[Mpls] School Yard Bullying

[Michael Atherton]

Mark Wilde wrote:

> I did see the tape and I will also say "boys will be
> boys."  Nothing I saw in that story would lead me to
> believe there is a problem on public school
> playgrounds.  
> 
> I think Channel 5 should be ashamed for creating an
> issue, but I can't blame them.  I am sure they
> invested a lot of time and talent on researching the
> story and felt like they had to come up with something
> to put on the air.
> 
> Those kids were rough to be sure, but even on the
> Channel 5 story, there was almost always an adult
> close by who broke it up.  In my mind, it is a
> non-issue.

What happens when they're out of school and there's
no adult around?  The tape may be non-issue (I haven't 
seen it), but bullying in the schools is certainly not 
and I think that there is sufficient creditable research 
to show that.

On a personal note, I don't understand how anyone
can fail to empathize with a child who is repeatedly
pushed to the ground by a crowd of children.  I went
though my own bullying experience in high school in 
the era of Love and Peace.  It was only after a
couple of years, when my commitment to good will 
ended with a willingness to respond violently
that the bullying ended.  I suppose this was a good 
lesson for life-long-learning, but for some children 
this is a lesson in mortality.  It's certainly something 
that is within the power of the schools to limit and 
control.  I think there's a lot of denial and cognitive 
dissidence associated with this subject.

To me the most horrific part of this story is Eleanor 
Coleman's interview.  Bureaucratic indifference can
be a pretty scary thing at times and it amounts to it's
own kind of bullying with pretty much the same type of
intrapersonal dynamics.

Michael Atherton
Prospect Park