YOUR TURN: “A Classic Solution to Bullying” By: Paul Fallavollita
A mother recently filed suit against the Beaufort County School District seeking compensation for “emotional damages” arising from the bullying of her children on the school bus. Preventing similar fates in other counties depends upon our ability to get out of the way of students so that they may resolve their differences themselves.
It is puzzling that only in the last few years has “bullying” risen to prominence as a pressing public issue. Bullies, no doubt, have always comprised a certain segment of every crop of students for many decades and there is no reason to believe that proportion has changed. The population of bullies remains constant, but mass media coverage has increased the visibility of this issue.
Our increased sensitivity to the issue of bullying is not a positive marker. As a nation, we have become weaker and more prone to wallow in victimhood, real or imagined. In times past, it would have been considered laughable to focus public attention on schoolyard bullying. Indeed, if bullying is one of the major issues of the day, then we must lead very blessed lives. Today, in contrast, we are inclined to recruit an army of politicians and psychologists to intervene.
The solution to the faux problem of bullying does not reside in launching an “Oprahesque” public relations campaign, nor should it ever become a cause célèbre for any future first ladies. Rather, a classic solution still exists and it is the bullied students themselves who possess the power to implement it immediately: simply punch the bully in the face and regain some respect. Yes, South Carolina, sometimes violence is the right answer. This same principle holds true for that similarly run government institution known as the prison system (and perhaps that parallel reveals yet another reason to encourage homeschooling).
This sad nexus between schools and prisons also leads to the question of School Resource Officers (SROs), the law enforcement officers assigned to the district. When I was in school, our buildings were free of police barracks–which was the style at the time. If schools are environments where learning takes place, then what example are we teaching by deploying SROs? Accepting life in a police state is not a lesson worthy of the curriculum. Our contingent of SROs should promptly be re-assigned elsewhere to more legitimate crime-fighting duties. Further, were SROs to interrupt a bullied student while remedying his situation via the method of “self help” I’ve prescribed, surely the bullies would tease that student even more for needing to be rescued by the authorities.
The Greenville County Schools Board of Trustees can help restore the balance by lessening the severity of the punishment doled out to students for fighting. That way, the bullied will not be discouraged from defending themselves, since it is likely that they are more cognizant of, and constrained by, the rules than the bullies. After all, when fisticuffs are outlawed, only the outlaws will so indulge–leaving the bullied at a disadvantage.
Ultimately, student assertion of the right to self-defense is an idea “old enough to seem new” and one that is worth trying in Greenville County. What’s the worst that could happen, a Beaufort-style lawsuit?
Paul Fallavollita is a candidate for School Board Trustee in Area 17 of Greenville County. Contact him at pfallavollita@charter.net.
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