Student fears and bullying

To be bullied, or to have the lingering fear of being bullied, is a primary school student’s biggest nightmare. The child will think of it night and day, with silent suffering. Because of the severe psychological, social and physical harm which bullying can inflict upon a child, I have written about ten columns here on this frightening subject. And I write so again today because of the widely-published bullying incident at San Fernando’s Grant Memorial Presbyterian School.

That school is one of the best primary schools in the country — both in academic achievement and student behaviour. The overall school climate, you would say, has been quite healthy. So what went wrong? According to media reports, a tightened rope was squeezed around a student’s neck by two classmates, with the student reportedly saved from further suffering by another student. Dangerous games can kill. The matter is being properly investigated.

What this incident also illustrates though, is how the power of a single act can put an entire institution against the wall. And this is where official crime statistics, apart from its inherent defects, can never tell the whole story. The fear of crime often runs ahead of the statistics.

Two of bullying’s major characteristics are its persistence and the fear it instills into the bullied victim. It is one student taking advantage over another. One child hitting another child at recess for the first and last time is most likely violence, but in itself not within the category of bullying. It may be the result or part of a bullying pattern. Quite often too, what is seen as violence is a reaction to violence, a self-defence reaction. In 2006, we decided to examine this kind of reaction. One of the questions asked in the study of 2,800 secondary school students was: During this term, how many times had you to hit or fight back another student who hit you first? Eight percent said “five or more times”. In fact, 40 percent said “at least once” during the term.

Now, whether single act or persistent bullying, it should be condemned. Schools are responsible for protecting their students. Bullying doesn’t necessarily have to be physical. Persistent teasing, mocking and ethnic slurs can become vicious forms of bullying. Or by texting — cyber bullying. The “Grant school” episode raises the question of middle class delinquency. After all, one of the major deficiencies in criminological theory and research has been its emphasis on lower and working class youth, leaving middle class students hidden on the assumption that all is well there. That bias is being slowly corrected. For example, Edmund Vaz’ monograph entitled Middle Class Juvenile Delinquency, contains several research papers in this corrective direction. What is the situation in this country?

With a sample of 1,800 secondary schools students, our research team in 2003 found no significant difference between the three social classes (low, middle and high by parental occupation). The proportion of physical violence committed by each group was proportional to its presence in the total sample. For example, while 51 percent of the sample comprised lower class students, 50 percent of the total physical acts were committed by these students. And while 38 percent of the sample were middle class students, 40 percent of the physical acts were committed by these students. Eleven percent of the upper class committed ten percent. The study was entitled: “Benchmarking Violence and Delinquency in Secondary Schools: Towards a Culture of Peace and Civility.” The results were graphically presented to each of the participating schools. Thirty-eight short and medium-term policy recommendations were made.

But what about the culture of fear among students? So, three years after this first study, we examined 2,800 students in 28 other secondary schools. One of the questions asked was: How often are you afraid that someone will harass, bully or hurt you at school? Fifty seven percent said “Never”. Thirty-three percent (33 percent) said “Sometimes,” five percent said “Often” and another five percent said “Very Often”. So, all in all, forty-three percent (43 percent) had a fear that someone will “harass, bully or hurt” them at school. Is this a good sign? What about such fears in the district or at home? Such fears were found to be less (22 percent) for the district, and even much less at home (16 percent) compared to their fears at school. Bullies and their parents must be shown a better way.