With incidents of school bullying in the greater New York area increasing
With incidents of school bullying in the greater New York area increasing rapidly among Korean students, parents are being advised to get proper instruction, education, and perhaps counseling help, in order to support their children before the serious effects of bullying take root.
At the monthly Korean-American Parents Association of Greater New York, held on October 5, at JHS 189 in Flushing, Queens, the Association chairwoman, Ms. Yoon-hee Choi, announced that the organization received a weekly average of two to three incident reports or requests for help from Korean students and parents of victims since the start of the fall semester. Reports of incidents are coming from the five boroughs as well as Long Island, and represent an increase from last year, and continuing a trend seen in the past three to four years.
Ms. Choi noted, “It’s unusual for this kind of incident to occur on Long Island; it’s also striking that this year bullying cases have been reported weekly in the Korean community. We have never seen such a serious spate of bullying before.”
At the meeting, Korean parents shared some of the details of incidents, as well as how they plan to – and are – dealing with them. In one case though, a sixth-grade Korean girl who had been the victim of bullying all throughout her fifth grade year finally succumbed to her tormentors. This year, no longer able to endure the bullying, she capitulated and joined the bullies. She is now a member of the group that torments others; she has even bullied some of her old friends. This is one way in which bullying continues at schools, when victims cannot find protection from bullies.
“Victims of bullying must come out and state that they are being bullied; students must go directly to the school administration and report the incident(s). They should report each and every incident of bullying. This is very important and very necessary,” Choi stressed.
She also warned that if the victim is afraid of retribution and does not report or covers up the incident, the victim may later be accused of bullying too by the bullies in order to divert attention from them; it is always better to immediately report any school related bullying.
In addition, the Association spoke about freshman hazing, which also seems to be on the rise at schools: “Even though there might not be a clear case of bullying, when a student feels threatened or is fearful, they should definitely report this to the school administration. In this way, the school might prevent future acts of bullying from occurring,” Choi advised.
In order to combat bullying, N.Y. State has enacted Dignity for All Students Act to address the issue in all New York State schools. The State also runs a hotline, 1-877-772-8369, where anonymous reports can be made.
When a student is found guilty of bullying, a mandatory suspension of at least six days is enforced. Depending upon the severity of the case, the maximum penalty for bullying is expulsion from school.
By Jung-eun Lee, The Korea Times, 6 October 2010. Translated from Korean by Sun-Yong Reinish.