Bullies Turn Hi-Tech In New Zealand

Just a week or so ago, we heard of the school shooting in Germany. While the rest of the world might not be dwelling on that incident, I am pretty sure that the families affected are still stuck in that moment. This only serves to highlight the fact that school safety issues are not unique to a particular part of the world. These issues are something that everyone, in every country, faces.

In New Zealand, for example, they are quite concerned about bullying within and outside of the school. I recently read a news feature on how bullying is becoming a big issue in their schools. The focus, at the moment, is how bullies have gone beyond the traditional form of bullying. Indeed, with the help of technology, bullying has become more rampant and perhaps even more aggressive.

Cindy Kiro, the children’s commissioner released a statement wherein she said that “while parents may have been on the receiving end of a small group of bullies in their days at school, their children are potentially exposed to hundreds or thousands of bullies via mobile phone and internet technology.”

Indeed, bullying has always been present in our society. Perhaps it is part of human nature. However, that does not mean that we have to condone it. More so, the bullying that our generation experienced might be a far cry from the kind of bullying that our children and grandchildren face today. From text messaging to instant messaging to Facebook and MySpace – there are even more ways to experience harassment from your peers.

An important point that Kiro raised is the fact that many children are being bullied, or they know of others who are being bullied, and yet they do not see the point in letting adults know. It is basically what we have been talking about in the past – the code of silence. This is one issue that the authorities and parents have to deal with and get rid off in order to make any serious headway in solving the problem of bullying – whether hi-tech or not – in schools.

While the news article did not really highlight the solutions that the authorities are going for, I think that awareness is the first step to solving things. I am not saying that it is going to be downhill from here – it probably isn’t – but this acknowledging that their system has a problem and that they need to do something about it is a step in the right direction, don’t you think?

Don't miss another post -- subscribe by email or RSS today!

Comments are closed.