Fighting back sounds courageous, effective and brave. In some contexts it is - when someone is invading our country or threatening our freedom - but in a school bullying situation, it is fraught with difficulty.
Firstly, retaliation can be fatal. Young people are not always aware of their own strength and it is quite easy for young people to be seriously and sometimes fatally injured as a result of a physical retaliation. Spending a significant part of your formative years in prison as a result of a serious error of judgement is a heavy price to pay.
Second, the young person who retaliates may well find themselves perceived as the aggressor especially if the authorities charged with providing students with a safe environment to learn, only witness the retaliatory act and not the events that led up to it.
Thirdly, there is a better way to respond. Violence begets violence and if we condone these actions, we end up saying that violence is a problem solving device. Instead, we need to equip students in primary school with conflict resolution skills, anger management and problem solving.
In the case of the video that has gone viral across the world, it behooves all of us who care for young people to offer the Year 10 boy our sympathy - not our condemnation. We have to understand that the video raises important questions for schools and the community. Why did no one intervene, where was supervision, if it is true that this was a long standing feud, why had nothing been done?
School bullying and violence is a huge problem and it is time we pressed the pause button on the DVD of media hysteria and voyeurism and instead reflect on what advice we should be giving schools, parents and teachers.
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About Me
- Michael Carr-Gegg's Blog
- Michael is one of Australia's highest profile psychologists. He works in private practice in Melbourne. He is a founding member of the National Centre Against Bullying and an official ambassador for the National Depression Initiative - Beyondblue as well as Mindmatters - one of 16 youth suicide prevention programs run by the Federal Government . He is a columnist for Girlfriend Magazine. Australian Doctor and is a regular on Radio 3AW.
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3 comments:
Hi Michael,
I noticed you were quoted by ABC Online today as having said:
The research from the Institute of Criminology is quite clear that young people who do hit back are over two times more likely to suffer physical retribution themselves.
Is this a reference to the Jodie Lodge research a Melbourne Uni press release reported as having found that risk of peer victimisation is significantly greater (by 1.4 to 2.6 times) among young people who behave in reactively aggressive ways?
If that's the case it doesn't seem the findings were as clear as the ABC quoted you as saying, because the study also found that students who retaliated tended to suffer from low self-esteem, functioned less well at school, and had mastered fewer problem solving skills, and perhaps factors associated with that, rather than retaliation factor alone, result in the 'two times more likely' figure.
I concur with all the problems with violence you described, but as you know, the alternatives have their own problems (e.g. dismissive authority figures). In terms of the individual who has to deal with an acute situation and can't change the whole school or society, is there really research that gives a clear answer on whether fighting back is less effective at deterring the bullying than alternative responses?
Cheers,
Steve
Hi Michael,
I am a journalism student at Monash University and I am currently writing a feature article on the role of Facebook in bullying/harassment. I was hoping to interview you about this issue but I am having trouble getting in contact with you through your website. Is there a phone number I can call or would I be able to send you through a few questions as I understand you are busy. I'd really appreciate your views. Thanks, Kelly
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