National's response to bullying - raise the truancy fines to $3000
Bullies turn to hi-tech torment
"While parents may have been on the receiving end of a small group of bullies in their days at school, their children are potentially exposed to hundreds or thousands of bullies via mobile phone and internet technology," commissioner Cindy Kiro writes in a report to be made public today. The report into school safety, headed by Office of the Children's Commissioner adviser Janis Carroll-Lind, follows calls for a national inquiry by parents of bullying victims at Hutt Valley High School. In December 2007, nine boys at the school were dragged to the ground and violated by a pack of six classmates. The report, to be unveiled at a school violence summit in Wellington today, criticises some schools for not even having a policy to deal with bullying and violence. It cites cases of severe violence in schools being ignored by teachers and of pupils who were too afraid to go to school.
Incredible isn't it, we have one of the worst bullying environments at schools in the OECD and yet National's solution is to raise the fines of truancy from $400 to $3000! Surely we need to make schools safer for students to go to and that would lower truancy levels much more than raising the fines to a level like $3000! In that awful redneck talkback world that seems to dominate the cultural minds of so many white 40 something males (where Political correctness is a real 7 headed monster that lives under bridges), they see fagging at school as part of the toughening up process of becoming a man and it's that mindset that is part of the problem. Violence only creates more violence and making schools safer is a vital component in getting that message through, raising the fines to $3000 doesn't do a God damned thing!
posted by Bomber @ 7:44 am
19 comments
19 Comments:
Bomber the connection between the OCC report and raising truancy fines is a little irresponsible. It would be fair to say that a greater link could be between the rise of bullying after corporal punishment in schools was scrapped. Raising the fines was to do with truancy and although I think it is a dumb policy too, it has nothing to do with bullying. And given the number of people who have been fined for their kids truancy....
Why Dave? I think the connection between beating children at school and not beating them at school has very little to do with the problem. If children are being bullied at school, and we have one of the worst bully environments around, you don't think that feeds into our Truancy rates at all? Are you seriously telling me that if we didn't make our schools safer more kids wouldn't come back?
Dave - If schools are not safe, then how can you expect kids to go to them?
If children are being bullied at school, and we have one of the worst bully environments around,
You will find we have a higher rate of reporting abuse than do other countries.
Also, we have to question the parameters that define bullying.
Bomber, you question SST when they bandy around stats that show increased crime rates, how about a little consistency.
Leave the "Shock/Horror" stories to the MSM.
Btw; hows nepenthe? I havent seen her around sine Tim verbally bullied the hell out of her.
I sure hope she is all-right, bullying in all forms is pretty awful.
You will find we have a higher rate of reporting abuse than do other countries.
And yet todays story on the topic shows that some schools don't even have programmes to deal with bullying, and here you are claiming we have a higher rate of reporting abuse.
Bullies turn to hi-tech torment
Cellphones and the internet now mean bullied school pupils often get "no respite", the children's commissioner says. "While parents may have been on the receiving end of a small group of bullies in their days at school, their children are potentially exposed to hundreds or thousands of bullies via mobile phone and internet technology," commissioner Cindy Kiro writes in a report to be made public today. The report into school safety, headed by Office of the Children's Commissioner adviser Janis Carroll-Lind, follows calls for a national inquiry by parents of bullying victims at Hutt Valley High School. In December 2007, nine boys at the school were dragged to the ground and violated by a pack of six classmates. The report, to be unveiled at a school violence summit in Wellington today, criticises some schools for not even having a policy to deal with bullying and violence.
aha ha ha ha! tell the police! i tried that at school! they informed the class in front of me id been complaining of bulling! thanks guys, that got the crap smaked out of me many a time!
it dosnt harden you up, it makes you cruel but it does teach you that you can only trust and rely on yourself, no matter what anyone says
If children are being bullied at school, and we have one of the worst bully environments around, you don't think that feeds into our Truancy rates at all?
It may or may not, Bomber, but you dont have evidence either way.
Are you seriously telling me that if we didn't make our schools safer more kids wouldn't come back?
No, but perhaps I should have. There is no evidence that kids are leaving school as opposed to truanting for a few days) and not coming back because they get bullied.
Its a pity the OCC report passes responsibility of bully prevention to schools rather than parents whose kids bully others, which is why I suspect the OCC commissioned this research. There are no recommendations for parents, only recommendations for schools.
Isn't it weird that after they ban smacking in schools, violence in the home gets worse. when they ban smacking in the home, violence in schools get worse than in homes - and worse than prior to when corporal punishment was banned in schools.
You should as yourself, Bomber, why the report has no recommendations to parents. Its because inaction by schools is an issue but inaction by parents is not and that is so WRONG.
No, but perhaps I should have. There is no evidence that kids are leaving school as opposed to truanting for a few days) and not coming back because they get bullied.
Well that's not completly true Dave, Youthline and Whatsup phone lines have both a lot of anecdotal evidence from kids being bullied who are calling up for advice that they are not going to school because of bullying.
As for putting the blame on the parents, obviously parents are responsible for the behaviour of their children, but surely it isn't a parents responsibility if their children are being bullied.
Anecdotal evidence ( in this case) is merely a interpretivist approach to something that may or may not be happening. I'd prefer to see some empirical evidence.
I never said it is a parents responsibility for if their kids are bullied. But the OCC report has no comment on your obvious - and correct - statement - ie: obviously parents are responsible for the behaviour of their children.
If they are responsible for their kids behaviour - as you claim - why do you think the report so bloody silent on that?
Hmmm, well while I agreee parents are responsible for the behaviour of their children, the school is responsible for mainating an environment that is safe for all the children.
hmmm, well while I agree parents are responsible for the behaviour of their children,
So, again, any comment as to why you think the OCC report is and should be silent on that?
Hmmm, well while I agreee parents are responsible for the behaviour of their children, the school is responsible for mainating an environment that is safe for all the children.
Yet on this very blog last year you argued vehemently against the expulsion of the bullies in the Hutt Valley High School case - the one true means of making the victim of that attack safe from their attackers.
Yet on this very blog last year you argued vehemently against the expulsion of the bullies in the Hutt Valley High School case - the one true means of making the victim of that attack safe from their attackers.
'Anon' - I'm not sure where you got that impression from that I argued vehemently against expulsion, here is what I blogged on that case...
This piece of shit school, Hutt Valley High, DID NOT call the police, DID NOT refer this extreme bullying violence to their Board for discipline, these pack bullys will be allowed back without any consequences so Hutt Valley High can sweep this nasty little sexual assault under the carpet so that their precious reputation isn’t damaged, it is schools like this that breed the sort of environment where school bullying can flourish and then we wonder why so many kids are truant from school.
And yet todays story on the topic shows that some schools don't even have programmes to deal with bullying, and here you are claiming we have a higher rate of reporting abuse.
Yes, we have a higher rate of reporting abuse.
Also, what is termed bulying today would not be considered bullying in our day.
Reported sexual abuse of children has gone up.
Doesn't mean more children are being abused, or more paedophiles are walking the streets, it just means it is no longer hidden away, it is reported.
"While parents may have been on the receiving end of a small group of bullies in their days at school, their children are potentially exposed to hundreds or thousands of bullies via mobile phone and internet technology," commissioner Cindy Kiro writes in a report to be made public today.
Do you see that key word in that phrase.
It's potentially.
That means it hasn't even happened.
I talk to my children, my childrens friends, their parents, my family members children, and every single one of them talks of anti-bullying preventions that exist at their schools.
The children are acutely aware of bullying, and don't participate, nor condone it.
What Cindy Karo uses as examples are extreme events, used in a way to sensationlise her report, and drum up media attention.
Exactly what the SST trust does.
It's all part of the same problem, however. That is, bad parenting. A child who truants and a child who bully others are both most likely to come from a broken home or a home with abuse. Or, in our wealthier areas, a home of overly permissive parents who don't discipline their children at all.
Yes, we have a higher rate of reporting abuse.
And yet if you had read the article you would note that some schools don't even have programmes to protect kids from bullying. YOU are trying to pretend there isn't a problem and claim the reporting tools are there already, yet very obviously there are schools who don't even have programmes to tackle bullying.
As for your claim that Cindy Kiro is LIKE the David Garratt of the SST who have warped ACT away from a political party of freedom to banning gang patches, that really has to be one of the most ridiculous things I've ever heard in my life.
Cindy with her concerns of children getting bullied based not just on this report but the OECD report released in November = drunken homophobe from SST who wants to change the bill of rights to pass his $30 billion lock em up forever bill?
R-I-G-H-T
I think times have changed a bit with schools actually. My son (who's 21 now) was getting bullied at high school and nothing was being done about it, so I moved him to a different high school. he absolutely thrived! He went from being withdrawn and insecure, with constant illness to a secure, friendly, confident kid in about 3 months, it was amazing.
Now with my smaller ones (5-10) I ring their school when they complain of being bullied and the teachers actually DO something about it. It makes a big difference to the spirit of the children and their want, or not, to go to school.
I think it needs to be a joint effort between parents and schools for bullying to be stopped.
NS
I am in the UK and have had to remove my son from school due to bullying. All schools talk of what they will do but few schools actually do it. Our children are left at the mercy of the bullies by adults who are meant to be responsible. I have even had a head at the school tell me that they saw my son being bullied yet walked away and did nothing. If these children are our next workforce then god help us. I feel that much mre can be done to stop this. Parents are not normally informed when their children are invovled in bullying so how can they help the situation.
there should be a new solution to the bullying problem in our schools. drag out all bullies and shoot them. Joseph Stalin could'nt have said it better 'death solves all problems. no man no problem' and i'm sure he meant all naughty school kids and their incompetent teachers also.
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