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Students Thrive Under No-Tolerance Policy on Bullying
When one youth calls another youth a "queer" deliberately intending it as a painful, prejudice slur, it is critical that school staff and student bystanders respond with more than, "Boys will be boys." Schools cannot tolerate such teasing, intimidation, or prejudice. Name-calling, harassment, and other forms of physical and psychological bullying have been shown to cause children and youth to withdraw and feel unsafe. Youth who are bullied frequently internalize the harassment, blame themselves, become tense and preoccupied. In fact, in a large national survey of high school youth, 4% said they missed a day or more of school within the previous 30 days due to fear of intimidation. Both missing school and feeling unsafe cause diminished academic success.
Every school needs to ask: Do we passively permit bullying by individuals or groups? Do we address bullying in our discipline policies and do we teach our students that bullying causes pain? Do we universally teach our youth that being a bystander to bullying and intimidation both encourages the bully and demeans the bullied?
Many adults continue to believe that some bullying can be tolerated, rationalizing that young people need to experience "hard knocks" to toughen-up their ability to deal with life's future frustrations and ridicule. However, there is no evidence that bullying produces better adjusted youth. If this were true, youth from homes where harsh punishment or inconsistent discipline or verbal ridicule were used should produce better adjusted youth. We know that the opposite is true. Youth who are subject to such harsh upbringing are, according to Dr. George Batsche, school psychology professor, far more likely to be aggressive, to bully others, and to be poor academic students.
Sadly, bullies are sometimes "liked" more by some peers and are "very well-known" by most peers. In fact, there is informal evidence that bullies are remembered by school alumni more than other classmates, giving bullies a lasting legacy.
What can schools do about bullying?
- Affirm to all, including parents, a zero tolerance for verbal and physical bullying as a school community policy.
- Provide ways for students to discuss their concerns, confidentially.
- Teach victims of bullies to challenge bullying through a variety of techniques (beyond "ignoring").
- Provide bullies with socially appropriate ways to seek attention, power, or whatever motivates their behavior. In more complex situations refer youth for proper mental health interventions.
- Establish, well-supervised conflict resolution and peer mediation programs.
- Teach all about bullying and role of "bystanders," including all adults.
- Use pre-intervention measures of your "bullying level" and evaluate the effect-size of your interventions. Measurements should include confidential questionnaires of students.
- Celebrate and advertise your successes.
Bullying is a form of violence. Unlike fighting, which is easily observed, bullying is frequently less visible to the adults in charge or is seen as a non-issue. However, bullying does erode discipline and student and staff morale. Furthermore, prolonged bullying can cause explosive violence when youths are intimidated for months and, believing no one cares, retaliate with rage.
The following two programs have been implemented in schools. Both have some effective evaluation data but neither is research-proven:
Bully Proofing Your School(The Bully Project, 5290 East Yale Circle, Suit 207, Denver CO 80222). This is a comprehensive program designed for elementary grades. It includes staff problem solving, student curriculum, role-playing, and other class discussion activities. It also teaches anger control and empathy skills for those who tend to bully others.
The Bully Prevention Project (Institute for Families in Society, University of South Carolina, Carolina Plaza, Columbia, SC 29208). School-wide anti-bullying program that involves staff, parents, and students. It is designed for elementary and middle school ages. It uses both reinforcements and consequences as well as school-wide rules against bullying.
In evaluating any program it is important to examine:
- The program's outcome evidence in school communities similar to your own.
- Staffing requirements and training needs
- Program flexibility. Can the program be altered to meet your school's unique needs without destroying its fidelity?
- Costs for materials, training, and evaluation.
Combined with conflict resolution and peer mediation programs, bullying prevention programs can be extended to high schools with a stronger focus upon inter-group relations and dating behaviors. Remember to measure the improvements in discipline through reductions in teacher discipline referrals, improved morale, increased time for academic instruction, improved attendance, and student self-reported reductions in altercations as well as fear.
Kevin P. Dwyer, NASP
Past president of the National Association of School Psychologists and recipient of that association's Lifetime Achievement Award in 2001. He is the principal investigator for the Center for Effective Collaboration and Practice under the U.S. Department of Education, which produced Safeguarding Our Children: "An Action Guide," and "Early Warning, Timely Response: A Guide for Safe Schools" and other publications.
From Issue-Gram, Vol. 10, No. 1, Spring/Summer 2000
Copyright NCEA
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