The states are only getting serious about it so they can avoid lawsuits. The teachers teach the students that bullying is ok, they are as bad if not worse than the students in many cases.

I'm 38 and I'm finally learning to stare these idiots down while shouting back if that's the way they want to communicate. In most cases bullies are emotionally weak and insecure so keep that in the back of your mind while dealing with the intimidation.

If your dealing with your children and bullying tape record your meetings with school employees. If they don't do something about it they can be held liable which is about the only way to get the laws changed. I know, I know.., it's going to take more killings, beatings, etc. to take care of this but with immigrants strorming our countryside it's not going to get any better anytime soon.

If your child is fearful, and wants to learn self-defense then do it. Otherwise make sure he/she has a decent father-figure in his life who he/she can look up to. It will do wonders for them when it comes to coping with bullying.

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When I was going to school, there was bullying, name-calling, fights, and all of that. It's nothing new. But from stories I hear, it seems like it's getting more extreme. I don't know why that is. I'm just glad I'm out of school.

Holding schools and teachers accountable doesn't sound like a bad idea. They've always been notorious for looking the other way. It seems like they were always obsessed with petty things like gum-chewing, talking, etc. and didn't want to deal with real problems. Sometimes they even encouraged, participated in and initiated abuse.

The only thing I disagree with is limiting the focus to bullying based on race, creed, color, and other broad categories. Kids will bully each other for any number of reasons, no reason, or else they'll make up reasons. Geeks, fat kids, frumpy girls, kids who are different, and others in "non-political" categories are some of the most common victims, and should not be left out.

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Another typical blind article supporting bad legislation. Bullying isn't limited to school. Law enforcement agencies reported nearly 60,000 cases of domestic violence, overwhelmingly by adults, in Los Angeles and Orange counties in 2005 alone--yet note that neither the columnist nor Rep. Sanchez mentions violent homes as the major generator of school bullies. In America, we specialize in not solving problems by ignoring uncomfortable connections between adult and youth behaviors. Finally, when I surveyed my students, I found those who cited bullying as a problem in their high school pointed out that it wasn't just other students--school administrators, faculty, and coaches were part of the bullying problem, too. Now there's a larger problem Congress and commentators will never face.
Mike Males, www.YouthFacts.org

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Yeah, I'm sure the once Congress passes a law against bullying then all of the kids doing it will stop because, well, it's a law.

It's simply more useless legislation of the type Congress-critters love to get behind becuase it shows that they're "doing something". This one is even worse than most since it's obvious that they have no idea what needs to be done. So they'll pass a law requiring states to prove that THEY are doing something.

Which probably means that the state will pass a law against it as well.

Wow.

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It seems, as usual, the easiest targets for controlling the masses start with our children. Before congress or any state passes a law such as this new "bulling law" take a look at the results of the ones they have passed in England - Anti-Social Behavior Order (ASBO). This has been a complete disaster and has gone from laws aimed at the youth to the community as a whole. If this is not proof enough please review the 3 Strikes law which was first introduced in California to curb gang violence (fear mongering) and of course the laws that enable minors to be tried as adults. It seems our prisons aren't full enough for the controllers and our population needs to be harnessed in some more. It is not enough that our children attend a virtual prison when going to public school. They are teaching them how to live in a police state. Is it any wonder with the violence our children are exposed to every day and the bigotry and hatred towards "others" that they see as acceptable why they behave this way? 'Parents teach your children well.' Crosby, Stills, Nah and Young

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I agree that this is not and should not be the purview of the Feds. Bullying is a social issue, not a political one, and it is the responsibility of parents, teachers, and--dare I say it, ALL adults--to intervene to stop such behavior. Organized bullying in the form of gangs are a law enforcement issue.

School counselors already work to educate students about bullying and how to handle bullies. PTOs could probably do a lot to raise the consciousness of parents about the issue as well.

We don't need more laws like the one proposed. Just like No Child Left behind on the federal level, and the Standards of Learning in my home state of VA, they are always punitive in nature, never diagnostic. We don't need to punish schools or faculty. We need to get them the resources they need to do the job we ask of them.

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What happened to our hopes for a civil soviety?


Do we think we can have civil society by encouraging "boys will be boys? What do you think hazing is, but institutionalized bulling that we have copied from the "upper class"?
We have made it so much part of "being a teenager (another of our capitalist inventions the world would better off without) that even girls are doing it, trying to be more like boys.

What we expect from our children is what we will get.

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Whatever happened to sourcing your facts? The story is so full of unattributed assertions it would make an undergrad journalism student cringe. "The twisted killers in the Virginia Tech and Columbine High School tragedies were bullied before turning violent themselves." Where is the evidence that supports the author's all-too-facile conclusion that Seung-Hui Cho was "bullied"? Bullied by whom, and when, where, and why? Another example: "One in 10 high school dropouts blames bullying." Says who? What's the source of this figure? We're expected, as in too many tub-thumping ALTERNET polemics, to simply accept the author's alleged facts on faith. Those of us who cling, naively, to the cherished fiction of a *fact*-based reality refuse to take that leap.

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Seems to me that every time I see something about America on tele somebody's getting bullied. How do you turn an oil tanker with a row boat? When the government begins to demonstrate kindness then and only then will bullying stop. One even gets the impression that to succeed in America these days one needs to be a bully. Also, I'm amused by the amount of bullying in these "post a comment" sections on web sites. So . . . let me know when the greed stops and the kindness begins and I may come home for a visit, but for now I hear far too many stories of the immigration bullies waiting to greet me upon arrival.

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Lets not pretend that our society at large is not a bully. Making congress the law enforcers against bullying is a fucked up joke right? Here are some examples and those who participate regularly. Pre-emtpive wars that the majority of Americans were cajoled into, and congress approved. Do we really expect our children to see peaceful solutions when we rally illegal wars. Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) 100 orders mandating Iraq, from oil to agriculture, cutting the pie 100 ways for American and multinational corporations. This also includes grand larseny. For twenty years agribusiness has bullied markets globally and has led to more food insecurity and starvation. This includes biopiracy. No legislation is going to mask the brutality we display to our children and the world through government actions we condone.

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One of the messages we send in our culture is that sociopaths are "winners"! From Dirty Harry to GWB, it's all about talking tough and kicking ass. Our corporations are headed by sociopaths who are willing to be more ruthless than the other sociopaths. Non-sociopaths don't have the stomach for it. The best one can hope for is the "benign" sociopath (e.g., Bill Clinton) because "nice guys finish last". This is a structural problem derived from a class structure in which the peasants had no rights that were bound to be respected by the "gentry". Unfortunately, social evolution in the US has become stunted and held hostage to the political maneuvering of (you guessed it) the sociopaths running the political parties.

Basically, anyone who actually wants to be President should be excluded from getting the job. We should probably draft, by lottery, our political leaders for fixed, single terms. At the end of the term, they go back to being ordinary citizens, with their old jobs guaranteed. At the least, the result would be that we get no more sociopaths than random choice would provide. I imagine that the problems of "ordinary people" would get a lot more attention than it does now. And since there is no re-election, lobbying becomes no longer useful. The people in office won't be there to establish long-term political careers subject to corruption by the "revolving door" of K Street or the MIC.

Oh, well, I can dream...

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CONGRESS needs to do something about it?

No... schools need to do something about it.

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http://www.thechronicleherald.ca/Search/858884.html

‘I’ve stood around too long’
Central Kings students wear pink to send bullies a message
By IAN FAIRCLOUGH Valley Bureau | 3:51 PM

CAMBRIDGE — Two students at Central Kings Rural High School fought back against bullying recently, unleashing a sea of pink after a new student was harassed and threatened when he showed up wearing a pink shirt.

The Grade 9 student arrived for the first day of school last Wednesday and was set upon by a group of six to 10 older students who mocked him, called him a homosexual for wearing pink and threatened to beat him up.

The next day, Grade 12 students David Shepherd and Travis Price decided something had to be done about bullying.

RELATED: Pink shirts legend grows

"It’s my last year. I’ve stood around too long and I wanted to do something," said David.

They used the Internet to encourage people to wear pink and bought 75 pink tank tops for male students to wear. They handed out the shirts in the lobby before class last Friday — even the bullied student had one.

"I made sure there was a shirt for him," David said.

They also brought a pink basketball to school as well as pink material for headbands and arm bands. David and Travis figure about half the school’s 830 students wore pink.

It was hard to miss the mass of students in pink milling about in the lobby, especially for the group that had harassed the new Grade 9 student.

"The bullies got angry," said Travis. "One guy was throwing chairs (in the cafeteria). We’re glad we got the response we wanted."

David said one of the bullies angrily asked him whether he knew pink on a male was a symbol of homosexuality.

He told the bully that didn’t matter to him and shouldn’t to anyone.

"Something like the colour of your shirt or pants, that’s ridiculous," he said.

"Our intention was to stand up for this kid so he doesn’t get picked on."

Travis said the bullies "keep giving us dirty looks, but we know we have the support of the whole student body.

"Kids don’t need this in their lives, worrying about what to wear to school. That should be the last thing on their minds."

When the bullied student put on his pink shirt Friday and saw all the other pink in the lobby, "he was all smiles. It was like a big weight had been lifted off is shoulder," David said. No one at the school would reveal the student’s name.

Travis said that growing up, he was often picked on for wearing store-brand clothes instead of designer duds.

The two friends said they didn’t take the action looking for publicity, but rather to show leadership in combating what they say is frequent bullying in schools.

( ifairclough@herald.ca)

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For a good summary of the background of the bullying influences on the Columbine shootings see:

Dissecting Columbine's Cult of the Athlete

By Lorraine Adams and Dale Russakoff
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, June 12, 1999; Page A1

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/
national/daily/june99/columbine12.htm

[Combine the two parts of the link above, the system would not let that link stand as a whole.]

It is a very good summary. And indeed, there is evidence of bullying against the eventual Columbine students who shot the other students.

As far as preventing bullying, it seems that it is reasonable to give people younger than the age of 18 the same rights of protection against assault and assault & battery that adults enjoy. The laws are clear. Of course, the consequences would need to be tailored to each age group.

If a 10 year-old pushes or "bumps" or hits ar slaps another 10 year-old, intentionally, that is assault. And it can be dealt with as a crime for all to see it as a crime. There can be a police officer in uniform to deal with the incident. (Obviously "arresting' a kid and handcuffing, etc, is a bad idea.) And the person in the uniform can sit with the kid, his or her parents, witnesses, and so on, and explain what assault is; and what assault & battery is.

Every child should have the same protections that we as adults enjoy, at least, whether at school OR at home. That, of course, also means no violence against children home, even when such violence is called nice names like "spanking" and "discipline."

For a good overview on protecting young people from violence, see the website:

http://www.nospank.net

The website owner, Jordan Riak is a good champion to protect children from violence.

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Of course school bullying will continue to skyrocket as long as you are stuck with politicians who STRONGLY support policies that allow BIG BUSINESS to BULLY small business, oppressive regimes to bully their own people, need I go on?

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Moronic. I agree with some of the other posts. This is a social issue. Where the hell are the adults and parents? This issue starts at home, not on the floors of Congress. By the way, isn't the Congress and the rest of the administration a bunch of bullies?

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Do we really need Congress to weigh in on this? Doesn't Congress have more important things to do than worry about the school yard bully? How about the parents? Teachers? School board? Do we need big government in the school yard too?
It's time we stopped trying to legislate our problems away and start taking responsibility for ourselves and our children.

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Yes a teacher can stop the bullying but only if the head of the school will stand with him o her against it. school boards and pta's have to stand up too. I have been on both sides; I was bullied I was the teacher who tried to stop it. Alone the teacher is literaly helpless. I knew it was there. I talked about it in the class. That didn't work. I was told to back off and the kids knew it.

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How can we teach against bullying when our entire existence is bought and paid for by bullies? The Bush administration is nothing less than a hord of thugs and bullies, and they rule the freakin' trembling world.

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We have the beginnings of anti-bullying legislation but of course everyone is shying away from addressing the real issues.

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hmmmm....let me get this straight. the writer wants to go to Congress (home to some of the worst adult bullies) to get them to help solve the bullying problem. ROFL!!!

In 1994, after the Gingrich revolution, i was temporarily babysitting my grandchildren. There was much talk then of censorship of video games, tv programs etc -- not appropriate for young sprites.

I called my congresswoman and informed her office that i only censored one station --- C-Span, while the House was in session. This came after the Republican leadership forgot what democracy was, and decided on some heavy tactics ... and Lantos lost it and said "I fought you in WWII and I'll fight you again!!!!"

These are the folks you want to fix our kids? Next i suppose the writer will turn to talk radio to fix things right?

sigh ..... sigh ..... sigh ....

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Jena 6 bullys or heros? I vote BULLYS.

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Anti-Bully theory may seem sophmoric to some, but it is the heart and soul of the non-violence movement today. Get involved in your school program. It won't be greeat at first, but keep an eye on the direction it takes and try to add your common sense. The DARE program is supposed to address violence, but you and i know that they won't properly address tht issue, so it is the anti-bully committee that can teach about Gandhi and anti-war and so on by planting the seeds of non-violence and non-tolerance of bullying.

The Jena 6 are a perfect example of kids that were bullied by white supremicists. "How you like me now?"

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The PTA at your school has or can have an anti-bully committee. The resources are online. If you can post to this, you can figure it out. Join it and make a difference in the lives of your kids. You really think congress will come to your school and figure it out for you?

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I have seen dozens of cases of cruel bullying by police.

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That was my gut feeling when I read the title of this peice, and you stated my feelings eloquently. I was bullied as a kid and not for race sex or anything political. I had a few physical flaws and was shy about it. A perfect target! And so was abused daily for it. I was weak and couldn't handle it, but you know, life is a bitch. Every day you pick yourself up and try again. THAT IS A LIFE LESSON! Life is not fair nor is it easy. Is this a fact that we are so desperate to keep from kids today that we will try to bury it under legislation? Adversity builds strength and character and teaches sympathy. And, by the way, bullying does not end after graduation. There are work-bullies, neighborhood-bullies, dare I say, church-bullies...etc. You cannot & should not legislate every unpleasant thing in life. That is pathetic. You grow strong and learn to handle these things and try to teach your kids to handle them better than your parents taught you.

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