No more put-downs?

Think back to grade, middle, or high school and surely you have had contact with a bully. There was someone who pushed other kids or made fun of a particularly nerdy kid at lunch. Maybe it was even you. Indiana wants to put an end to bullying within schools by helping to pass national legislation. The new bill, which was written by a group of state senators, will create "Safe School Committees" to address this issue within individual schools. The idea is to create a set method for dealing with bullying by training teachers and educating students. \nOn paper, this seems like a worthwhile endeavor. However, bullying is a problem that can not realistically be solved by a law or a program. It manifests itself through a variety of actions and can hardly be classified as a specific type of behavior. Imagine a bully who pushes a student's face into the drinking fountain, and a bully who mocks another student in the shower. These two actions are vastly different and should not be classified as the same type of bullying. Creating a law will not prevent either of these actions from directly happening. Schools already have a ban on this type of behavior and students learn from an early age that a "put-down" requires two "put-ups."\nThis type of bill came up last year and it failed during discussion over kindergarten. The concept of a "bully" is too vague to put onto paper. Instead of working to punish the bullies, we need to empower the victims of bullying. They should feel comfortable talking to teachers and working to solve the problem. Ideally, every bully could get psychological counseling, spend a week on a self-esteem retreat and come back more in touch with their inner self. \nHowever, this simply isn't going to happen, so students and teachers need to work together more and take matters into their own hands. Bringing up the problem of bullying nationally will draw more attention to the subject and may help the issue become more addressed in schools where it is prevalent. But an MTV ad promoting kindness to other students would probably have more of an effect than a national law. Possible abuse of this law is another hindrance. It will be hard for administrators to determine whether bullying is actually taking place, since an angered student can even accuse a close friend of bullying in order to get them in trouble. Too many episodes of "South Park" or "Boston Public" deal with students falsely claiming sexual harassment or physical violence. \nRegardless of any national law that is passed, bullies will still exist in schools. The goal should be to help these students with whatever psychological problems cause them to bully. Before passing a state law to attack bullying, the state needs to look at the counseling systems within schools and work to provide better mental health care for students. A bill will not be able to properly define bullying, provide sufficient help for bullied students or safeguard against possible abuse. No one will deny the existence of bullies, yet passing a bill is not a comprehensive solution.