Suggestion for the Tiger-Cats.......Anti-Bullying campaign

This is an incredibly serious social problem with ramifications physically, emotionally and financially for society.

I, myself, am one of the lucky ones who escaped this plague and was never the victim of bullying in either elementary or high school....... but I chalk that up to just blind luck and perhaps good instinctive skills to cut it off at the pass.........some innocent kids are not so lucky or well equipped and the results are devastating and potentially tragic. The internet presents an even bigger opportunity to help bullys ply their trade

I would dearly love to see the Tiger-Cats players step up and address this social ill in a material way........I have a dear friend in Caledonia whose daughter is being so terrorized by this behaviour that she actually got dragged into the bush surrounding her school and her 'bullys" held a mock trial declaring her a 'geek" and to be forever shunned by everyone at the public school......this made me ill.......

Help stop bullying where you can.

Thanks

(discuss)

Its really not the place of the local sports club to attack this blight. Make this clear tho, I was a victim and understand how school kids snap and go on a shooting spree. I lay the blame directly on the desk of the teachers who ignore the problem, some even use peer pressure to maintain order. The way to attack this is to simply outlaw this bad behavior starting at the highest levels by recognizing individual rights over all else is bad policy. Bullys must be singled out and removed from school if lesser punishments don't work. When I say removed I mean exactly that. House arrest until they pass extensive psychological testing AND they complete the current school curriculum at home

I like this idea. Get the ticats (lineman and linebackers especially) to go beat up and intimidate anyone who looks like a bully. That'd be cool.

When? Back in the 60’s and 70’s when you were in school? Parents are the problem. As caregivers, many are non-existant chasing the almight dollar to feed the appetite of bigger is better or too liberal to actually discipline their kids. Speaking of fallout from bigger being better reminds me of what building a new stadium will do. Montreal taxpayers paid over a billion for a stadium because of the hype from a few. They don’t even use it anymore. If parents are responsible for their kids 18 hours of the day and can’t get it right, then let’s blame the teacher who has 25 of them for 6 hours a day. Gotta blame someone for the Liberal attitudes we’ve propagated. Soon we’ll become New York were 25 people walk passed a dying Good Samritan on the sidewalk. Eh?

Spoken like one of the guilty. I have no respect for the teachers unions that protect the problem teachers. I dealt with it as a parent. They don't want parental input, trust me

I think it's a great idea to have faces from the community (such as the Tiger-Cats) to get involved in this issue.

As someone who just graduated High School - I can say that this is a huge issue, and while I didn't experience rabid bullying in High School, I certainly did in Elementary.

Also, both AKT & Synthcat are correct in this matter. Both the teachers AND the parents should be held responsible. Kids are not being tough wrong-from-right by parents anymore, kids are more of a hassle than anything to a lot of parents and the children's behaviour reflects that. I've seen good parents, and I've seen bad parents, and the parenting has a huge effect on the bullying nature of kids. However, teachers and schools should also play a much bigger role. I know in Elementary School, if you were bullied, you had to deal with it on your own - because if you went to the teachers, or principal, one of two things would happen.

  1. They'd tell you tough, grow up, and deal with it. Which does wonders for self-esteem and really makes kids want to go to school.

  2. They'd "talk" to the bully, doing absolutely nothing, showing no discipline - and you had better know that they mentioned your name and that bully is now going to make it their mission to make your life hell.

Schools need to throw these kids out, or get their heads on straight. Suspensions are a joke, these kids look at is as vacation. Complete forfeit of a year of school? That's perfect, a much better solution.

Perhaps having to deal with a kid home year round would make the parents smarten up too.

Anyway, it's a huge issue, and I could go on all day about it - but the idea of having sports icons supporting anti-bullying would be a step in the right direction.

Hey, I side with you on parental input. But, we’ve elected a Liberal government who thinks they know all. I agree the teacher’s union might be strong, but they would have to be with the likes of Mike Harris and McGuinty’s Sex Ed push for grade 3’s. Speaking of…what the heck happened to the innocence of childhood? If a kid wonders about his parent filing their taxes do we start teaching them what taxes are about in third grade to answer their curiousity?
I know how frustrating things can be for a parent AKT, but sometimes parents need to take a long long look in the mirror before they generalize teachers as the reason for bullying.

And teachers need to take a good long look in the mirror when they lament the lack of parental involvement. As for the liberal clap trap and PC garbage spewed by the do gooder idiots making school policy, THATS the biggest problem. You can teach your kids whatever you want to but the school system will undo everything if they allow the inmates to rule the asylum like they do now

:thup:

Also, on a side-note, limited (very limited) sex-ed in Grade 3 isn't a bad idea.

Kids are talking about sex in Grade 1 - the problem is, they don't know anything about sex - ever.

Nobody bothers teaching it anymore, the current-sex ed system is a joke, and parents expect kids to learn from TV...it doesn't work that way.

When I was in Grade 10 (keep in mind, this is AFTER three years of Sex-Ed) I did a survey among people in my grade. I asked the question, "Is there a cure for AIDS?", over 30% of the student body answered YES (many of whom were sexually active at this point).

Now, I hate McGuinty and his clowns, but this idea has merit.

So hell, well we're at it, let's make a Sexual-Awareness Campaign too!

Sex ed for grade 3 is flat out wrong Even the morons who suggested it realize that the public won’t stand for it

[quote="synthcat"] Soon we'll become New York were 25 people walk passed a dying Good Samritan on the sidewalk. Eh?

8) Well, what about the 79 year old man that was mugged on a Toronto subway train this week by two young punks.
  He received no assistance at all from the other passengers, despite his cries for help !!!

  Don't kid yourself, Toronto is just as bad as any US city as far as apathy and crime goes these days !!!

A typical right wing response to bullying is to blame the teachers and the teacher federations. I can see how Mike Harris got elected by appealing to the lowest intellects in society. Parents raised the bully and “taught” the bully long before the bully ever got to school. :roll:

Pat Lynch(the old guy in section 7)

The Argos have operated an anti-bullying program called 'Huddle Up' in GTA highschools for awhile now and by all accounts its been very succesful. Tim Hortons is a partner so you'd think the Cats would have something similar established. They also have another program called 'Level the Playing Field' where an Argo player and cheerleader are assigned to high schools to mentor the players and cheer teams.

An Argo-Cat fan

Wow that’s a pretty small minded view of working parents. Anyone who wants to support my kids so I can stay home and be a full time parent is more than welcome to do so. I know stay at home parents who do not discipline their kids. I work full-time and I’m a full time parent and I daresay I do a great job of teaching my kids and disciplining them with the help of my family.

The problem lies in the fact that the new “curriculum” is all about “empowering” our children from daycare age. My sister works in the child care field and it is ridiculous what they can’t teach kids now. It is no longer allowed to direct or discipline children because it will damage their self-esteem.

I don’t totally agree with AKT, that the blame lies completely with teachers, but I can tell you from personal experience with my daughters that some of them do a very very poor job of addressing the issue. Case in point: My oldest daughter was beaten up by two boys (one her age and one older) she was pushed to the ground and kicked and when I spoke the principal of the school she told me that she would have the boys write a letter of apology to my daughter. NO suspension. No other punishment beyond missing a couple of recesses. She told me that the board no longer has a zero tolerance policy against violence. They now have what is called a “progressive behaviour” policy which basically means that the punishment only gets worse with each offence and that it is nearly impossible for them to give kids a suspension now, even an in-school one (but throw a snowball on the playground and you get 3 days suspsension). That is definitely NOT going to help the situation. One of the bullies at the school was actually allowed to be a lunch monitor to smaller children. She physically moved a child by picking them up and moving them and when the parents said they didn’t want her to be a lunch monitor anymore because she frightened the kids, they moved her to a class with kids that were a little older. My kids are still afraid of her and she doesn’t even go to their school anymore.

Deerhunter, I actually love this idea. I think that while it might not stop the problem, it would help kids being bullied to know that they have support and that there is something they can do. Reading your story about that child and the terror she is suffering makes me sick and sad. I only hope that something is done for her before it’s too late.

LOL! Yeah…why inform kids. Hell, let 'em find out for themselves, eh?
Might wanna have a gander at the actual cirriculum before making that assessment. Ohh, best to keep kids out of the garden, too. Might see some cross-polination, or worse, some frisky lady-bugs.

I know the Argos have done some extensive work on Anti-Bullying campaigns and they’ve gone over quite well. Aside from the positive social aspect of it, it generates quite a bit of good PR – since it is a newsworthy topic – and creates positive impressions of the team within the local schools.

I like the cause, personally. It is a big problem with some big consequences, so the more awareness, the better.

I agree completely, when kids are killing themselves because they are being bullied something really needs to be done.