The Importance of Not Labeling Kids "Bullies" or "Victims"

In this blog I will discuss an online post found within the website “stopbullying.gov”, regarding the importance of not using bullying terms to label children. According to the stopbully.gov, “it is easy to call the kids who bully others ‘bullies’ and those who are targeted ‘victims’, but this may have unintended [negative] consequences.” When children are labeled according to bullying roles, it can “send the message that the child’s behavior cannot change.” In addition, bullying labels “fail to recognize the multiple roles children can play in different bullying situations,” and can “disregard other factors contributing to the [bullying] behavior, such as peer influence or school climate.”
           Since using bullying labels on children has a negative effect on the mindset of children, adults should do their best to refrain from using such labels, at least when in the presence of children. The online post does a great job of pointing out the inefficiency of using bullying labels. As the online post points out, it is important for researchers working on creating anti-bullying strategies to realize and keep in mind that some children alternate between occupying the role of a bully and occupying the role of a bullying victim, depending on the specific scenario. The online post also points out the importance of taking into consideration all the possible factors that can lead to the creation of a bullying scenario. By being mindful of all the factors that can possibly lead to the creation of a bullying scenario researchers may have an easier time determining the source of a specific bullying scenario, which I believe will facilitate the job of researchers who are working on creating and implementing effective anti-bullying strategies.
           Overall, this online post, points out the arbitrariness that exists within bullying. As the online post reminds us, not only can the definitions of “bullying,” “bullies,” and “victims” vary from person to person, the factors that lead to the creation of each bullying scenario can vary and are virtually infinite. Although the aforementioned realizations may be discouraging for researchers who believed in the existence of a perfect anti-bullying strategy capable of resolving all bullying scenarios, perhaps the realizations have also led to an inspiring new discovery. It may be that until now bullying researchers and investigators have failed to realize that discovering the source of bullying may be the most important step in creating effective anti-bullying strategies. If this is the case, then perhaps these realizations are a step in the right direction.

Throwing Away School Lunches – A Form of School Bullying

According to a news article published by FoxNews.com, a New Jersey mother has accused her local elementary school, in Galloway Township, N.J., of bullying her 10 year old son. The mother claims that the school personnel has “repeatedly taken her child’s lunch and thrown it away.” The mother acknowledges that her son’s lunch account had “become delinquent” due to unpaid cafeteria balances, however, the mother attributes the situation on her son’s “occasional failure to relay notes and messages on the issue.” According to the article, the child suffers from Asperger’s Syndrome.  Recently, a similar incident occurred at Uintah Elementary School in Salt Lake City, Utah. According to the article school officials in Uintah Elementary School “replaced […] student’s $2 lunches with fruit and milk […] because of insufficient or negative balances.” The father of an 11 year old student whose lunch was taken away by Uintah school officials believes that “young children [should not] be punished or humiliated for something the parents […] need to clear up.” Similarly, the N.J. mother expressed her belief that the issue should remain “between the parents and the cafeteria […not] between the child and the lunch lady.” 

            This article reveals how arbitrary the definition of bullying can be. Some people would argue that school officials have no right to deprive children of their school lunches and in the process humiliate them. However, other individuals would argue that “rules are rules”, and as a result, school officials have the right to deny and deprive students of their school lunches if their parents fail to pay the school lunch balances. In my opinion this scenario is an excellent example of a bullying scenario that contradicts a common assumption. Usually school officials are thought as having students’ best interests in mind. However, this article is proof that the aforementioned assumption is not always the case. Is it really in the students’ best interests to deprive them of their school lunches over fees their parents have failed to pay? What lesson are students supposed to learn, pay or be humiliated?