I Am So Tired of Hearing About Bullying

As someone who’s expected to be up on the latest in education news, you can imagine I’ve read and heard a lot about bullying recently. In the wake of recent national tragedies, our schools, our lawmakers, and our media have once again been on a crusade to stamp out bullying. Almost every week a new piece of anti-bullying legislation or a new anti-bullying campaign pops up, trying to solve the problem.

It’s gotten so that bullying is just a buzzword, something that goes in and out of my ears. Approaching bullying as a problem to be solved, that CAN be solved via a fine or a program that will just END it, has caused me to largely tune out. Because I don’t think that’s how we fix the problem.

Punishing bullies, decrying bullying, stating “We are anti-bullying” keeps the concept and the word and the act of bullying in the minds of students, parents, teachers, everyone. It’s a negative approach to solving the problem. What I think we need, what will work, is a positive one.

We don’t need to tear down bullies; we need to build better people.

That’s why I so appreciated the approach Gibraltar Principal Kirk Knutson took to the last week’s worth of activities he planned for Gibraltar’s middle and high school students. The focus wasn’t on the bad things people do; it was on the positive decisions people can make.

It all culminated in an assembly which combined the words of Bo Johnson (“Love each other. Help each other. Have your neighbor’s back.”) with the message that “You have a choice, and your choices matter.”

The kids watched a movie called Life. Support. Music. about guitarist Jason Crigler, who suffered a brain injury in 2004. You can see more about the movie by clicking here (http://www.pbs.org/pov/lifesupportmusic/#.UXrfEit4YhE), but suffice it to say that over the course of many years, with the help of his wife and his family, Jason pulled himself back from being near vegetative to being a fully functional human being (as well as a great musician).

Jason’s message was that by loving each other and supporting each other, we can accomplish anything.

I believe that the students bought into the message. I believe they will make better, more considered choices because of the things they have heard and seen over the course of the past week. And maybe they’ll help others to make better choices.

And maybe one day, I won’t have to hear about bullying anymore.