Bullying in schools has become the hot topic in educational circles these days. It’s always been a concern among parents, teachers and students, but after a 15-year old Hadley, Mass. girl committed suicide this past January, hot became “white hot.” And whenever that happens, you can expect a torrent of action, most of it well-meaning but sometimes irrelevant and occasionally even counter-productive.
If you recall, the victim, Phoebe Prince, was mercilessly tormented by a cadre of classmates later dubbed the “Mean Girls” by Massachusetts newspapers. She was new to the school and formerly from an upscale community in Ireland. Students said Phoebe was called “Irish slut” and “whore” on Twitter, Craigslist, Facebook and other social networks. When the bullying became intolerable, she hung herself.
As horrendous as the actions of the nine kids who were indicted for this evil deed, the clamor to head off future bullying of this kind has become, frankly, a sort of overkill of its own.
It reminded me of the scatterbrain response of large, publicly-traded organizations that scrambled to assess and respond the new Sarbanes Oxley Act. This bill was passed in 2002 to help reform public accounting standards and ultimately to provide investors with more protection. It was passed in direct response to the deceitful actions of companies (like Enron) and the CEOs of many of the offending business who claimed they “didn’t know” the book-cooking was occurring.
There are remarkable similarities between the passage of Sarbanes Oxley and the new Massachusetts anti-bullying legislation. Both issues involve people who get hurt and both are the result of a lack of ethical leadership as proven by similar responses to each problem. That being; “We don’t know what we’re dealing with exactly but bydamit we’re going develop a whole s#@*pot full of processes and procedures to deal with it immediately and when something happens again, someone’s going to get prosecuted.”
Likewise, both problems were or are being met with a defensive overreaction to thwart the symptoms vs. attacking the root cause. Massachusetts legislators, for example, hurriedly enacted a new state law to “solve the problem” forgetting that true ethical behavior cannot be legislated. Their law is similar to Sarbanes Oxley because it creates fear and confusion, requiring as it does, “anti-bullying training” (gee, if this training is so effective why wasn’t it required before someone was driven to kill themselves?) It includes action against bullying that’s done through social media and punitive action against those who don’t report it. Keep in mind that numerous faculty members, staff members and administrators at South Hadley High School were aware of the bullying — some even witnessed physical abuse — but they did nothing. Their personal ethics were apparently occluded by a personal decision not to “get involved.”
The politicians who are using the bullying tragedy (like Senator Sarbanes and Representative Oxley did) seek to appear as though they are serving the people as they pat themselves on the back for their legislative prowess. Just listen to State Rep. John W. Scibak (D-South Hadley): “This is a day that we can be proud we have done something positive — to eradicate bullying and to demonstrate to this Commonwealth and to the nation that bullying will no longer be tolerated.”
I think it was a day where John Scibak should be ashamed that he’s only proven there’s no concern or clue as to the real issue.
To provide a basis for understanding bullying, let’s further exploit the analogy to Sarbanes Oxley and look honestly at the reasons that the bill came to be:
1) There were millions of people going to work each day hating their jobs. They didn’t know why they were working so hard as they didn’t really have a sense of what if anything they were collectively creating. Their workplace cultures were neither fun nor did they inspire them to learn more, do things better and discover meaningful fulfillment in their lives.
2) Eventually this lack of a common cause led people to believe they were just cogs in the wheel and were powerless to control the direction it was headed.
3) So, individualism and greed evolved and became the single, overriding motivation. From competing for promotions to inappropriately doing things to raise the price of stock, the cultures in these companies became one of “me, me, me,” which eventually led to all the misleading accounting practices.
From my corporate memories of Sarbanes Oxley, the only ones who saw any value in it were a few accounting geeks and actuarial nerds because they got to be a corporate “Barney Fife” for a year or more. Ironically, these people turned into bullies and failed to inspire those around them to help. The same will hold true of new laws passed to punish children who bully classmates. Some parents, teachers and principals will get all hot and bothered and actually turn into bullies themselves in their attempt to police bullies and create justice.
Here’s my opinion of the century-old issue of bullying in schools and the evolution of new, poorly codified laws poorly designed to deal with it. See if you can see the similarities to Sarbanes Oxley.
1) Millions of kids are going to school and hate it. No one can convince them of the value of it. The culture in most schools is one of “you have to do this” or else. There’s no fun and excitement that generates the inspiration to learn and students rarely feel fulfilled within school halls.
2) A lack of a common cause (and rest assured a sports team doesn’t provide it) leaves students to inevitably feel as though they are simply going through the motions.
3) Individualism and greed evolve in some. To gain attention and feel better about themselves, the students who probably have some issues at home lash out at others. Somehow, hurting other people garners the attention they seek and everyone seems to have more “fun.”
Like those companies whose corporate malfeasance led to the creation of the Sarbanes Oxley Act, most schools aren’t ethically led. Instead, these public bureaucracies create an environment where it’s amazing there isn’t more bullying. If kids are ever to be inspired to be ethical leaders, they must first be led ethically. It’s not an easy answer and will require work and reform but surely there are smart and innovative educational professionals who can inspire, teach and fulfill students in ways that will make bullying a thing of the past.
While there should be punishment for doing the wrong thing there’s not point to it if there isn’t inspiration to do the right thing. The root of virtually every problem is the lack of ethical leadership. With all these professional adults incompletely dealing with so many issues, it’ clear that ethical leadership has not and is not understood.
If something isn’t done soon to impart the practices of an ethical leader, bullying may well become the least of our concerns.
Bullying Death Produces “Too Little, Too Late” Response Most Schools Systems are Begging for Ethical Leadership—Not New Laws
Bullying in schools has become the hot topic in educational circles these days. It’s always been a concern among parents, teachers and students, but after a 15-year old Hadley, Mass. girl committed suicide this past January, hot became “white hot.” And whenever that happens, you can expect a torrent of action, most of it well-meaning but sometimes irrelevant and occasionally even counter-productive.
If you recall, the victim, Phoebe Prince, was mercilessly tormented by a cadre of classmates later dubbed the “Mean Girls” by Massachusetts newspapers. She was new to the school and formerly from an upscale community in Ireland. Students said Phoebe was called “Irish slut” and “whore” on Twitter, Craigslist, Facebook and other social networks. When the bullying became intolerable, she hung herself.
As horrendous as the actions of the nine kids who were indicted for this evil deed, the clamor to head off future bullying of this kind has become, frankly, a sort of overkill of its own.
It reminded me of the scatterbrain response of large, publicly-traded organizations that scrambled to assess and respond the new Sarbanes Oxley Act. This bill was passed in 2002 to help reform public accounting standards and ultimately to provide investors with more protection. It was passed in direct response to the deceitful actions of companies (like Enron) and the CEOs of many of the offending business who claimed they “didn’t know” the book-cooking was occurring.
There are remarkable similarities between the passage of Sarbanes Oxley and the new Massachusetts anti-bullying legislation. Both issues involve people who get hurt and both are the result of a lack of ethical leadership as proven by similar responses to each problem. That being; “We don’t know what we’re dealing with exactly but bydamit we’re going develop a whole s#@*pot full of processes and procedures to deal with it immediately and when something happens again, someone’s going to get prosecuted.”
Likewise, both problems were or are being met with a defensive overreaction to thwart the symptoms vs. attacking the root cause. Massachusetts legislators, for example, hurriedly enacted a new state law to “solve the problem” forgetting that true ethical behavior cannot be legislated. Their law is similar to Sarbanes Oxley because it creates fear and confusion, requiring as it does, “anti-bullying training” (gee, if this training is so effective why wasn’t it required before someone was driven to kill themselves?) It includes action against bullying that’s done through social media and punitive action against those who don’t report it. Keep in mind that numerous faculty members, staff members and administrators at South Hadley High School were aware of the bullying — some even witnessed physical abuse — but they did nothing. Their personal ethics were apparently occluded by a personal decision not to “get involved.”
The politicians who are using the bullying tragedy (like Senator Sarbanes and Representative Oxley did) seek to appear as though they are serving the people as they pat themselves on the back for their legislative prowess. Just listen to State Rep. John W. Scibak (D-South Hadley): “This is a day that we can be proud we have done something positive — to eradicate bullying and to demonstrate to this Commonwealth and to the nation that bullying will no longer be tolerated.”
I think it was a day where John Scibak should be ashamed that he’s only proven there’s no concern or clue as to the real issue.
To provide a basis for understanding bullying, let’s further exploit the analogy to Sarbanes Oxley and look honestly at the reasons that the bill came to be:
1) There were millions of people going to work each day hating their jobs. They didn’t know why they were working so hard as they didn’t really have a sense of what if anything they were collectively creating. Their workplace cultures were neither fun nor did they inspire them to learn more, do things better and discover meaningful fulfillment in their lives.
2) Eventually this lack of a common cause led people to believe they were just cogs in the wheel and were powerless to control the direction it was headed.
3) So, individualism and greed evolved and became the single, overriding motivation. From competing for promotions to inappropriately doing things to raise the price of stock, the cultures in these companies became one of “me, me, me,” which eventually led to all the misleading accounting practices.
From my corporate memories of Sarbanes Oxley, the only ones who saw any value in it were a few accounting geeks and actuarial nerds because they got to be a corporate “Barney Fife” for a year or more. Ironically, these people turned into bullies and failed to inspire those around them to help. The same will hold true of new laws passed to punish children who bully classmates. Some parents, teachers and principals will get all hot and bothered and actually turn into bullies themselves in their attempt to police bullies and create justice.
Here’s my opinion of the century-old issue of bullying in schools and the evolution of new, poorly codified laws poorly designed to deal with it. See if you can see the similarities to Sarbanes Oxley.
1) Millions of kids are going to school and hate it. No one can convince them of the value of it. The culture in most schools is one of “you have to do this” or else. There’s no fun and excitement that generates the inspiration to learn and students rarely feel fulfilled within school halls.
2) A lack of a common cause (and rest assured a sports team doesn’t provide it) leaves students to inevitably feel as though they are simply going through the motions.
3) Individualism and greed evolve in some. To gain attention and feel better about themselves, the students who probably have some issues at home lash out at others. Somehow, hurting other people garners the attention they seek and everyone seems to have more “fun.”
Like those companies whose corporate malfeasance led to the creation of the Sarbanes Oxley Act, most schools aren’t ethically led. Instead, these public bureaucracies create an environment where it’s amazing there isn’t more bullying. If kids are ever to be inspired to be ethical leaders, they must first be led ethically. It’s not an easy answer and will require work and reform but surely there are smart and innovative educational professionals who can inspire, teach and fulfill students in ways that will make bullying a thing of the past.
While there should be punishment for doing the wrong thing there’s not point to it if there isn’t inspiration to do the right thing. The root of virtually every problem is the lack of ethical leadership. With all these professional adults incompletely dealing with so many issues, it’ clear that ethical leadership has not and is not understood.
If something isn’t done soon to impart the practices of an ethical leader, bullying may well become the least of our concerns.