I am waiting for stricter anti-bullying legislation to go into effect, and for a noble lawyer to charge a high-profile politician and his or her election campaign team under these new laws.

USATODAY OPINION

Letters to the editor

USA TODAY receives about 300 letters each day. Most arrive via e-mail, but we also receive submissions by postal mail and fax. We publish about 35 letters each week.

We often select comments that respond directly to USA TODAY articles or opinion pieces. Letters that are concise and make one or two good points have the best chance of being selected, as do letters that reflect the vibrant debate around the nation on a particular subject.

We aim to make the letters platform a place where readers, not just writers representing institutions or interest groups, have their say.

• How to submit letters

Rick Varner; Catonsville, Md.

Parents are responsible for kids

With all the headlines about how to solve the bullying problem, I would like to suggest a solution. Let’s assign responsibility where it belongs: the parents!

Poor parenting is often the root cause of bullying. Until the bully turns 18, let the parent share the legal responsibility. This would be a sure way to focus the attention where it is most needed.

Knowing that they will eventually be held responsible for the behavior of their children might motivate parents to do a better job in raising more tolerant children.

David M. Lipkin; Pittsburgh

Embrace respectful debate

The lack of civility in public discourse in the United States is increasing the polarization of its leaders and people. We are failing as a country to listen with respect, understand others’ views, analyze and formulate constructive responses.

Sharp opinions and propaganda are not new in political rhetoric. However, today the methods to spread and promote divisive dialog have increased tremendously through media such as Facebook, Twitter, TV, radio and YouTube.

Many politicians are so concerned about promoting their own agendas that they feel a need to vilify and belittle their opposition, creating animosity on both sides of the debate. There may come a time when this country and its leaders will need to pull together rapidly and decisively, but they’ll fail because of the crippling foundation of resentment that has been laid through an enduring lack of civility.

I call for a conscientious effort on the part of all politicians, pundits and the general public to embrace the fundamentals of respectful debate, promote civility and preserve amicable working relationships. They should agree to disagree when necessary, so that we can work together to solve the major issues of our day.

Paul Hauwiller; Arcanum, Ohio

http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/letters/story/2012-03-22/bullying-politics-schools/53712832/1

Adolescents who suffer from depression are more likely to have problems with peer relationships, including being bullied at school, according to a new study.

And while it is often assumed that being bullied leads to psychological problems, such as depression, the new study does not support that direction of influence, researchers said.

“Often the assumption is that problematic peer relationships drive depression. We found that depression symptoms predicted negative peer relationships,” said Karen Kochel, Ph.D., Arizona State University School of Social and Family Dynamics assistant research professor. “We examined the issue from both directions but found no evidence to suggest that peer relationships forecasted depression among this school-based sample of adolescents.”

The new research, published in the journal Child Development, found that being depressed in fourth grade predicted bullying in fifth grade and difficulty with peer acceptance in sixth grade.

The researchers examined data from 486 children from fourth to sixth grade. Parents, teachers, peers, and students provided information through yearly surveys. Data was collected as part of a large-scale study that began in 1992 and continued for nearly two decades.

Teachers and parents were asked to identify classic signs of depression, such as crying a lot or a lack of energy. They defined peer victimization as bullying that was manifested physically, verbally, or relationally, such as hitting someone, saying mean things, talking behind someone’s back, or picking on someone.

Research shows that having positive peer relationships is crucial for adapting to certain aspects of life, such as scholastic achievement and functioning in a healthy manner psychologically, she added.

“If adolescent depression forecasts peer relationship problems, then recognizing depression is very important at this particular age,” she said. “This is especially true given that social adjustment in adolescence appears to have implications for functioning throughout an individual’s lifetime.”

School may be the best place to address signs of depression since students typically start spending more time with their friends and less with their parents as they become adolescents, according to researchers.

“We studied peer relationships within the school context. Parents tend not to observe these relationships,” Kochel said. “Because depression has the potential to undermine the maturation of key developmental skills, such as establishing healthy peer relationships, it’s important to be aware of the signs and symptoms of adolescent depression.”

The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health.

Source: Arizona State University

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Stuart M. Lederman, Esq.

President

New Jersey State Bar Foundation

S.J. Young Marines
get the boot

Yes, you heard it here. The South Jersey Young Marines have received notice from the Vineland Semper Marine Detachment on Landis Avenue that it will begin charging us $400 a month for rent.

Of course, the Young Marines are a nonprofit national organization and do not have the funds to pay rent, so why now? What ever happened to “never leave a fellow marine behind”?

I know the boys and girls enrolled in the program are not Marines, nor are they enrolled with the intent of recruitment to the Marine Corps, but nevertheless, they are sanctioned by the U.S. Marines.

Our Young Marines are devastated. This was their home. They volunteer on Sundays to help serve and cleanup at the detachment breakfasts and attend functions as needed.

What kind of sign does this send to them?

I know that the economy is tight and things are not as good as they could be, but this?

Just imagine if all the churches that have opened their doors to the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts decided to tell them to start scouting for a new home unless they started paying this kind of rent.

The Young Marines meet two hours on Mondays, and don’t need much more than a small office or closet to keep our gear, an indoor area to muster and complete assignments, and some outdoor space to do the beloved “PT” and drill training.

Like our mission statement says, “To strengthen the lives of America’s youth by teaching the importance of self-confidence, academic achievement, honoring our veterans, good citizenship, community service and living healthy, drug-free lifestyles.”

Why wouldn’t you want to support this organization?

Thanks to the resolve and commitment of our commanding officer, Star Pickett, he has negotiated a temporary space at the Veterans Memorial Home in Vineland.

Thanks also to those at the veterans home as well for working with us, and you can count on us to continue volunteering there as well.

Perhaps if you are reading this and have these types of accommodations and could help, please contact us by going to YoungMarines.com and looking us up under the unit search.

Jon Gramp

Concerned Parent/Community member

Bridgeton

Bullying – Cyber Bullying, school bullying, etc. This video was necessary after yesterday’s news article about a 3rd grader bringing a gun to school to protect himself from a bully. 3rd Grader Brings Gun to School: goo.gl CyberBullying Article: goo.gl TUMBLR About Me/Equipment: wilsontech1.tumblr.com DAILY iPHONE VLOG Channel: youtube.com LIKE me on Facebook: facebook.com FOLLOW me on Twitter: twitter.com AUDIO Podcast: lifepluggedin.com OUTRO performed by Charlie Puth Music: Bas

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Bullying is rife among teens in some areas, the survey shows.
Source: Supplied

MORE than half of all teenagers in some suburbs and country areas have reported being bullied, according to a major survey of youth wellbeing.

High numbers of young people have also admitted trying alcohol, cigarettes and marijuana.

Released yesterday, the 2010 Adolescent Community Profiles gives a snapshot of youth health and social issues for each Victorian municipality.

Bullying was a big problem in Melton, with 54 per cent saying they had experienced recent incidents.

In southeastern suburbs such as Clayton and Oakleigh the figure was around 51 per cent. The City of Bayside, which includes Brighton and Sandringham, had the lowest incidence, with less than one in three reporting recent bullying.

Smoking was popular in Whittlesea, with 53 per cent of 15-17 year olds saying they had tried it.

Teenagers in Moonee Valley, Richmond and Collingwood also had high rates of having tried smoking.

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Quit Victoria executive director Fiona Sharkie said smoking rates in lower socio-economic areas were likely to be higher and children of parents who smoked were more likely to try smoking or be a smoker.

A big proportion of inner-suburban youth had tried marijuana, reaching 43 per cent in the City of Yarra.

Almost one in three 15-17-year-olds in Wodonga had also experienced the drug. More than half of 12-14-year-olds in Frankston and regional areas such as Geelong and the Central Goldfields said they had tried alcohol.

The percentage of 15-17-year-olds who had had sexual intercourse varied considerably, from around 10 per cent in Greater Dandenong to almost 40 per cent in the Geelong region.

In Latrobe City Council’s region, which includes Moe and Morwell, there was the highest rate of teenagers having babies – 28.3 babies for every 1000 people.

State Higher Education and Skills Minister Peter Hall said the profiles identified areas of strengths and weaknesses.

“They are designed to guide decision-making across government so we can more effectively set priorities and allocate resources,” he said.

The Adolescent Community Profiles include data from the Victorian Adolescent Health and Wellbeing survey of more than 10,000 students.

Netlink: education.vic.gov.au

For more on the half of Australian youth who are being bullied go to the Herald Sun.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/national/most-teens-bullied-study-shows/story-e6frf7l6-1226055700790

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Representatives from about 125 school districts will be in Ridgeland today for training on bullying prevention.

The session is sponsored by the state attorney general’s office and the state Department of Education.

The training began Monday. By the end of the program today, the participants will be deemed certified as Bully Free trainers. They’re expected to return to their schools or districts and train their peers.

“We really need to start looking at the severity of this and realize that it damages a child long term,” said Carol Rogers, a grant writer and coordinator for school health in Amory schools.

Rogers said her district already has several bullying prevention initiatives in place. She hopes Allan Beane, who is training the group, will be able to do the same in Amory.

The training is the most recent leg of the statewide efforts to help curb bullying.

In September, the attorney general’s office launched a website called FearStopsHere.com, aimed at bullying prevention.

Mississippi school districts are now required by law to adopt bullying prevention policies.

Beane developed the program called Bully Free in memory of his son, who he said was bullied in middle and high school.

Beane talks about the long-term effects of bullying – something he has seen firsthand. His son had depression and anxiety and died of an accidental drug overdose at age 23, according to the program website.

“It’s not enough for your child to be kind to others,” Beane told the group Monday afternoon. With school shootings, he explained, the initial targets may be those who bullied, but some innocent people also get shot.

Beane warned that children need to mobilize each other to stop bullying.

“Your child is at risk if they don’t,” he said.

Attorney General Jim Hood described bullying, particularly cyberbullying, as “an issue that is just exploding among our kids.”

Proliferation of electronic communication allows for hiding under the cloak of anonymity, he said.

Children are emboldened to “say more and do more,” Hood said.

Even popular children are affected, he said.

“No kid is immune from it.”

Kathy Terry, a counselor at St. Richard Catholic School, said her school is focusing on preventing bullying. Guest speakers have gone to St. Richard to talk to students about the issue.

“Children should be able to go to school and feel safe,” Terry said.

http://www.clarionledger.com/article/20110419/NEWS/104190340/Bullying-prevention-sessions-address-problem-exploding-among-our-kids-?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|Home|s

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KATE Middleton wants to tell you about “MY BULLYING HELL”.

Was the future Mrs Prince William a kindergarten tough? Well, no. The News of the World has news:

ROYAL bride Kate Middleton suffered a devastating ordeal at the hands of a gang of vicious bullies, the News of the World can reveal.

It was those Palace flunkies that did for Diana, we’d wager?

Her teenage tormentors even put excrement in her bedsheets at posh Downe House school and hounded Terrified Kate, 29, was hounded for being “too perfect”.

That’s her story and she is sticking to it – literally.

School pal Jessica Hay said: “She told me she was very, very badly bullied.”

This might not be the best advert Downe House, that school where gels are processed into young ladies, has seen published.

We are told that Kate was “too nice for her own good“. Her two terms at the Berkshire school were a “tears-filled nightmare”.

The story is rooted in a new book by Sean Smith, authour of Cheryl, (a book about Cheryl Cole) Robbie (Robbie Williams), Jennifer: The Unauthorized Biography of Jennifer Aniston, Kylie: The Biography (Kylie Minogue), Britney: The Biography (Britney Spears), Victoria Beckham: The Biography, Justin Timberlake: The Biography, J.K.Rowling: A Biography and Royal Racing: The Queen and Queen Mother’s Sporting Life.

His books are published by Simon Schuster, and distributed by Harper Collins, owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation. Mr Murdoch also owns the Sun. This front-page news looks a lot like an advertorial.

Here’s the blurb about the book:

Kate’s journey begins with her remarkable mother, Carole, a true rags-to-riches story. Sean Smith examines Kate’s early life, her unhappy time being bullied at school before finding her feet at Marlborough College where she was transformed from an ugly duckling to a swan. He travels to St Andrews in Scotland where she met Prince William.

Yep. It’s a modern fairytale, in which the normal “ugly” girl suffers to become a swan.

As for that headline-making bullying… Well, the stories are rooted in Smith’s interviews with some of Kate’s “closest friends”. You may suppose that Kate’s closest friends would not talk to the media and writers of unofficial biographies. But you’d be wrong, apparently.

“The bullying was far worse than just knocking her schoolbooks out of her hands or pushing her to the back of the lunch queue.”

Worse than that?!

“Poor Kate was lonely, homesick and frequently in tears.”

So. It wasn’t just the alleged bullying that made her time at the school trying. She was homesick at boarding school at age 13.

And if there was bulling there must have been bullies. Will those girls now grown up bridle at the accusation?

“She had run into a pack of bullies who reduced her to an emotional wreck. Until then she had been at mixed schools and had no experience of how bitchy girls could be.”

Because girls at mixed school aren’t bitchy? Who knew?

This is followed by news of Kate being too perfect, her, er, eczema, and:

Kate’s parents went to see the then Marlborough headmaster, Ed Gould, to plead with him to take Kate in the middle of the summer term. Mr Gould listened sympathetically to their story and found her a place in the school’s all-girl house Elmhurst, renowned for its sporting excellence.

But what about girls being bitches when they are in one school?

Get a load of these alleged bitches, or as the paper puts it: “Famous old girls who survived.”

As Kate won the trust of her new pals, she told them how she “absolutely hated” her time at Downe House, which numbers BBC sports presenter Clare Balding, TV sitcom star Miranda Hart and model-turned TV chef Sophie Dahl among its former pupils.

And then we read the clincher: Kate Middleton is just like the caring News of The World:

She has never publicly spoken about her bullying ordeal – but has asked the 1,900 guests at her wedding to donate to charity Beatbullying, which has campaigned with the News of the World to stamp out the national problem.

Hurrah for Kate! Hurrah for the NoTW! Bully for them!!

Anorak

Posted: 3rd, April 2011 | In: Key Posts, Royal Family Comment | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0 | TrackBack | Permalink

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