School can be both an exciting and a challenging experience. A young person’s experience of school is influenced by many factors, such as peer relationships, learning ability and family life. Problems in these areas can lead a young person to develop a negative experience of school. Actively avoiding school, either by not attending or not Read more
What can be more painful to a parent than losing a child to suicide? The problem of cyberbullying was brought to national attention several years ago by the passing of 13-year-old Megan Meier, who committed suicide subsequent to cyberbullying by Lori Drew, the mother of another girl. Despite years of public campaigns and passage of Read more
I loathe practical jokes. They’re bullying in disguise, they’re always hurtful and they’re sometimes criminal. Think of the recent trial of the teenager who set fire to a guest at his birthday party and thought it was hilarious. He doesn’t now. Worse, you’re supposed to be jolly about being humiliated because of some dim, ancient Read more
Cardinal George Pell has withdrawn his support from a Catholic college at Sydney University following revelations about dangerous initiation rituals, destructive behaviour and bullying. Cardinal Pell said he no longer had confidence that the council of St John’s College could reform life at the college. He asked the five remaining priests on the council to Read more
The concept of justice is a tricky one to grasp in this age of innumerable platforms for user-generated content on the internet. I’ve watched in fascination at the many responses that have been spawned by the ‘Bullied Bus Monitor’ story that’s been developing over the past few weeks, each with their own interpretation of justice. Read more
Thirty-five students of Don Bosco College at Alafua in Samoa presented a traditional apology or ‘ifoga’ to the school last week. The students and two parents were seen on bended knees in front of the school offices while the school held its daily morning assembly. Director of Catholic Education, Aeau Chris Hazelman, said the students Read more
The director of Catholic Education in Samoa says inter-school fighting is one of the reasons for taking a tougher stance on bullying. Prefects at Don Bosco, a Catholic technical institution, finished a six-day suspension on Friday after an assault on a fellow student last week for which they all claimed responsibility. Nearly all of the school’s Read more
Is bullying the worst thing? Sure it’s unpleasant and can have terrible consequences but that’s not really what I want to focus on. I want to put forward a small counter argument in the midst of a complex issue. Of course bullying is bad – and yes Aotearoa has a problem with bullying – but Read more
The head of the Principals’ Association, and Principal of John Paul College in Rotorua has called for the filming of bullying to be made a crimal offense. “I think perhaps it’s time to take a stick approach, and make this a criminal offence,” Patrick Walsh head of New Zealand’s Secondary Principals Association told ONE News. “If Read more
After several reports of school bullying hit the media last week, all school boards of trustees are to be told to review their anti-bullying policies. Br Patrick Lynch, the CEO of the New Zealand Catholic Education Office thinks that “bullying behaviours in schools are always unacceptable given the law and more importantly the emphasis modern Read more