School Bullying

[Paul]

Re: School Bullying

Do you have any reference sources that can explain these statements?

The references I have come mainly from my own experiences. When I was kid, my mother who is from Japan was dismayed when she found out I was being bullied and not the one doing the bullying. Later when I was attending UH at Manoa, I got a student job at the computing center in the basement of Keller Hall. This really was a job from hell. One of the older full time workers whose last name was Higuchi used fear and intimidation to bully the student workers. He seemed to pick on me the most for some reason. All the bullies I encountered while growing up seemed to be either Japanese or Hawaiian. At school, most of the teachers and administration were Japanese and they seemed to be more accepting of bullying and likely to do nothing about it. I don't mean to imply that all Hawaiians are bullies but having a fierce appearance and using fear to intimidate others seems to have been part of the culture from way back. Same with the Japanese. What they did to other countries in WWII was bullying on a national level.

[MadAzza]

Re: School Bullying

As long as alpha behavior is tolerated in the wild, there will be bullies amongst the civilized.

Alpha behavior isn't just "tolerated in the wild" -- it's necessary for the group's survival. So many human bullying is enevitable, just like murder and other so-called "anti-social" behaviors. We will never eradicate them; we can only (perhaps) lower their rates, and thus lessen their effects on the rest of us.

[pzarquon]

Re: School Bullying

The references I have come mainly from my own experiences... All the bullies I encountered while growing up seemed to be either Japanese or Hawaiian. At school, most of the teachers and administration were Japanese and they seemed to be more accepting of bullying and likely to do nothing about it...

Dear lord. Well, a bullying victim in Kansas is most likely to be bullied by Caucasian students, and I'll bet the administration and teachers at the school will also be predominantly Caucasian. No one really does anything about it. Some of the thugs are encouraged by classmates and cheered on by misguided parents. So based on your logic, the victim can additionally surmise that bullying is tolerated and even possibly valued by white people?

Bullying is a scourge in any group or environment. Heck, not even just schools. (Note the case locally of a man who apparently terrorized an entire neighborhood.) Trying to ascribe it to a specific culture or ethnicity is pointless. It's a problem everywhere, period.

[kimo55]

Re: School Bullying

bullies back in boyhood...
aaahhh... lessee... In McKinley, back in 1970 or so, da mokes were;
a couple samoans. a couple Hawaiians and a small gang of japanese, led by a big Japanese guy.
This dude came up and tried to pick a fight for no reason;
"Eh. why you wen go make stink eye at me eh!? Wot, like beef!?"
he taunted.

"Naahhnahnahnah. i like sushi.
Why. boddah you?!"

...course, that smart ass remark of mine was just enuff reason for him to sucker punch me and run away.

sheesh.

[Menehune Man]

Re: School Bullying

eh Menehune Man, you know some 78 grads from Roosevelt? My girlfriend was a 78 grad from Roosevelt.

Works out that many of my longterm friends are '78 Grads.
I hung out with the "Front Lawn Freaks" under the Plumeria trees near the corner. Either there or behind "N" Building smoking Da Kine. Oh yeah I went to class too (usually).

[miwa]

Re: School Bullying

Like everyone else here, there were a couple of bullies in my high school. There was also a midget who attended class there, and the bullies used to pick on him, although several of us continually tried to stop them.
One day a buddy and I walked around a corner and found the two bullies playing catch with the midget.

We went ballistic and dove into the bullies. I'm not a fighter, but I guess anger and adrenalin do give you extra strength -- I punched one of the bullies, just once, and broke his jaw.
Never had any further problem from them.

Thank you for what you did. I think if more people were willing to stand up for others against the bullies, those bullies would think twice before picking on somebody. I wish there had been someone like you around when my son was bullied in middle school. I had no idea what he had been going through - he was traumatized and stopped speaking for a few years, and still suffers the effects today.

I went back to school to become a teacher, and as a teacher and a mother, I understand why schools want to address the bullying issue, but the question I have to ask is: how effective are these anti-bullying program workshops? We teachers are forced to attend these workshops and implement programs that may or may not work. I know that many of my colleagues would roll their eyes at having to attend another workshop, and a lot of them feel they have nothing to learn from it.

The bottom-line is, I care about my students and there is nothing that makes me madder than to find out that one of my students is being bullied. Every year I have told my students about my son's experience, and I have let them know that they can come to me if they have problems, and to let me know if they know of someone being bullied. And every year a few students have come to me about being picked on, or gossiped about (girls are the worst when it comes to social bullying) and I've done what I can to address it. How effective my intervention is in the long run, I don't know, but I do get the sense that my students appreciate the fact that I cared about them enough to get involved. And that is what it is all about- caring and getting involved. I don't think a workshop can teach you to care about and love your students. Okay, I will get off my high horse now.

[newroots]

Re: School Bullying

over here. there were a few incidents were bullying turned to homicide.. it was actually over in sa'ipan. a bunch of 13/14 year old kids were in a gang called ''redrum''... and they killed this boy , i think he was about 14 years old... they stabbed him to death with his dads samurai sword collection. on guam though , the bullying here isnt that serious , its mainly just to show your ''tougher''.. and teasing is an artform here. they call it ''cassi''. like if your in a public place or something.. YEEEEEEEEAH. i'm not sure if hawaii is like that. lotz of people here discribe hawaiians as ''calm''. haha... there was a hawaiian fighter that fought here in the mix martial arts tournament.... he wasnt kanaka maoli though. his name was cabbage corriera and he went against manny chong. yeah he fokaied manny chong

[Pretender]

Re: School Bullying

How effective my intervention is in the long run, I don't know, but I do get the sense that my students appreciate the fact that I cared about them enough to get involved. And that is what it is all about- caring and getting involved. I don't think a workshop can teach you to care about and love your students. Okay, I will get off my high horse now.

Wow. Having a teacher like you during my "middle school" years would have been huge. I got the impression in intermediate school that teachers knew of the situation, but for whatever reason chose not to get involved. I certainly would have appreciated your efforts.

[miwa]

Re: School Bullying

Wow. Having a teacher like you during my "middle school" years would have been huge. I got the impression in intermediate school that teachers knew of the situation, but for whatever reason chose not to get involved. I certainly would have appreciated your efforts.

Thank you so much for saying that. Its unfortunate that a lot of my colleagues feel that bullying is going to continue anyway so why bother doing anything about it. I absolutely abhor that kind of attitude! Or maybe they feel that it is a rite of passage and the child will come through unscathed or will become stronger because of it. Granted, some children/adolescents are more resilient than others and will be okay; but the nature of bullying is that the bullies pick on those who cannot stand up for themselves. That is where the intervention by others is so important, whether they be peers, teachers, or other adults. I think I do have an advantage, though, when it comes to catching kids bullying others. I'm only 4' 9" so a lot of times I blend in with the students and catch them doing stuff that they wouldn't dare do if they knew a teacher were around. My fellow teachers kid me when they see me reprimanding an eighth grader towering over me. But sadly, bullies will continue to do what they do if they know that they can get away with it.

[stumphurple]

Re: School Bullying

but there is a further solution. we must also encourage excellence in the schools. when children realize that school is for learning and that the only social recognition they can earn or deserve is for intellectual achievement bullying will be eliminated. that is why bullying exists in inner city low income and anti intellectual settings. hawaii's horrible tradition of squashing any sort of excellence except in pockets like punahou and iolani is shown in these interactions. that is why we should promptly militarize the public schools.

[miwa]

Re: School Bullying

but there is a further solution. we must also encourage excellence in the schools. when children realize that school is for learning and that the only social recognition they can earn or deserve is for intellectual achievement bullying will be eliminated. that is why bullying exists in inner city low income and anti intellectual settings. hawaii's horrible tradition of squashing any sort of excellence except in pockets like punahou and iolani is shown in these interactions. that is why we should promptly militarize the public schools.

Public schools do encourage excellence and students are aware that academic excellence is rewarded, but I don't think bullying will ever be entirely eliminated. And I'm pretty sure bullying occurs in the private schools, too, but not to the extent it does in public schools. As for militarizing our schools.....you are kidding, right?

[Miulang]

Re: School Bullying

The only way bullying will be eliminated in schools is if all the kids are the same sex, the same size (height and weight), have the same parents (and therefore the same set of social mores), same religion...

The best that society can do is to teach kids to embrace differences (or at least learn to tolerate them). Without the wonderful differences in people, we might as well go back to Hitler's Germany.

Miulang

[stumphurple]

Re: School Bullying

Public schools do encourage excellence and students are aware that academic excellence is rewarded, but I don't think bullying will ever be entirely eliminated. And I'm pretty sure bullying occurs in the private schools, too, but not to the extent it does in public schools. As for militarizing our schools.....you are kidding, right?

there are some outstanding public schools [moanalua and kaiser come to mind for high school] but overall hawaiis public schools are cesspools of mediocrity. it is not just bureaucracy either. your passive tone says it all. students are aware that academic excellence is rewarded and some students do make it. however that isnt the norm.

if you wanna see academic excellence in action take a look at some of the suburban schools in the northeast. by fourth grade students are reading shakespeare, working on pre algebra, starting basic chemistry [the pH scale and the periodic table] and regularly writing expository essays. they have sat prep courses. they read the new york times. everyone plays a musical instrument. the honor roll is kept front and center. the students are encouraged to discuss and debate. by the time these kids get to eighth grade they dominate the competition. they go on to ivy or other top tier schools. and then they come to hawaii and tell the local mokes what to do.

i attended a public school for intermediate and then was admitted to a private school. what a difference! it was a whole nother culture. both of the private schools have extremely competitive students, frequent recognition of academic achievement, resources and constant pressure to succeed from parents, peers, teachers. everybody in the school was focused on one thing, making a top flight student. public schools simply dont match that level of dedication. instead they yarn about new report cards and 'standards' blah and oh-those-immigrants-depress-our-reading-scores.

bullying in private schools is not as common because students realize that crude methods like these dont garner any attention. the whole culture of the private school focuses on who controls the trophies not the playground. if hawaiis schools adopted the attitude that every school should be modeled on what works [the privates] they would find themselves quite close to the public schools of the northeast.

if necessary yes militarize the schools. at least the students will find a purpose beyond warming a seat.

[Leo Lakio]

Re: School Bullying

i attended a public school for intermediate and then was admitted to a private school. what a difference! it was a whole nother culture.

So - which school system was responsible for letting you graduate without a basic grasp of writing skills? As for your manners and the disrepectful way you address others, I won't hold the schools responsible, but I am sure your parents would be proud.

[stumphurple]

Re: School Bullying

wow so you resort to personal attacks instead of the substance of my argument. instead of addressing why hawaii public school students are being outperformed by public school students in virtually every other state, you want to rag on me for not using a formal writing style. this is the internet buddy. thats like trying to check the grammar on a telegram.

i reasonably conceded that it wouldnt be fair to box all public schools as failing. i even named two which are quite good. but by and large national surveys consistently show hawaii bottoming out. that is not indicative of 'academic excellence.' it is indicative of a culture of mediocrity that ultimately harms our children.