Does Calling Kids “Bullies” Conceal the Real Problem?
Ada Calhoun ponders whether merely identifying bullies is enough.
Ada Calhoun is a freelance journalist living in New York City. She is the author of Instinctive Parenting: Trusting Ourselves to Raise Good Kids. Ada was the founding editor-in-chief, from 2006-2009, of Babble.com, the online resource center for "a new generation of parents," which earned a Folio Silver Medal and an ASME nomination for best online magazine.
“Misery has become the norm for young people in school,” writes Jessie Klein on CNN.com. “Educators, parents, and other concerned people often ask me to describe the profile of a bully or someone likely to commit suicide, but this is the wrong question. Instead, we need to examine problem-schools where kids endure a hostile environment every day.” What do you think? Should we stop being so quick to punish kids and start looking instead at how their environment might be filling them with rage?
contributions from Frankie Thomas and Ilya Tsinis
Image from Microsoft Office
Top Photo Courtesy of Boom Boom! Revolution