Should Teachers be Punished When Kids are Bullies?

Bullying  By Mark

This last week, I came across two articles: one was clearly satire, the other not so much.

The first was a faux-article from The Onion about how more parents are choosing to have their children "school-homed," where parenting responsibilities are to be taken on by schools rather than by ill-equipped parents.

The second was an AP wire article about punishing schools when bullying takes place within their walls. 

I have to admit that I laughed at both.

Before I cast myself as a heartless pro-bully part-of-the-problem educator, please know that I was not laughing at the bullying being described in the second article. The heinous psychological and physical abuse at the hands of peers–so intense as to result in suicide–is of course not a laughing matter. I do believe that schools can and should work hard to cultivate safe environments for students. Ultimately, the second article suggested punishment for schools for failing to take the advice of experts about how to curb bullying–this was the part I had mixed feelings about.

One of the moments as a teacher when I felt most powerless was the time that a young woman approached me to let me know that a young man in my class had been harassing and bullying her and her best friend–in my classroom, in my presence–for several weeks. I felt like I had failed her. I took swift action and met with the bully, reported the offenses, and tuned my antennae to him much more deliberately from then on. Should I have been punished for not spotting the bullying immediately? I don't think so; perhaps others disagree.

In high school at least, the most vicious harassers are gifted with two talents: (1) superhuman situational awareness–they know when adults are paying attention and when they are our of earshot and line of sight; and (2) social intimidation–they are capable of compelling their victims into silence through fear or shame. I am enraged at myself for not being able to protect this student of mine–but in reality, there will always be some bullies who are never discovered by authorities because those bullies are masters of their craft. 

So the reason I laughed at the second article was twofold as well. First, I thought "here's one more way we can penalize schools!" All it would take would be a few expert bullies (and believe me, they're out there) whose prowess supersedes whatever system a school has in place to promote safety and self-advocacy. At least I know from my formative assessments whether my students will achieve what the state and federal governments want from them. I can anticipate which students might not pass the state test or might not make the grade. I have no way to predict whether my bullying prevention and detection would make the grade. As for the bullies: the key to their survival is to avoid detection. When the bullying is obvious, you better believe I (and I'd wager, the vast majority of other teachers) respond swiftly and mercilessly.

We can take great steps to curb bullying. But we need to be realistic, as well. The best of the bullies are those whose skills and talents evade detection–especially when they are able to blend anonymously into packed classrooms and crowded hallways.

6 thoughts on “Should Teachers be Punished When Kids are Bullies?

  1. Kristin

    Bob, at least in Washington State, there is a defined expectation and protocol for responding to bullying, whether it’s reported or witnessed.
    Here’s the link – http://www.k12.wa.us/SafetyCenter/HarassmentBullying/default.aspx
    I don’t know, Mark. I think you would be legally protected – even though you feel guilty for not seeing it – because you did something as soon as it was reported to you. And I empathize with the guilt because I’ve missed stuff too, and I try to be vigilant.
    I think it’s hard for us who take bullying seriously to imagine, but many schools don’t do anything about bullying even when it’s witnessed and reported. Why? Because bullies are often charismatic and popular, and the victims are often weak and uncharismatic. As well, bullying isn’t always “unwanted” attention at first. It begins as attention, sometimes attention a child isn’t getting from anyone else, and then it starts to be too much, too frequent, too mean. Remember the post about the teacher who wrote “Loser” on a student’s paper? Do you think he’s doing that to the most popular kid? Probably not. Some teachers bully, too. Some teachers really want to be popular.
    And while I resent schools being asked to teach nutrition, life skills and all sorts of other things that should be the family’s responsibility when schools continue to receive fewer resources, I support schools being required to address bullying because sometimes bullies are sweet at home, and victims are often strong at home. In school the power hierarchy changes, so we need to address social skills as part of our curriculum.
    A good friend of mine learned three months after the fact that her son had been bullying another child on the playground. The victim’s mom had been told, but not my friend. She was told months later, during the parent-teacher conference, that it had happened and “been taken care of.” I think schools should be required to deal with it better than that. And I’m not sure what the punishment would look like – hopefully not just another reduction of money – but if it’s a ding against a bad teacher or a bad administrator, I’m all for it.
    And Tom’s right – anti-bullying curriculum is time-consuming. But if we don’t educate the kids about how to recognize, respond to, and report bullying, it continues to occur under the radar.

  2. Tom

    I agree, Mark; teachers need to do everything they can to prevent bullying. Our school launched a huge anti-bullying initiative several years ago and it has paid off in spades, but it has also been very time-consuming, and there is still bullying going on. You can only do what you can do.

  3. Brian

    I don’t know how many times a student has asked me: “Didn’t you hear that!” The answer is no, I didn’t. In a room with 30 students it is impossible to attend to everything. It would be enlightening to wire a classroom for video and sound so that every interaction could be separated out played back. I am sure we miss 95% of what is said and done in our rooms, right in front of us.

  4. Bob Heiny

    You introduce a timely issue for public school personnel. These ideas came to mind as I reread your post.
    What does WA state law say about liabilities/duties teachers and other educators have in these situations, perhaps as malpractice?
    How does your teaching contract read your duties in such events and how does your union interpret those words in your favor?
    It sounds like you acted prudently. Yet, I’m not an attorney, so I don’t know answers.

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