Anna thinks govts hold the answer to school Bullies

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https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/rende ... 0ba074281d

COMMENCING the school year without public discussions of bullying is like beginning the Spring Racing Carnival without mentioning the horses.

School and bullying and the narrow cultural norms kids, parents and teachers mutually reinforce have always gone together. Note that technology isn’t part of that mix.

The most elaborate technology during my school years was a calculator yet I was a daily target of thugs (as were dozens like me). It seems being quiet and studious was an open invitation to have the bookishness beaten out of you.

Indeed, the cutting-edge technology of 19th century Britain was a quill pen but that didn’t prevent the English public school system becoming notorious for a Victorian culture of victimisation bordering on the criminal.

No one doubts that social media — sometimes accessed on smart phones, sometimes not — has facilitated bullying among kids. It’s equally true that bullying now continues in an odious online world long after 3pm.
Banning smart phones from all schools fails to address the underlying problem. Moreover, smart phones are increasingly necessary information retrieval tools that teach kids autonomous learning skills.
In the not-too-distant future, even the smart phone will disappear — gone the way of the dowdy desktop computer and, eventually, even the laptop and tablet. In its place, when the World Wide Web is embedded in the “internet of things”, voice-operated search engines will be in our clothes, and tiny screens in the corner of our glasses, or even in the lenses of our eyes.

In an information-rich world of the 2030s, what use is “banning” information retrieval devices necessary for independent learning? It’s a question highlighting not only the short-sightedness of a phone ban but the hypocrisy of the idea.

In arguing for a ban on phones in school, the LNP has adopted a government regulatory approach to solve a social problem. Don’t teachers have enough to do without checking school kids’ bags for phones?

Moreover, didn’t the LNP during the last election campaign pledge to repeal the Labor Government’s tougher regulations over the sale and consumption of liquor — designed to curb alcohol-fuelled violence — because, it said, they created a “nanny state”? Didn’t the LNP insist that government regulation was heavy-handed and that individuals had to learn “individual responsibility”?

Unlike the supply and consumption if liquor (which exists physically within the tangible jurisdiction of Queensland), it’s impossible to regulate — by rules alone — how young people use intangible social media in a virtual world unconstrained by physical borders.
Unless we want to introduce a China-like firewall or, like North Korea, ban the web altogether.

And that’s no apology for a social media I despise for its fake news that lies to vulnerable voters, and for its undermining of mainstream news models that threatens professional journalism and steals countess jobs while making a handful of owners billions in profits. As a victim of filthy Twitter trolls myself, my online presence is now limited to emails. (I don’t even read online comments under my columns; the vile, personal abuse makes any debate impossible).

But social media is here to stay and, rather than ban school kids from it, it’s far more desirable to teach children how to use it to the benefit of all, including how to build a positive personal profile that future employers would love to read.

Sadly, psychologists say the majority of families is now technically “dysfunctional”. Moreover, numerous studies confirm that child bullies (who often become adult bullies) are created not by technology but by poor parenting. Whether the child learns to bully from a bullying parent (over-parenting) or bullies from a lack of parental attention (under-parenting), the home is where it all begins.

As such, we’d expect the LNP — a party proudly purporting to be pro-family — to insist parents take the lead and teach their children how to live, work and play respectfully with others online. Can we eliminate bullies altogether? Of course not. But federal and state governments can fund programs to improve parenting and curb kids’ anti-social behaviour.

In that sense, Premier Palaszczuk recently scored a win in getting Prime Minister Turnbull to add cyber-bullying to the forthcoming COAG agenda. Happily, Queensland could now lead the nation in how to improve functionality in families.

Bullying is an incredibly complex social problem in schools and in workplaces. It’s incumbent upon all politicians to avoid simple, populist reactions and work with both government and science to offer real solutions.

Dr Paul Williams is senior lecturer at Griffith University’s School of Humanities

Originally published as Phone bans won’t stop bullies. It’s up to parents

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1st mistake I can see there is waiting until school returns to bring up such a serious topic..

havent they had about 8 weeks to get some positives rolling ?

time to teach more recilliance broader shoulders.thicker skins maybe!

[Black Orchid]

Banning iPhones in schools certainly will not stop bullying but I fail to see the need for kids to have their phones at school, period. It encourages laziness and cheating. How easy is it to sneakily look up answers on their phone? Sure it may get them through class but while they are fiddling and texting under their desks they are not learning the basics and we now see where textese has overtaken basic English skills and it is obvious when you read comments on news stories and even the news stories themselves where some have the most dreadful grammar I have ever seen.

So I am pro not having phones whilst at school but still that does not address the bullying problem.

Bullying is a learned behaviour and most definitely begins at home. Probably not always from parents who bully their children but more likely from absentee parents who are both out working while the kids are left to their own devices at home for long periods. A parent would surely HAVE to know if their child was potentially bullying others. Wouldn't they?

With the age of technology firmly entrenched I honestly don't know how to address this bullying culture. Once upon a time the bullies attacked you in person but once out of their personal space (and you could avoid them) you were free to get on with things. Now it is relentless and never stops and then it snowballs with everyone joining in. You cannot avoid it now no matter where you go or what you do and for those being bullied online and on social media it must be overwhelming.

[Outlaw Yogi]

So many months back I heard on the radio (at work) that Anna (incomprehensible Czech surname) was going to "ban online bullying".
Which is about as futile as banning free range chooks asserting the position in the pecking order.
What wimpy juvenile snow flakes need is a bullying training course to teach them how to handle the rough and tumble sledging of life on planet Earth ... Lesson #1: Sticks and stones may break my bones but whips and chains excite me.

[The Grappler]

No government component has ever 'held' the answer to bullying,for one simple reason - they themselves are the biggest bullies on the block, and they then sit back in dismay and wonder why bullying is the name of the game.....

Anyone who's ever had a problem with a cop or a court or a government agency will tell you that.... talk about Third World.

All any government would do to resolve bullying would make it worse - they've tried that with their version of 'domestic violence' - to the savage detriment of countless thousands, including loss of any potential for political activity - and all they've managed to do in twenty five years plus of violence and bullying is make matters worse.

Maybe it needs to rebound on them first and foremost.

[The Grappler]

ADDITIONAL COMMENT:-

ALL governments believe that if only handed absolute power they would solve all the issues of society.... it's a good thing we refuse them absolute power, so that they are forced to take us one by one with nonsense such as their approach to 'domestic violence' and other issues.... absurdly low PCA ... nonsense over licencing ordinary people for firearms (I've known lunatics get firearms licences and ordinary people can't)... anything that simultaneously will recoup cash for the 'government' while reducing the power of people, one at a time, is good, according to their Orwellian logic.

[Rorschach]

There will always be bullies...
Honestly though... you can obviously avoid online bullies. Just don't go there.

[Black Orchid]

Just not going somewhere is not the answer either. Some people have nowhere else to go.