Digital Smarts - The Hard Truth About School Bullying – Perception is Everything

Whether you have had a child who has experienced bullying online or at school and have approached your school about it, or you just want to be prepared in case it happens, you may want to read “A hard truth about school bullying “.  The point of view of the author, Jim Dillon, who has been an educator for over 40 years, is that there are two very different perceptions of bullying in our schools: the version of bullying that many school staff members believe and the version that students experience daily. As evidence for these two contrasting views he offers the fact that in anonymous surveys of teens, approximately 20% of secondary school students report being bullied approximately two to three times per month. Over 75% of the schools in many states report zero incidents per year. 

What accounts for these two contrasting views? Dillion says that if school staff members are being candid, they do not thinking bullying is a serious problem in schools. As for students, most students don't bully others and aren't bullied, so all the anti-bullying rules and pledges they are required to follow reflect just another set of adult rules. In reality, the student version of bullying is intertwined and concealed in the social world of how people treat or mistreat each other. The result of these two versions (and the article spells out both versions more fully) is that many school environments inadvertently not only ignore the bullying that students experience, but also contribute to its existence and persistence. All students learn the wrong lesson when they see peers endure mistreatment and witness educators who appear unconcerned and/or unable to stop it.  This article is worth a read and may explain why your school treated a bullying issue, that you may have reported, the way they did.