Bullies and whipping boys/girlsDr. Carl H.D. Steinmetz

With the help of Dr. Chang-Hun Lee 22 November 2014

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Wang-tta = a socially excluded student

Jipdan ttadolim = Socially exclusion perpetrated by group of students

Jipdan gwaerop’im = peer harassment

Hak’kyo pong’nyeok = school violence

(Jun Sung Hong, Chang-Hun Lee, Jungup Lee, Na Youn Lee and James Garbarino, 2013)

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South Koreans 11-16 years (Jun Sung Hong et. al. 2013):5.8% socially excluded by peers and 10.2% socially excludes peers.

Middle school in South Korea 40% of the students participated in bullying at school

10-15% of the students in primary and secondary education and 20% among adult at the workplace (Nielsen, 2009)

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• Definitions and group dynamics• Examples• Intervention models• Tips

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A pronounced whipping boy is a boy who for a fairly long time has been and still is exposed to aggression from others; that is boys or girls from his own class or maybe from other classes often pick fights and are rough with him or tease and ridicule him

A bully is a boy who fairly often oppresses or harnesses somebody else; the target may be boys or girls, the harassment physical or mental

A bystander is a person who watch bullying happen or hear about it

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Hurtful bystanders (instigate, encourage or join in bullying; most are passive)

Helpful bystanders (intervene or get help) Why don't bystanders intervene? Reasons are:

none of my business, fear to become hurt or victimized, fear retribution, by telling adults things might become worse)

Bystanders who don’t intervene experience stress, anxiety and guilt feelings

Conclusion: prepare children to become effective bystanders

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For whipping boys/ girls and bystanders

Behavioral, emotional and social problems

Psychosocial and wellbeing problems

More suicidal/ self-injuries behavior

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Example: Group 3, 6-7 years, Korean school Amsterdam

One boy has been bullied by three kids, all boys, they didn’t want to play with this boy and they told the other classmates not to play with him. Bystanders sometimes get involved eagerly or reluctantly with this bully.

The boy asked them several times not to do that but nobody listened to him, and this led him to make a decision to quit the school because he couldn’t handle bullying/the bully anymore. In the meantime, his classmates are aware of the reason why he quit and sent him a card saying that they feel sorry about it and want him to come back to school. The boy is relieved and happy to hear that, but is not yet ready to come back to his class.

During the break: the children from group 4 confront group 3 quite often, teasing and calling nick names happen and end up with fights or quarrels. These kids meet at their own school, Dutch or International during the week and this is just a continuation on Saturday at our school.

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Example: Korean school Amsterdam, Junior high and high school

students

There are always one or two students who influence the atmosphere in the class negatively and the presence of this kind of students can affect the quality of the class/lessons as well. If the teachers spend more time to take care of them, then the other students lose interest and concentration in the class.

Are there ways/methods to lead the whole class in harmony?

Bully and whipping boys situations do happen more often in Dutch schools than in our school according to our students. For instance, Dutch teachers have favoritism and trust other Dutch students more than Korean ones. They get all the credit and the teachers are not always fair in decisions and evaluations in the classrooms.

What can we advise our students and their parents when they talk about this to us?

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Example: Korean school Rotterdam

[Case 1]A pupil from Grade 4: very easily upset at making mistakes and at being corrected by the teacher, when he gets angry then goes out of the classroom crying,he also walks around the classroom and bothers the other classmates, a very difficult student to get along well with the others and asks a lot of attention in the class,How do I have to handle this kind of kids? Will showing affection and being kind to him in any situation help?

[Case 2]It is not easy to notice problems in the class, among students and their language ability. Communication with the parents is difficult because they don't know or don't want to know the problems of their children or don’t want to admit that they (the problems) exist.

What is the role and boundary as a teacher for the well-being or our students at the Korean school, which is held only one day per week as weekend school?

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Bullying behaviors explained by intervening parties ( R2 = .36)Individual traits/Bullying behaviors (R2 = .54)Family Interaction/Individual traits (R2 = -.41)Individual traits/Parental involvement (R2 = .26)Parental Involvement/Bullying Behavior (R2 = .12)Individual traits/School climate (R2 = -.17)School Climate/ Bullying behaviors (R2 = -.09)

Important intervening parties are parents, family and school climate/ teachers/ peers at school.

Non-western, Asian/ Korean is collectivism inside family, positive opinion about fun-seeking and the opinion that parents are not allowed to interfere in school policy

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Social exclusion

Neglect

Verbal, physical and sexual aggression

Teasing, gossip and ridicule

Sabotage, lie

Not informing about messages/ meetings

Theft

Vandalism

Stalking (face-to-face and internet)

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Whipping boys Anxious, insecure, and nervous Incapability or Fear of aggressive reactions Evaluate themselves and situation negative Not negative relation with parentsBullies Secure, less afraid, less anxious Evaluate themselves and situation positive Less strong and positive relations with parentsWell adjusted boys More secure, less anxious Evaluate themselves and situation positive Positive relation with parents Nonaggressive

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Individual traits Psychiatric disorders like impulsivity, borderline Insecurity, need to express power, revenge and jokingFamily and parenting Expatriation/ immigration (children are not plants that can be repotted) Death of mother, father, sibling or other important beloved person, like

grandmother or father Family violence Neglecting, abusive or authoritarian education styleSchool and class climate Unstructured (absence of rules and not authoritative) Inconsistent Absence of supervision Lack of parental involvement in social and intellectual progress of the

students Lack of sharing experiences of exclusion and discrimination

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Board of the school Involve parents in the social climate of school Ask parents to share private information of the (nuclear) family like

effects of expatriation or family violence Be congruent between (nuclear) family and school Ask the church to pay attention to bullyingSchool climate and class management Apply school rules about favorable behavior of students and personnel Apply class management principles (clear start, middle part and clear

end of the lesson) Keep order in class Apply measures of supervision of students, children and personnel Share among personnel both intellectual and social performances of

children and students (not punitive) Ask children to share in little class groups their experiences with

trauma’s, expatriation, exclusion and discrimination in International and Dutch schools

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