Zero Tolerance Approach To Bullying Research Paper
A Rose by Any Other Name: The Over-Definition of Bullying
Professor: Peter Sacco
Introduction
With several recent high-profile suicides, due to cyber-bullying, being recently ubiquitous on Canada’s airwaves, the phenomenon has taken significant root in the popular consciousness, and myriad groups appear to be lobbying for Canadian schools, and other institutions, to take a harder line on the so-called bullying problem. With bullying striking between 33% and 50% of current Canadian children and adolescents, based on contemporary definitions of the phenomenon, a true moral panic has emerged around the bullying problem. In response to it, many schools have implemented a “zero tolerance” approach to bullying which defines the phenomenon widely, and which punishes purported offenders seriously. In contrast, the previous paradigm for dealing with bullying, pragmatic in nature, sought to only punish cases of purported bullying when …show more content…
With many schools implementing what is referred to as a zero tolerance approach to bullying, they are making use of what has become a “one-size-fits-all” approach to bullying. In this context, which Rivers & Duncan (2013) argue is sometimes devoid of nuance, the country’s school systems are creating a system in which qualitative divergences in the severity of bullying incidents are not taking into account. Considering that long-term longitudinal statistics on bullying in Canada are unavailable, because the problem has only recently emerged into the public sphere in earnest, and that the school systems’ approach has become so harsh in such a short time period; there is an imperative need to investigate the effectiveness of current
Professor: Peter Sacco
Introduction
With several recent high-profile suicides, due to cyber-bullying, being recently ubiquitous on Canada’s airwaves, the phenomenon has taken significant root in the popular consciousness, and myriad groups appear to be lobbying for Canadian schools, and other institutions, to take a harder line on the so-called bullying problem. With bullying striking between 33% and 50% of current Canadian children and adolescents, based on contemporary definitions of the phenomenon, a true moral panic has emerged around the bullying problem. In response to it, many schools have implemented a “zero tolerance” approach to bullying which defines the phenomenon widely, and which punishes purported offenders seriously. In contrast, the previous paradigm for dealing with bullying, pragmatic in nature, sought to only punish cases of purported bullying when …show more content…
With many schools implementing what is referred to as a zero tolerance approach to bullying, they are making use of what has become a “one-size-fits-all” approach to bullying. In this context, which Rivers & Duncan (2013) argue is sometimes devoid of nuance, the country’s school systems are creating a system in which qualitative divergences in the severity of bullying incidents are not taking into account. Considering that long-term longitudinal statistics on bullying in Canada are unavailable, because the problem has only recently emerged into the public sphere in earnest, and that the school systems’ approach has become so harsh in such a short time period; there is an imperative need to investigate the effectiveness of current