THERE are few things more distressing for a parent than the realisation or suspicion that one’s child is being bullied. Bullying of course, is nothing new. Tom Brown’s Schooldays, written in 1857, featured the vile bully, Flashman.
Somewhat more recently, MSP Willie Rennie voiced concern about extreme incidents occurring in schools across Scotland. Disturbing footage had emerged of a young girl being kicked and punched at a school in Mr Rennie’s constituency. Similar incidents in schools in the Highlands and Glasgow areas have also been filmed on mobile phones and posted online.
Those incidents have attracted attention because thankfully, they are still relatively uncommon. Drawing on my own experience, I don’t believe present-day schools are more violent than when I started out in 1970. Back then, violent incidents, pupil on pupil and, in the days of corporal punishment, teacher on pupil, were a daily occurrence.
