I left secondary school (the irish equvilant of high school) just over a year ago and I found that (in my school atleast) that staff at the school reacted differently to bullying depending on who informed them of it or what type of bullying was going on..
We were given regular classes about bullying at my school and we were always told if we were being bullied to speak up..
In my first year (when I was 12), I was bullied. I was never phyiscally but I was constantly teased by atleast 30 people in my school year (there were only 50 people in my year in total). At first, I dealt with it all myself, but one day, in class the insults got to much for me and I ran out of the class room and was headed towards the restrooms in tears..
The principil stopped me on the way to ask me what I was doing out of class, when I spilled everything. The principil basically told me to get over it and sent me back to class.. I never told anyone else I was being bullied, until 3 years later when I became very depressed and considered taking my own life..
Another girl in my class realised I was having a hard time and told a member of staff at my school that I was being bullied and I was then given the help I needed.
As my class got older and people matured less and less people teased me, and a few people indivdually came up to me and personally apologised for teasing me.
One day in school during my final year (6th year), I was in the toliets when a boy from 1st year was pushed into the bathroom, followed by 2 girls from 4th year. The boy had a cast on his arm (i'm guessing it was broken) and one of the girls hit him full force across his broken arm. I was a little shocked because I had never seen physical bullying in my school before, so it took me awhile to react, and by the time I had, the little boy had pushed passed the girls and had made a run for it. I followed them out, but the boy was gone and the two girls wandered off in another direction.
This had happened after school hours on a friday and the only staff member I could find (besides the cleaners) was my principil. I didn't particarly think she was the best person to tell after her reaction to me being bullied but I didn't want to wait until the monday to say anything so I went to her office and told her everything.
Luckily, she listened to me and got everything sorted immediatly.
I figure I was orignally ignored for 1 or 2 reasons:
-I hated being in class and as a child, I was a bit of a compulsive liar (which is the main reason I was bullied in the first place) and my principil knew this so she may have figured I was lying/using this as an excuse to get out of class. If someone else had told my principil then that I was being bullied, she may have dealt with the matter than.
-Most people don't think verbal abuse is as bad as phyiscal abuse and therefore may not have considered it worth there time to deal with.
I just want to say, if you see anyone being bullied TELL SOMEONE.. if anyone out there is being bullied, TELL SOMEONE.. If they don't listen, TELL SOMEONE ELSE.. I understand that you may think that the bullying will become worse once you tell someone you're being bullied or if they're bullying someone else, they may turn on you for telling someone.. THIS IS NOT TRUE!!.. As long as you've told a responable adult, they will deal with it..
If you don't want to tell a teacher or parent face to face, write a note and leave it where they will see it or email them.. It'll make it alot easier.. If you don't want to talk about it straight away, say so in your note/email that you're not ready to talk just yet and tell them you'll need a few hours/days before you can talk to them face to face..
Please don't wait for it to sort itself out like when I was being bullied, as that may not happen with you. Do something before it's too late
Aisling
