Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform > Hyde Schools

What Bullies know about Bullying

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Ursus:
I think most of us think of bullying as a type of harassment and intimidation of (often) individuals for the sake of exerting a power disparity for some sick reason or another. The way I see it, that's pretty much what goes on in most programs. The therapeutic community modality is perfectly primed for exploitation towards those ends, and from what I can tell, all these programs are based on or are heavily influenced by that model.

From Merriam-Webster:

Main Entry: 3bully
Function: verb
Inflected Form(s): bul·lied; bul·ly·ing
Date: 1693

transitive verb

1 : to treat abusively
2 : to affect by means of force or coercion

intransitive verb

: to use browbeating language or behavior : BLUSTER
synonyms see INTIMIDATE[/list]

Ursus:
Ye Olde King Bully hisself popped in a few cents in an Op-Ed in the Portland Press Herald earlier this month. Outside of the predictable Phoebe Prince opener (never lose a chance to turn someone else's tragedy into yet another marketing opportunity), most of this material is tried and trite platitudes recycled from previous publication.

However, here he espouses a new twist I'm not so familiar with, namely that competition is now the root of all evil. Gah-LEEEEE, exactly what do ya think happens on the sports playing fields at Hyde, Joe?

 :beat:

-------------- • -------------- • --------------

Portland Press Herald
May 8, 2010

Maine Voices: Bullying versus the American character: Change is possible

Too often we try to control or contain aggression, instead of transforming those who have it.

By JOSEPH E. GAULD

BATH - Bullying is a bone in America's throat, as shown by the brutal behavior of nine teenagers that led to the suicide of 15-year-old Phoebe Prince in South Hadley, Mass.

One Maine educator likened bullying to black flies: "You'll never be able to stamp it out."

This describes solutions to date: Try to contain it; hire consultants, hold training sessions; be more vigilant. Massachusetts legislators highlight our impotence by proposing a law to make bullying a crime.

It is amazing how the bad behavior of youth has become accepted by schools as something we cannot change, only seek to contain or control.

Once school shootings like Columbine began, the response focused solely on issues of security; who has tried to deal with the attitudes that led to the shootings?

We now have decades of yearly surveys that indicate the vast majority of American youths cheat at school and now that a third steal from stores. Again our response was to crack down on the cheating, not to deal with the attitude behind it.

However, today the annual survey on cheating and now stealing seems to be accepted by society as a necessary evil. As one student remarked, "Cheating is necessary to give you the edge you need to succeed in life."

There are other youth attitudinal problems that should concern us -- like the survey that indicates that of youths 18-25, only 20 percent could be classified as "purposeful."

These attitudes and behaviors are detrimental and unacceptable, and if left unaddressed, they can have serious effects upon children's lives and our society as a whole.

We don't need to contain these counterproductive attitudes and behaviors. We need to change them. This will mean changing the way we raise and educate our children.

Our children are born with animalistic self-gratification, self-protection and self-centered survival instincts -- the real source of all these unacceptable attitudes and behaviors. Our job as parents and teachers is to help them transcend these lesser instincts in order to enable them to find their higher human self.

We are fortunate to live in a nation that uniquely supports this effort. America is committed to develop the individual; its Bill of Rights protects the dignity and worth of everyone. We are the land of the free.

But unfortunately, we unwittingly developed an educational system that does not respect this birthright. It primarily evaluates students by their academic proficiency.

This narrow window into human potential disrespects the dignity and worth of most students. Note the majority of students do not like school, and 30 percent drop out.

And it primarily motivates students by competition, which primarily motivates a capitalist society of healthy, mature adults. Curiosity primarily motivates the development of healthy, growing children, which then increasingly allows competition to serve as an additional motivation.

One survey of 24,000 home-schooled students found them scoring by 9th grade four grade levels above both public and private school students on standardized tests. Clearly their motivation was curiosity, not competition.

Since our educational system is basically disrespecting most students, and further putting them in competition with each other before they are prepared to handle this pressure, kids revert to their animalistic instincts in dealing with each other. The same "pecking orders" exist in nature.

Since adults demonstrate they are not capable of dealing with bullying or cheating, bullies and the primitive youth culture gain power because kids know adults can't respond.

Having founded a network of private and public Hyde Schools (the newest school will open in Brooklyn, N.Y., this September) devoted to the premise that each student is gifted with a unique potential, supported by curriculum devoted to the development of character -- "Courage, Integrity, Concern, Curiosity and Leadership" -- I know this higher human self can be developed in every student. Here is how:

1. Put self-discovery first; what the student can do, second.2. Bring family and school together. Parents and teachers also need to become students of the process.3. Students need to take responsibility for each other and take active leadership roles at home and school.4. Make character development active at home and school. Once a student can internalize integrity, he or she will have it for life.
What I propose here is transformational change, which is very difficult, but it is doable. How long are we going to tolerate this decline in the American character?

Better to change now by choice rather than change later because we have been forced into it.


Copyright ©2010 MaineToday Media, Inc.

Eliscu2:
Disturbing to say the least.
Josheph E. Gauld...........Perfecting the art of bullying :beat:
I have seen all types of Bullies.
What do you call a bully who for example builds 5 entire websites (over a 5 month period) dedicated to bulling one or two people and when they get shut down comes with thier "bully pack" over to a public forum until it is temporarily suspended for the same exact reasons.....
oh I almost forgot the bully then proceeds to entirely flood the public forum once again for months and then threatens the public forum that was kind enough not to ban them with DMCA notices  :deal: all the while demanding that multiple moderators and admins call her immediately lest she kill herself.  :suicide: and all while pretending to be her daughter who is defending her poor suicidal mother who is in reality bullying at that very moment.  :bs:
This bully cries the victim but not only that we have had rape victim, :dose:  life threatening physical conditions, :poison:  and now the latest threats of suicide.  :dose:   What the hell kind of bully is this? anybody know??
How can a bully cry victim? is there such a thing as a VICTIMBULL?
Could this type of bully kill herself and then try to blame it on the very people she viciously attacked for months? :waaaa:
Thank goodness for screen shots!

Ursus:
Comments left on Joe's Op-Ed posted above, "Maine Voices: Bullying versus the American character: Change is possible" (by Joseph Gauld; May 8, 2010; The Portland Press Herald):


henryelm said... May 8, 2010 at 10:14 AM
"One survey of 24,000 home-schooled students found them scoring by 9th grade four grade levels above both public and private school students on standardized tests. Clearly their motivation was curiosity, not competition." and other studies show they don't perform as well as public school students. I noticed a certain slant and figured it must be someone who doesn't understand kids Or education.The shock is he does. Kids are born evil?? HUH?? Just the opposite. They LEARN to bully it's not innate.henryelm said... May 8, 2010 at 10:20 AM
The right has KNOCKED "character education" OUT of public school with their on going anti education and anti funding tirade. They want to eliminate all the so called frills that support kids in their learning. They want basics only education. They want teachers to stop parenting and supporting kids and to focus ONLY on teaching them. You've got no one but yourselves to blame if you don't like the results. All that to privatize education.henryelm said... May 8, 2010 at 10:25 AM
HYDE school has done wonderful things( as do other private schools). This bashing "public education piece" is beneath dignity of the founder. when did PUBLIC school become the enemy?? When the right wanted to privatize it and fund "their own" schools.

Copyright ©2010 MaineToday Media, Inc.

Anonymous:
Bullying is when a person is picked on over and over again by an individual or group with more power,either in terms of physical strength or social standing.A bully might say mean things about someone,grab a kid's stuff,make fun of someone,or leave a kid out of the group on purpose.

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