Children no longer only victims of school bullying
WILLIS WEBB

How much do you hear about "bullying" in school today? Occasionally a metropolitan newspaper will carry a story about some incident or group of incidents in a school that can be described as bullying. In my 50-plus years in the small town newspaper business, accusations of some child being mistreated by other children were not everyday affairs.

As a public school student in the 1940s and 1950s, I was occasionally subjected to bullying by older, bigger boys. More often than not it was more verbal than physical, all part of the "initiation" into school life. However, the few physical encounters remain very vivid.

One incident occurred in second grade. The school was in a very small, unincorporated town and one building held all grades from elementary through high school. First, second and third grades were in one classroom and similar groupings occurred through the junior high grades.

On the day of the incident, I was waiting at the bus stop at our rural home and, like most kids, I was playing around a puddle of water on the dirt road. All of a sudden I slipped and fell into the puddle, getting my denim overalls muddy and wet. I went screaming to the house a quarter mile away, pleading with my mother to get a clean pair. She informed me there were no clean overalls and that I would have to wear a pair of short pants to school.

In those days short pants were regarded as "sissy" for boys. I begged and pleaded but she made me wear them to school. I couldn't stay at home unless I was really sick.

All day long, the "big boys" taunted, teased and shoved me, tossing that "sissy" epithet around. I mistakenly fought back against some of the shoving and got pummeled. No teacher or principal detected the taunting and teasing.

A year later, we moved to "town," an incorporated city of 3,000 or so about 12 miles away. There was an older boy of junior high age who lived up the street. He had older sisters in high school that had boy friends and they liked to rough up their girl friends' little brother. He was frustrated, so down the street he came and shoved and knocked me around, or at least for a while. A couple of times Mother came racing out of the house with a belt and chased him home. That was acceptable in that day and time. Neighbors might discipline you if you got out of hand at their house.

All of this just says times have changed. Like most change, some was good and some not so good. This isn't an endorsement of corporal punishment but it won't be a condemnation either. That's a parent's choice to make.

Children can be cruel. That's a truism of the ages. There is going to be some teasing, taunting and occasional bullying. It's almost a rite of passage.

As for discipline, there are ways other than corporal punishment to control poor behavior. However, in order to mete out discipline, several parties must be involved and in agreement - teachers, administrators, school trustees AND parents.

Having been very close to some educators as well involved as a parent and as a professional journalist covering schools, I have seen some disturbing trends in bullying, misbehavior and discipline. And, I have concluded that more often than not, today the targets of bullying by children are the teachers.

An overall attitude change by parents is at the core of these trends. For instance, I have knowledge of irate parents berating a teacher for disciplining their child (keeping them in at recess in one example) and "embarrassing" the child.

On another occasion during a parent to-teacher phone call, in the background, the child was screaming and cursing the parent. The parent wanted to know why the child was punished at school.

There are teachers who go to school every day feeling powerless and worthless because the students, with parental blessing, are in control. Discipline in any form is forbidden without specific parental approval. School administrators and trustees feel their hands are tied by legislation, by court rulings and the threat of litigation.

Of course, not all children are bad discipline problems but the prevailing attitude of some parents and students sort of unties or slackens the reins on all children. Throw in powerless teachers who feel worthless and you have a situation that begs solution.

Willis Webb is a retired community editor-publisher of more than 50 years. He can be reached by e-mail at wwebb@wildblue.net.