Links, Page 33

"Bully-Free for Me!"

The State of Nevada has instituted (apparently in 2002) a comprehensive anti-bullying program designed to change the culture of schools over an extended period of time. The program seeks to enlist the cooperation and assistance of all parties within the school environment including: educators; law enforcement personnel; parents; and, of course, students. The idea is to mitigate the problem of bullying now and to hopefully virtually eliminate it within a generation of school students.

I have read over the materials offered at the program’s website “Bully-Free for Me!” and, although I have my usual difference of opinion with such anti-bullying advocates and programs as to the definition of bullying, I find Nevada’s approach to be one that I have high hopes will prove its effectiveness in the long run.

The following points are from the “Parent Guide” offered at the website. I shall comment after each one:

“Ask your child directly if he/she is being bullied. Children are often too embarrassed or ashamed to tell their parents.”

—Any who read regularly at my website and/or who have read “Pride’s Prison,” will understand that this is the prime impetus of my story and website. It has only been in recent years that I have come to understand that my unwillingness to tell my parents, from an unwarranted sense of shame, about my personal Purgatory in the “Christian” school I attended was not some personal, idiosyncratic response on my part. Within the materials offered at this program’s website, it is noted that over fifty percent of kids who are bullying victims in school remain quiet for precisely the same reason I had done. It is of vital importance for parents to understand this and to be forewarned. Click to continue: