Bullying
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EDITORIAL
Bullying McIntyre R. Louthan
Published online: 19 March 2010 Ó ASM International 2010
Fran and I were having a school lunch with our 8-year-old granddaughter, Annie Grace, when we noticed the sign on the bulletin board. No Bullying! The sign had probably been prepared by a third grader and depicted a rather large boy standing over a much smaller child. The facial expressions showed that the large boy was forcing his will on the smaller child. No bullying! The concept sounds appropriate at first glance, but any child growing up today is taught to bully almost from birth. All we had to do was look at the larger section of the bulletin board to see an example of bullying being promoted by the school. The bulletin board was located where any parent or grandparent having lunch with a child would notice the display—almost adjacent to the visitor’s table. The title of one display on the bulletin board was ‘‘Star Families’’. Under the title was a collection of stars descending across the board with each individual star fully in view. Care had been taken to assure no overlap so that the names on the stars were easily seen. One star was named ‘‘The Louthan Family’’. This identification showed that Annie Grace’s parents had given the school cash or a check for a certain minimum amount of money. The family name of every child in the school wasn’t on the board. In fact, it is a reasonable guess that less than half the family names were listed. Why were the family names displayed on a bulletin board located where virtually every child and every lunch time visitor saw a list of contributors and, by inference, saw a list of those who hadn’t contributed? The children want to see their family star on the board; and when only the contributors are given stars, isn’t the school bullying the parents into a contribution? The school, just like the large M. R. Louthan (&) Box 623, Radford, VA 24143, USA e-mail: [email protected]
boy, would deny any intent at bullying, but what would the facial expression of a child show when they searched for a star that wasn’t present? Last evening, a television commercial showed two rather old, obese, ugly men bullying a hotel clerk into reducing the room rate. On being successful in their bullying, the perpetrators proudly stated that they negotiated great rates. No Bullying? A football player stands over a tackled and injured player, snarling and celebrating his success. No Bullying? A basketball player dunks over a smaller player on an inferior team and then gloats his great achievement. No Bullying? Television producers focus favorably on acts of poor sportsmanship and prime time shows demonstrate that the strong can defeat the weak and impose their will on the defeated. No Bullying? No wonder children pay minimal attention to cries against bullying when examples of bullying permeate their lives. Big trucks bully little trucks, little trucks bully small cars, small cars bully motorcycles, motorcycles bully bicycles and bicycles bully pedestrians. Finally perhaps, pedestrians walk
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