Laws against bullying

[HeyYou]

Indeed. I agree. If you are going to start something, you had best be prepared for any consequences of your actions. Trouble is, in the schools today, even if you defend yourself, you are considered "at fault", and get suspended as well. Personally, I disagree with that policy. If school authorities aren't going to do anything, they don't have ANY consequences for their INaction. If a person is forced to take matters into their own hands, I think it is a serious miscarriage of justice to punish them for it. (so long as the response is appropriate, shooting some guy because he called you bad names is a bit over the top.)

[dazzerfong]

It's funny, because the laws in school contradict those in Australian law. In Australian law, you can fight back with proportional scaling, ie. if he has a gun, you can use a gun. If he has a bat, you can use a bat, etc. Though, in school, because of their attempts to try and conform us, they ban this.

[Maharg67]

A special set of laws as enforced by a special set of tribunals may do the trick but only if done wisely. Other special, tricky areas are dealt with by such tribunals in various parts of the world. They can be used with school or other forms of bullying also, such as workplace bullying or bullying in the defense forces (not to be mixed up with a fair toughening up process in the defense forces).

 

The idea is to create a special set of laws, of rules, regulations etc. to deal with a special problem in a special way instead of relying on, for instance, criminal law or normal school regulations.

[HeyYou]

A special set of laws as enforced by a special set of tribunals may do the trick but only if done wisely. Other special, tricky areas are dealt with by such tribunals in various parts of the world. They can be used with school or other forms of bullying also, such as workplace bullying or bullying in the defense forces (not to be mixed up with a fair toughening up process in the defense forces).

 

The idea is to create a special set of laws, of rules, regulations etc. to deal with a special problem in a special way instead of relying on, for instance, criminal law or normal school regulations.

 

How about enforcing the rules that are already in place, instead of neutering the ability of school authorities to do anything at all?

[Maharg67]

A special set of laws as enforced by a special set of tribunals may do the trick but only if done wisely. Other special, tricky areas are dealt with by such tribunals in various parts of the world. They can be used with school or other forms of bullying also, such as workplace bullying or bullying in the defense forces (not to be mixed up with a fair toughening up process in the defense forces).

 

The idea is to create a special set of laws, of rules, regulations etc. to deal with a special problem in a special way instead of relying on, for instance, criminal law or normal school regulations.

 

How about enforcing the rules that are already in place, instead of neutering the ability of school authorities to do anything at all?

 

HeyYou, the idea was that the Tribunal, or something like it, would not neuter the ability of school authorities to do anything but to support them as much as possible and be a fall back position if the problem became too great for a school to deal with. School bullying needs to be seen in context with all forms of bullying because evidence indicates they are linked. School bullying seems to lead to other forms of bullying taking place after school is left behind.

 

I said instead of relying on 'normal school regulations'.

 

As for school bullying, please do not forget that sometimes it can be staff members bullying students or even students bullying staff members. It is not always between students.

Edited November 14, 2011 by Maharg67

[HeyYou]

A special set of laws as enforced by a special set of tribunals may do the trick but only if done wisely. Other special, tricky areas are dealt with by such tribunals in various parts of the world. They can be used with school or other forms of bullying also, such as workplace bullying or bullying in the defense forces (not to be mixed up with a fair toughening up process in the defense forces).

 

The idea is to create a special set of laws, of rules, regulations etc. to deal with a special problem in a special way instead of relying on, for instance, criminal law or normal school regulations.

 

How about enforcing the rules that are already in place, instead of neutering the ability of school authorities to do anything at all?

 

HeyYou, the idea was that the Tribunal, or something like it, would not neuter the ability of school authorities to do anything but to support them as much as possible and be a fall back position if the problem became too great for a school to deal with. School bullying needs to be seen in context with all forms of bullying because evidence indicates they are linked. School bullying seems to lead to other forms of bullying taking place after school is left behind.

 

I said instead of relying on 'normal school regulations'.

 

As for school bullying, please do not forget that sometimes it can be staff members bullying students or even students bullying staff members. It is not always between students.

 

Adding yet another layer of authority to schools isn't going to help anything. We would be better of removing a few. Getting rid of the federal department of education would be an excellent first step. Schools are supposed to be handled by the individual states, not dictated to by some government entity that doesn't have the faintest idea of what they are doing, and that somethings, while 'right' in some areas, just don't work in others. That is the primary reason it was left to the states in the first place.

 

Not to mention that the whole mindset going in is so out of whack with reality, that there really isn't much hope of 'fixing' anything in any event. The whole "no one is responsible for their own actions" makes damn sure of that. No child left behind was a major step BACKWARDS for instilling discipline into our schools, and thereby our children. The prevalence of two incomes being REQUIRED to support the home in some semblance of a 'reasonable lifestyle' is another one. Parents don't raise their kids anymore, that is what the school system is for, to their thinking..... Trouble is, the school can't DO what is required.

 

Another aspect of it all is, what are america's priorities? School budgets keep getting slashed, here in Michigan, they cut the school budgets, to help pay for tax breaks for corporations, and redistributed yet more money to "higher education". We pay athletes to play a GAME millions of dollars per year, (some, millions of dollars per GAME) but, we can't afford to pay police officers, firemen, and various other first responders.

 

You aren't going to legislate away bullies, no matter who they are. None of the laws/rules that are currently in place seem to matter much. Mainly because NO ONE DOES ANYTHING. Either because they CAN'T, due to various government regulations, or, because they won't. It's "too much of an inconvenience", or "too difficult of a problem". Bully's bully because they CAN, and they know the consequences are basically non-existent. THAT is what needs to change.

[Maharg67]

HeyYou, I am Australian and I was not thinking of the tribunals being at a Federal level but at a State level as in the Western Australian Government of my own home state, West Australia. Such tribunals would be following the template of previous such tribunals set up in Australian States. They would not be a new level but a change to a level that is already there.

 

Different nation, different system.

[Beriallord]

In my area they have what are called alternative schools for trouble makers and bullies. The ones who get in fist fights, and etc, quickly find themselves expelled from the normal school system and into an alternative school, that is much stricter and the next step above alternative school is juvenile detention, which is jail. I almost found myself in an alternative school for refusing to go to detention, which got me a Saturday school, also refused to go to that, so I got a 3 day suspension, and was warned if that happened again, I would be going to alternative school for the rest of the year.

[KennethKarl]

Instead of making a law against it, why not teach children (Both at home and at school) to stand up for themselves! I was bullied as a freshman in highschool back in 2005 you know what I did? I tried reasoning with them, that didn't work! I tried standing up for myself physically, THAT REALLY DIDN'T WORK! So I just migrated to another side of the school while waiting for my ride home.

 

It worked! To some extent anyway.

[marharth]

Instead of making a law against it, why not teach children (Both at home and at school) to stand up for themselves! I was bullied as a freshman in highschool back in 2005 you know what I did? I tried reasoning with them, that didn't work! I tried standing up for myself physically, THAT REALLY DIDN'T WORK! So I just migrated to another side of the school while waiting for my ride home.

 

It worked! To some extent anyway.

Because most schools have a zero tolerance policy. It is completely retarded and it causes a ton of issues.

 

Anything that could be considered a weapon is banned for one. People get suspended for nail clippers. I don't know about you, but I think it is much easier to stab someone with a sharp pencil.

 

If you hit someone it doesn't matter why you hit them. The school will close their ears and simply ignore the reasons.

 

So you can not defend yourself, you will be punished within the school for doing so.