Despite the seemingly endless amount of protest on behalf of bullying victims, it often doesn’t look like we’re any closer to a solution of any kind. Take The Dignity for All Students Act, for instance, which was signed into law back in 2010. Designed to take bigger steps in preventing bullying, you’d almost think that it had made things worse over the past two years: Between the outrage that 68 year-old bus monitor Karen Klein generated on her behalf about a month ago, the Darth Vader kid on the bus, and the Japanese student who committed suicide last week (which many believe was partly due to his teachers), it seems like most bullies are keeping up not only their habit, but continuing to provide Internet users with taped evidence on their iPhones.
Still, a mere two days into this week, there’s been a huge movement on behalf of legislators and parents alike to stop bullying altogether. Monday, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed into law official anti-bullying legislation which will take bigger steps towards stopping bullying.The bill extension requires parents to report all instances of bullying both inside and outside of schools. Although the new law won’t go into effect until next July, bullying expert Jody Miller, will be hosting an anti-bullying summit in New York, this October. One of the primary focuses of the convention, and Cuomo’s bill, will be an attack on cyberbullying, which seem to have blown up to epidemic proportions as of late. (One would like to think that we’re simply more aware of what’s happening with our kids.) According to The Poughkeepsie Journal, Cuomo’s new measures are an addition to the aforementioned ‘Dignity’ law of two years ago.
To be realistic, though: how much of a worthwhile effect can we expect it to have, especially since so many of the bullies are only egged on and encouraged by their teachers to begin with? Not to mention the parents that broke out in a brawl last week at a Little League Baseball Game? I remember seeing the exact same thing happen in my youth on a basketball team years ago, and I can’t help but wonder if there’s really such a thing as a foolproof plan against bullying. Seems like it’s in our nature as humans.
Who knows — maybe adults aren’t any more trustworthy than we think some of these kids are. As a former teacher of sorts, I know that parents, teachers and administrators all need to be on the same page — if they’re not all in agreement of what disciplinary action needs to be taken with a bully or a bullying victim, there’s that much less of a chance at success. That sounds like something you’d think obvious, but with things progressively getting worse it doesn’t seem like anybody’s wised up.
I’m definitely hoping people like Andrew Cuomo and Jody Miller do some good, but I think a lot of that will be determined by how much interest and time parents and teachers alike are willing to invest. I’m saying nothing new here, really, but my point is to emphasize that there’s more than just one person (or group of people) responsible for how this is all handled. It’s either all of the above or nothing, and if all don’t follow through, the power of the Internet and kids’ natural ability to be little bastards will win over all.
Jeff Nau – who has written 1264 posts on The Jace Hall Show.
Jeff Nau is a main contributor to the Jace Hall Show covering pop culture and music trends in the nerd community. He has contributed to San Diego City Beat, 944, and Ill Literature, amongst others, and spends his spare time working as an artist and photographer.

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