School Officials Grapple With Bullying

The federal government has compiled more detailed statistics on bullying and local school officials have gone high tech in attempting to curtail it but might they be missing a key component? “In middle school, federal survey data, currently available just for select states, show 38 percent to 52 percent of public and private students were bullied at school; 18 percent to 29 percent were bullied electronically,” Kristin Blair writes in a column which appeared in The Carolina Daily Journal. “The latest federal survey data on high schoolers, available nationwide, reveal 20 percent of public or private students were bullied at school during the previous year; 16 percent were bullied electronically.”

Consequently, school officials are trying an electronic approach. Savvy school officials are finding smarter ways to track threats,” Blair writes. “Fifty North Carolina middle and high schools have been piloting a new smartphone app, SPK UP NC, which enables students to submit anonymous tips about bullying, danger, drugs, and more.”

“The pilot program has run in Avery, Macon, Forsyth, Wayne, and Johnston counties, and concludes May 1.”

Yet and still, one thing that might be quite illuminating is a comparison of bullying in public and private schools, particularly religious. Some of us have the nagging feeling that the application of the Golden Rule might be the most effective app yet.

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