In Primary 5 today we watched the Newsround special debate on bullying. The big question was; is it better to PUNISH a bully or HELP them? A vote was held on the Newsround website and 47% said PUNISH, 53% said HELP.
Our vote was 50% PUNISH and 50 % HELP. We then thought about what we do here in school already, and whether each thing was a punishment or a help. Here are some of the comments from our discussion:
‘If you punish the bully, doesn’t that turn you into a sort of bully too?’
‘The bully gets to talk to the teacher, and they help the bully to understand their behaviour, and understand that we’re all like a big family here.’
‘They need to know there are consequences to what they do.’
‘We need to tell them to stop and give them a signal that what they are doing is wrong, and help them to understand that.’
‘We can set them a good example, that would be a help.’
‘When they get to write a letter of apology it helps the person who has been hurt too.’
What do you think about this question? Would you vote for PUNISH or HELP?
This sounds like a very mature and thoughtful discussion dealing with a difficult topic P5. I am pleased to see that you are discussing and recognising the importance of working with bullies to help them recognise, understand and then change their behaviour. I also agree that there must be consequences for bullying – it is not a “normal” part of life and is never acceptable. This is what our “Three Effs” approach to behaviour is all about. Good work.