Two years ago, the Power of One group at LTS created this video for Anti-Bullying Day. Despite there being very few words for the bulk of the video, the message came through clearly (which is, after all, the point of communication in all media).
However, there remains the question of how much impact that message had. Two years later, what (if any) improvements have we seen in preventing and reducing bullying in our school? Alternatively, what effect do initiatives like Wear Pink day have on students’ actions? Is there a more effective way to reduce bullying in our schools?
Explore the topic of anti-bullying initiatives in schools in the comments, or by writing in your own blog and placing a link to your post in the comments.
I think that combating bullying is definitely something important in the community, but I also think that videos like these do very little. Anti-Bullying Day and events like it are important, but the public only remembers them for that one day. Once everything is said and done, people go back to bullying, or not noticing when they are bullying others. In reality, Anti-Bullying Day should be every day of the year. This event should be a celebration of the progress society has made in stopping bullying. Unfortunately, this is not the case.
Students in school see videos like these and think, “wow this is so important, no one should bully.” Then, the next day, you see the same people making fun of someone for what they are wearing, or how they are acting.
Bullying isn’t a problem that will just go away easily. I think what’s most important as of now is to teach youth and children to stand up for themselves and one another. If people see their peers taking a stand against bullying, they will as well. It’s a see-something-do-something sort of situation. The world just needs to get better at the do-something aspect.
I agree – I think that videos such as this are wonderful, but they don’t fulfill the need completely. What do you think would help the world get better at the do-something part?
http://creativechaos1.edublogs.org/2016/02/24/stand-together/
Sauron the dark lord thinks that the whole idea around anti-bullying day is quite a positive ordeal. However I feel its very hypocritical in the fact that its a single day were everyone pretends in many cases, that they are supportive of such. Its simillar to earth day in many regards, pretend you care for a day, carry on with your usual filth the next day. Its quite simple, humans try but Orcs will do!
Why do you think this happens? Why are we so willing to do what is right when someone is watching, and then turn around and behave in the way for which we condemned people when there isn’t the same scrutiny?
For many years I have wondered why people resort to hurting others in effort to receive attention or acceptance.
Having gone through tough times myself, I can easily support anti-bullying. And not just on “pink shirt day.” But does the majority of bystanders honestly feel the same way?
The main idea that surrounds this day of anti-bullying has endless good intentions.
However, the message is not received well. Although people may think negatively towards bullying and do not outright believe what they are doing as a bystander is the same, they are not doing anything to stop the cycle.
Being a bystander isn’t any better than teasing someone yourself. The fact that people let this happen without question is letting the bully know that what they are doing does not have significant and lasting effects. When, in fact, they absolutely do.
Maybe the answer to raising awareness lies in consistency. What if every 6th day of the month was anti-bullying day? Maybe the answer is obtained by teaching young kids the effects that being cruel has. What if we could change this endless course by simply knowing and sharing kindness, (on more than one day of the year).
Would you try?
I fully agree with you: I think that the bystanders not doing anything actually in some ways hurts more than what the bully says or does. The bully is one person … the bystanders are a collective who with their silence condone what the bully is doing.
Last year, I think it was, a teacher that I know ran #kindnesschallenge2015 with her elementary students. She had them make up “Random Act of Kindness” cards and her class would challenge other students to complete an act of kindness within two days; then they could come and get a card to challenge someone else. It lasted the entire month of February, and I think it was still going into the end of the school year in part. The thing is, I don’t know if something like that would work at secondary school.
I can see the perspectives of others who think that the video’s message does not bring about the positive response that’s expected in their viewers; that it’s not effective in promoting the prevention of bullying. While I agree that the values behind “Anti-Bullying Day” should be celebrated all year round, I believe that videos like a good ways to REMIND students of how we should be treating peers.
Personally, throughout my years at Tweedsmuir I have never really witnessed acts of bullying in the halls, nor has it ever occurred to me that bullying was a problem at this school. In fact, I feel that this issue is more active in elementary schools or on the playground. In high school, I feel that people are able to find their own niches or groups of friends where they fit in, and everyone sticks together in those pods. High school students have their own lives to be concerned about, and I do feel that we as a community have become SO much more accepting of others throughout the years. I know that I have not had to experience bullying OR have a friend experience it throughout my five years here. However, I do realized that it can become a problem in different groups around the school, even if it’s not predominant.
As students, we’ve heard the countless assemblies and lectures from principals, teachers and organizations, and at this point we all know that “bullying is bad”and “we shouldn’t do it”. It is a topic that cannot be stressed enough in both elementary school and high school, and I feel that we all know not to do it by now. That being said, I feel that videos such as this one are VERY effective in reminding students what this day is all about, especially because it involves our very own Tweedsmuir students promoting the idea. It’s a subtle reminder of what we need to remember all year round.
Having people that you know and recognize in the video does make a difference, I think. Students are used to hearing parents, teachers, administrators and other adults talk at them about bullying, among the myriad of other concerns adults have about teenagers. At a certain point, teens start to tune the adults out. Messages coming from their peer group are more unusual, and so I believe have a greater effect.
http://lilywriting12.edublogs.org/2016/02/26/pink-is-powerful-2/
The way our education and society is today it is difficult to pinpoint someone who is a bully. This makes it difficult to convince kids at LTSS that they shouldn’t bully someone. And it is difficult for the victims of bullying to understand that the way they are being treated isn’t the way they should be treated.
In grade 10 when I saw this video I noticed a very temporary change. Less insults being thrown around and such. Although now in grade 12 I see minimal bullying among my peers. The slowing of bullying is something that comes with maturity. Unfortunately kids that are constantly attacked and insulted from a young age do not come out of the “bad years” unscathed. The emotional trauma that was caused by bullying continues to stay even after the bullying is gone.
Reducing bullying in schools is a difficult thing to do. First off it is hard to catch bullies, with victims not wanting to snitch. Or in some causes don’t realize that they way they are being treated is not ok. And once the bully is found and outed. The punishments are ineffective. To give someone detention for being mean is a very temporary solution. Similar to the videos. Possible ways to slow down bullying is too have known bullies speak to counselers. And depending on the severity of the bullying it could be a one time meeting or a consistent weekly meet up.
I believe you’re right – as you get older, you start to feel more connected with certain peer groups and less insecure about not connecting with others. I’m not going to say that bullying completely stops – there are adult bullies as well – but it definitely slows down.
You express quite eloquently some of the concerns that I have as well: I don’t believe that our current disincentives to bullying are as effective as we would like them to be. Unfortunately, I’m not sure how to change that. Perhaps – like you suggest – a kind of First Peoples’ restorative justice approach would help to end – or at least limit – the problem.
While I do agree with everything that the anti-bullying (Pink Shirt) day represents, I disagree with the execution.
The fundamentals are completely and honestly good-hearted. However, because this event is only once a year, and usually only executed on a large scale within public schools, it allows kids the justification they need to ignore bullying whenever they see it on a normal day, due to the fact that, once a year, they can feel like they’re doing something good and successfully helping the cause. Pink Shirt day in an enabler, in ways that it shouldn’t be.
Now, with that being said, no I also don’t believe that it should be every single day. If it were to be that way, we we become desensitized to it and therefore become even more ignorant on the topic as a whole.
The problem lies within people and society itself. The fact alone that we ignore bullying around the world happening for various reasons, says a lot about the whole of human morals.
But, we’re not exactly going to have an “improve humanity” day, now are we?
Maybe we should! I know what you mean, though – once a year is too little; every day too much. Emma suggested the 6th of the month, every month.
Why do you think it’s so easy for many people to ignore bullying – either in front of them or around the world?
I don’t think that advertisements like this or any other form of bullying awareness has changed much at this school. “Bullying” as it’s most normally thought of exists very rarely at this school. High school students are older and therefore more mature than elementary school students, people judge each other less and keep to themselves more. When bullying does happen it’s hard to notice, even if you’re the bully yourself. The bullying in these advertisements barely happens, nobody elbows the person sitting beside them just to inflict pain, nobody leaves where they’re sitting just to avoid someone they dont like. We’re not children here, people have manners. If someone has a problem with someone else you do the nice thing and just talk trash behind their back.
Nowadays, instead of having bullys, we just have mean, rude or negative people. We have people who make jokes that other people don’t realise are jokes. We have manipulative people who use or abuse their friends. But that problem stretches past the confines of school and these little bullying intiatives and into the soul of the human spirit. Humans are petty, egotistical, greedy and vain. No amount of pink shirts can change that.
It’s interesting – I’m hearing both sides. Some people don’t see much bullying here at Tweedsmuir; some people see it frequently. I wonder what marks the difference: is it the peer group that people hang out with, the times that they’re actually out in the hallways, something else?
You said that we have “people who make jokes that other people don’t realise are jokes” – what did you mean by this?