Re: Schoolboy not allowed to protect himself?
 

I totally agree.

How would you implement your solution when someone is bullied by a group?

Re: Schoolboy not allowed to protect himself?
 

Single out the ringleader..and whack him / her. ;)

Re: Schoolboy not allowed to protect himself?
 

Anyway, interesting twist to this - In the Evening Standard I read about this case, and they mentioned that a boy had been specifically allowed to wear a stab vest to/from school, but not in school - the school they mentioned was the same one.

Whatever the true circumstances, it points to things going to the dogs.

---------- Post added at 08:52 ---------- Previous post was at 08:41 ----------

And then the ringleader, this time with 5 of his/her mates to back them up, jump you on the way to/from school or wherever and beat the living daylights out of you.

BTW - I also agree with you, but it's very tough to believe the advice if you're the one on the receiving end of the bullying.

The problem is that they're just too soft on bullying. If/when a bully is caught - and we know how rare that is - then they ought to come down on them like a ton of bricks. No 2nd chances.

There was an interview on the radio the other day. Someone from USA (musician) who spent a lot of his youth moving around from place to place due to his father's occupation. As the interviewer noted, this meant he was always the 'new boy' in school. So he asked him if that caused him trouble - but it appeared that it wasn't - the guy said he'd just get his head down and keep a low profile. The interviewer then noted that here (i.e. the UK) he'd probably have been bullied everywhere.

The matter-of-fact way he said that made me realise that bullying is almost accepted by too many people and I suspect that a large proportion of them actually have no idea what it is like to be on the receiving end.
No amount of anti-bullying policy is going to make the problem go away. It requires dealing with the perpetrators - to ensure they aren't just sorry to get caught, but to make sure they won't do it again.

Re: Schoolboy not allowed to protect himself?
 

Exactly what power does a policeman have to tell him not to wear one. I would have just ignored him, last I heard it wasn't a crime to wear such a thing.

Re: Schoolboy not allowed to protect himself?
 

Or take the entire group out, most of the time standing up for yourself is the only way, but as I said its all to often the end is whats seen by the teacher not the begining and then its kangaroo court time because they dont have the time and resources and some perhaps the inclination to fully go into the incident(s).

Re: Schoolboy not allowed to protect himself?
 

Anonymouse is correct, bullying has to be dealt with early and by the person been bullied. If a teacher sees a person smacking someone who knows its because they been bullied they shouldnt jump in and treat the bully as the victim but instead explain to the parents they had it coming.

If someone is been bullied by a group I think at that stage it is too late and the bullying has matured, and might be better to change schools. hitting the ringleader may work but I would guess it would result in a group of kids beating the victim up.

Bullying always starts with one person picking someone out and the longer it goes on for others then start to join in and the victim then has a reputation and becomes a easy target

Re: Schoolboy not allowed to protect himself?
 

Mmm, it might. Good point. OTOH, given the premise that bullies are cowards - and if not, why do they need backup? - sort out the leader and the others are more likely to leave you alone. That isn't certain, I admit, but more likely. And it does seem that the rules have changed in the last 20 years; I never heard of any bully using any sort of weapon when I was that age...probably because such behaviour would have been promptly dealt with, not by the school, but by the police. They didn't have political correctness and all that crap to deal with then. That may be the problem.
Very true. In fact, my bully had a cohort, but he was such a wuss he was easier to ignore. If I'd hit him, he'd have snapped in half, most likely. :)

Come to think of it, do we have any police officers, active or retired, on this forum? If so: if we (by some incredible miracle) got a government that decided to do away with all the wishy-washy liberal nonsense that's ruined our entire society over the last 30 years, and put things back more or less the way they were in the 60s, what would you do about, e.g., school bullies?

Re: Schoolboy not allowed to protect himself?
 

The people backing up the bully are also often doing it so they dont get bullied themselves, funny how this issue is supposedbly been worked on for years and the advice they giving out is still way of the mark. They might get more accurate data if they start asking people who were bullied in childhood.