Facing up to school bullying

Dr. Leticia Penano-Ho, a clinical counseling psychologist with 36 years of  experience, a former dean of the College of Education of the University of the Philippines, a consultant for the United Nations’ Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the World Health Organization (WHO), and president of the Philippine Guidance and Counseling Association, delivered a lecture recently on school bullying in Philippine schools at the Reedley International School in Libis, Quezon City.

She said that until the late 1970s, even abroad, bullying was a phenomenon that was not taken too seriously. It was only after the ‘70s that bullying was addressed in a new light and people started to become more aware of the issue. School administrators have since taken measures and installed policies in institutions such as schools to address the problem.

In the Philippines, however, she was sad to report that very little is being done about the problem of school bullying. She threw the question to the audience, asking why this was so. “Is it because, as a country, we continue to be bullied by foreign powers, therefore our handling of bullying among our kind is non-existent?” She added that, compared to our Asian neighbors such as Japan and Singapore, which have instituted strong and widespread anti-bullying measures in their schools, the Philippines has had very few measures. “Here, it is something that is swept under the rug. Here, our teachers deal with bullying as though they were ostriches — burying their heads underground and pretending it doesn’t happen, hoping for everything to go away in time, which is tragic because bullying is a serious issue.”

The first question we should ask ourselves, she said, is “Does bullying occur?” Her answer: “Definitely. And it is getting more and more serious.” The next question is, “Why does it occur?” According to Dr. Penano-Ho: “It occurs for a number of reasons. Bullies want to feel power over someone who is disempowered and they do this to compensate for a lack of something. They also do this as attention-seeking measures. They do this because they don’t like being embarrassed; they do it because of jealousy; they also do it for fun. If this goes unchecked, damage to the victim may be irreversible, even fatal in extreme cases.”

We immediately think of college fraternities, the hazing rituals that result in medical injuries, sometimes death. All this spawned on our playgrounds and schoolyards.

What exactly is bullying? Dr. Penano-Ho said that it is a willful, intentional, and conscious desire by the bully to hurt another and put him (or her) under stress. It is negative behavior intended to inflict “injury or discomfort” which is repeated during successive encounters. It is a repeated oppression — whether psychological or physical — of a less powerful person by a more powerful one.

“Always, there is an imbalance of power,” she pointed out.

She gave a detailed description of bullies and their victims to serve as parameters with which parents, teachers, and professional counselors can assess situations they are faced with.

Characteristic traits of bullies: They have a strong need to dominate. They are impulsive and easily angered. They are defiant and aggressive toward adults. They prefer TV shows, movies, music and reading materials with violent themes. They are involved in gangs or anti-social groups on the fringe of peer acceptance. They have had negative parenting and have failed to bond with their caregivers leading to feelings of alienation. They have little or no supervision and are often victims of abuse in the home.

Characteristic traits of the bullied: They are cautious, sensitive, quiet, withdrawn and shy. They are anxious, insecure, unhappy, and have low self-esteem. They are depressed and engaged in suicidal ideation. They do not have a single good friend and can relate better to adults than to peers. They very often have real or perceived disabilities. 

 Dr. Penano-Ho said that Philippine schools keep quiet about the incidence of bullying “because it rocks the boat and because they have no programs about it.” She explained that there are many forms of bullying. There are verbal, physical and gestural types, and these three forms are further subdivided into direct or indirect bullying.

Direct forms of bulling are physical and verbal abuse while indirect bullying consists of spreading rumors, making anonymous hate phone calls, and deliberately excluding someone.

She said that the effects of bullying are varied and often lifelong; this is why it is crucial for institutions in the country to start, enforce, and maintain programs addressing the issue. “Our schools will have to work on their administration, management, teachers, parents and students so everyone may be made aware of issues surrounding this phenomenon. Schools must have anti-bullying policies and policies to inform parents and enlist their help in dealing with incidents concerning their children.”

After the talk, Jerome Castro, headmaster of Reedley International School, spoke to the audience about how Reedley manages to maintain a bully-free environment. “We are very serious about our anti-bullying policies. We have zero-tolerance for bullying in Reedley. We train all our kids to handle bullies so that they leave Reedley well-equipped to handle the real world.”

Reedley is an international school focusing on a combination of three curricula — Singaporean math and science, American English and social sciences and Filipino studies. The school offers academic programs for elementary school (grade one to four), middle school (grades five to seven), and upper school (levels one to four). It follows the American grading system and also provides other learning support programs such as the Personalized Classroom Learning Program (PCLP) for students who need more study skills to survive in a big classroom and the English as a Second Language (ESL) program for non-native speakers of English. Its low teacher-student ratio and small class size promotes effective classroom learning and positive-formative discipline for its fast-growing student population. It has shorter class hours, which means less stress on children and individualized attention.

Castro added, “We create a non-threatening environment for our kids so that they don’t learn to suffer because of heavy work load but instead they learn to succeed. We teach them not to work hard but to work smart because we believe that happy students are better learners.” He noted that Reedley has developed a child-friendly, child-safe school — with no bullies. “We ensure a culture of peace.  We empower every student, develop empathy in each of them, and teach them to build bridges. All schools must set up campaigns and policies about bullying. That’s what we do here.”

He also pointed out that other schools use a yardstick approach, constantly measuring each child up against their standards of excellence, day in day out, eventually kicking them out once they fall short. Reedley, on the other hand, functions as a road map, pointing children in the right direction. He said the school operates under the belief that once a child has passed the entrance qualification process, he is considered capable of tackling the curriculum and therefore must be free of the fear of being judged by his teachers. The school concentrates on helping each child realize his maximum capabilities. Castro noted that “Other schools reward the achievers, ignore the moderate, and dismiss the struggling, which is a terrible pity because the moderates are mostly those on the brink of greatness.” At Reedley, he said, “each child gets individualized attention.”

Castro spoke at length about the anti-bullying program of the school which begins through creating high awareness of the issue among teachers and students. The school holds film viewings, comic strip-making sessions, and anti-bully talks. Anti-bully contracts are forged with students. The school also uses innovations like a “Kindness Tree” and a “Bully Box,” which functions as a drop box where any student can deposit anonymous reports of bullying to enable the school to immediately address specific incidents without the concerned student fearing repercussions for his telling. They also offer Internet anti-bullying lessons.

Reedley International School has set up its own strong and workable anti-bully policy. How long will the rest of our Philippine schools wait before following suit?

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Dr. Leticia Penano-Ho may be contacted for counseling and consultation at 0917-539-4482 or at 928-0887/928-2861. Reedley International School is located at Josol Bldg., E. Rodriguez Jr. Ave. Libis, Quezon City. Call 631-2262 to 69.