Bullying at schools and anywhere else

[Katie77]

http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/world/12715951/boy-pulled-from-class-due-to-red-hair/

Boy pulled from class due to red hair

Yahoo!7January 25, 2012, 7:55 am





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A 12-year-old boy will be taught in isolation at his UK school because he is constantly bullied about his red hair.

Tyler Walsh has been the victim of extreme bullying at Yate International Academy in Bristol, all because of his fiery red hair.

The bullies have even been visited by police in an attempt to stop them from taunting Tyler and chasing him into the school's toilets – but to no avail.

Now the school says it has no choice but to remove Tyler from his class and place him in their 'pupil inclusion unit', meaning he will be separated from the rest of his classmates.

Tyler's mother Emma says the school is targeting the wrong student.

"It should be the bullies who are excluded from school, not their victim," she told The Sun.

"Tyler is a bright boy, and he wants to learn. He always works hard, and that, along with the colour of his hair, makes him a target for bullies."

Mrs Walsh now says she has no choice but to pull her son from the school because it has failed to end Tyler's ordeal.

"He has been bullied from the minute he started secondary school - before Christmas we even had to get the police involved after he was beaten up on the street.

One boy held him down while another one kicked and punched him in the stomach.

The police went round to the other boy's house and had a word, but he was back at school the next day, and the bullying was worse than ever.

"The bullies shout at him and intimidate him in the school corridors, and steal his schoolbag at lunchtime and throw it over the wall."

To add insult to injury, the school is refusing to send Tyler work to complete while he searches for a new, bully-free, school.

"He wants to learn and has been getting excellent grades," Mrs Walsh told The Sun.
"Yate International Academy has punished one boy, when a whole group was involved. I think it is absolutely disgusting."
 
The school has defended its actions, saying it has followed all of its bullying guidelines.
 

[Katie77]

Just saw this article, and it makes my blood boil.

Cant believe the actions this school did under the "bullying guidelines" they have in place.

No wonder bullying is epidemic in schools all over the world with this attitude. Why not isolate the bullies, put them all into the one room and let them bully each other and see how they feel.

This is  a subject close to my heart at the moment, as my grandson Jai, aged 11 has just started back at school, and so that he does not have to put up with the bullying he had last year his parents have moved him to a different school. He was also bullied on Facebook by not only the brats at school, but one parent also joined in the banter until they were all blocked.

The schools have turned a blind eye to this for too long......rip up the guidelines in place, and make some new ones.

[brianr]

It is very difficult unless the bullying is actually witnessed by the teacher. I spent my last 15 years of work as a teacher/librarian and often provided a safe place in the library for students who were at risk out in the playground. Sometimes the student seemed to have no idea how to avoid being bullied and seemed to ask for it (Not that I approved). For several years in my local primary school I was beaten up regularly by 2 boys (one a big red head named Davidson and the other his much smaller friend named Clegg - their names are engraved in my mind nearly 60 years later). Fortunately I was safe once I made it to my mate's home nearer the school and most of the time while at school. My parents sent me to learn boxing without much success. I then went to an opportunity school (for gifted students) and later the leading secondary school in the city and so I no longer stood out as a nerd and had my own set of friends. However I do remember being bashed once about age 15 by a guy who went on to captain the Australian football team. I now retell this story with some pride 
As a teacher I hope I tried to support bullied students but you cannot walk around with them all day and verbal bullying is hard to observe. Most schools I have worked in recently have anti-bullying strategies but I also believe those likely to be bullied need to be given strategies. Fortunately while I was a bit of a sissy and not good at sports or defending myself I was not a loner and made friends easily which provided a defence.

[Katie77]

Thank you Brian.....its good to get some insight from the experience of someone who was a teacher.

What seems to have happened in the case of my grandson, was that he was good mates with the kid, spent a lot of time with each other in and out of school, and then that friendship turns sour, for whatever reason, probably in the case of 11yr olds, something quite trivial, then they split up and join other groups of friends, and then the battle begins. This has gone on, I guess, since schools began and it will always happen.

Unfortunately in todays society and with some of these kids, the fighting words they use, are very vicious and and they use terms far beyond what 11yr olds should be using, and although a lot of it is probably a big bluff, it is very scary that kids of that age should even be thinking as they do, let alone saying it, and in some cases a very great fear that they may actually act out what they are saying. In the old days, they might have a bit of a punch up after school, with the rest of the school circling them, and egging them on....these days, you dont know whether they have a weapon on them, that they may use, and its that that is the scary bit, and something that can sometimes be irreversible.

Parents are paranoid that it could be their child who happens to be in the wrong place and wrong time, who ends up in the emergency ward.

My grandson is by no means perfect (except to me)....but he has the placid nature that makes him seem weak, and so is a prime candidate for kids with a bullying nature to attack him. And I had to smile at your description of the two kids that bullied you, Brian...the friend Jai had who turned on him is of a small stature, and has now linked up with a bigger guy to back him with the bullying, Jai on the other hand is heading to be an over six footer, so hopefully with that size, he will still be able to keep his placid nature as he gets older, but his height will be an advantage to him.

Parents (and granparents) just want to be able to protect their child, they can teach them to ignore the emotional side of bullying, but they feel like they cannot protect them when they are away from them at school, from physical attack, and this becomes very frustrating and causes much anxiety.

Anyway, this is a worldwide situation and it is going to continue, no matter what.....parents just have to do what they have to do anything that is in their power to fix the problem for their child, and try to keep them in a happier environment.