It’s a tale from The Dark Side of the Internet, an ancient problem exacerbated by modern technology.
As a story by reporter Marissa Harshman of The Columbian recently illuminated, the issue of bullying in schools has taken a high-tech turn, feeding off the power of the Internet and cell phones.
No longer is tormenting a fellow student limited to stealing their lunch money. Now it includes text messages and e-mails and posts in chat rooms. Now it involves the relative anonymity and utter ubiquity of gadgetry. And while it goes without saying that bullying somebody from afar is the height of cowardice, it is a problem that school officials are being forced to confront.
In Washington, the state first required districts to have bullying policies in place by 2003. In 2007, districts were required to include language addressing cyber-bullying. Yet, according to Lindsey Elhart, a 2010 graduate of Hudson’s Bay High School, those policies did little to help her. Elhart claims that school and district officials did not effectively address her concerns about being bullied. Her story was chronicled by Harshman, who also examined the larger issue.
During the 2008-09 school year, a total of 262 students were expelled from Clark County schools, according to the Washington State School Safety Center. Of those, 115 were expelled for bullying, harassment or intimidation — more than were expelled for drugs or assault or any other single reason, and 44 percent of the overall total.
The numbers also reveal that more than 1,500 suspensions were handed out for bullying in Clark County schools during the 2008-09 year.
Those statistics are disturbing at best and frightening at worst. If a bullying case reaches the point of suspension or expulsion, then somebody has engaged in utterly reprehensible behavior toward a fellow student and somebody has reported it. It is impossible to know how many cases go undiscovered.
With modern technology at their disposal, bullies have moved from the hallways and into the public domain, exponentially increasing the pain they can inflict. Because of that, concern about bullying in schools is a discussion that must be held, yet Vancouver School District officials opted to stonewall Harshman as she worked on the story for The Columbian.
From the article: “When asked by The Columbian to discuss the district’s bullying policies in general, spokeswoman Kris Sork said the district would not answer questions. ‘We’re not going to participate in this story because you’re writing about a specific incident.’ Sork said.”
We hope that the discussion throughout the district is more open and forthcoming. Because the state’s 2008 Healthy Teen Survey, an anonymous poll taken every two years, revealed that about 30 percent of sixth- and eighth-graders admitted to being bullied in the previous 30 days. About 23 percent of 10th-graders and 16 percent of 12th-graders had the same response.
There is a school of thought, and it is not completely without merit, that today’s students are coddled. That they are treated as precious snowflakes who must be protected from any of life’s struggles. But such a “tough-it-out” philosophy does a disservice to the victims. Bullying is not something to be trifled with, not when it can make school a miserable experience that impairs a student’s educational experience.
That is why it is important for school officials and teachers and parents to be involved. That is why it is crucial for the topic be brought to light. That is why it is necessary to heed the words of Marcia Christian, assistant superintendent of human resources for Battle Ground Public Schools: “If we have adults who are using the Internet to smear people they don’t like, I’m not at all surprised our kids are doing it.”
Which brings us to the crux of the matter: Like most problems facing schools these days, this one typically begins at home.
