A Lesson In Bullying
The class was taken aback and astonished. I was shouting and ranting at Fahmy, my co-form teacher. He was taunted, had his confidence shredded to pieces and left to balance on an egg shell. I snatched his pencil and flung it on the floorr, at the same time crumpling the set of notes in his hand. I smacked his back when he did not do as told, threatening him not to report anything to anyone. I even extorted some cash from him if he did not want to end up with bruises and blue black marks after school. You see, I do have 'members' who would do anything for me in order to get favours from me.
Little did our students realise that we were role playing a bullying scene. They thought it was one of those rare ugly scenes where their teachers were involved in a fight. No body fidgeted and they just let their eyeballs followed us in whatever we were acting. With ears pricked like startled rabbits, the students listened for every word that was hurled at Fahmy to belittle him from a giant to a dwarf. Fahmy has a six packs but that does not deter me from bullying him, a female.
We wanted the studetns to realise that bullying can gnaw a person hollow of his or her confidence and the will to live. That would explain why some bullying victims ended up taking their own lives when all things seem hopeless to them. They feel helpless as their dignity and self-worth are stripped naked from them.
We facilitated a discusion on why some students choose to bully others next when the students realised that what they were witnessing was just a 'hoax.' We got the the questions rolled out one by one. Why do bullies bully? Some bullies do it to get attention or things, or to make other people afraid of them. They might be jealous of the person they are bullying. They might have been bullied themselves by parents, siblings or by mates in pimary school. They are unable to win an argument with words, so they use violence or vulgarities. Some bullies may not even understand how wrong their behaviour is and how it makes the person being bullied feel.
We got the students to think why bullying can be harmful too. They were full of ideas and suggestions. They added that some people might think bullying is fun or part of growing up. But bullying can make young people feel lonely, unhappy and frightened. It makes them feel unsafe. It makes them think there must be something wrong with them. They lose confidence and may not want to come to school any more. It can also make them sick and keep away from school.
We wanted them to stand up for their rights and to remember that they are not the problem but the BULLY is. As an individual they have a right to feel safe and secure. One strategy they can take is to spend time with their friends for bullies hardly ever pick on people if they are with others in a group.
We had driven home the message hard on them. They cannot afford to ignore a bullying case which they have witnessed or known of. They can inform an adult whom they can trust – a teacher, parents or counselor to help the victim and the bully himself. This act is not telling tales.
We also reminded them that it’s always best to treat others the way we would like to be treated. We should show the bully that we think what they’re doing is stupid and mean. We also encouraged our studetns to help the person being bullied to tell an adult they can trust.
Instead of relying on videos to use as a bait for discusssion, both of us decided to act out the bullying scene. We had caught them by storm and the learning was so much richer. I am sure our students would remember this lesson for a long....long time. They have put themselves in the shoes of being bullied physically or verbally. They must not forget about cyber bully too which can also tramautise the victim.
Your guess is as good as mine on who would win the 2013 Oscars.
I prepared my own slogans for the lessons and had included them in my post. Hope you like them. The photo shows Fahmy and I who are so passionate on imparting the right values to our students.
