Bullycide

To the faculty, students and families of the students and alumni of Virginia Technology, my sincere condolences. As one who has lost a family member under unanticipated circumstances, the numbness is still there. The pain will always be there and on occasions like this it functions as a reminder of the fragility of the human body but the resilience of those who survive.

My condolences go also to the parents and family of Seung-Hui Cho. They have a double burden of having lost a child and knowing that their child has taken away the lives of others.

Seung-Hui was also a victim of Virginia Tech and of society. Here and there the media stated that he was bullied in high school and during his first year at university. So much speculation is underway regarding his psychological disorder or mental illness that resulted in this event. One website stated he was bullied because of his demeanor or speech disorder. Another stated, he sent a thank you to the person who helped him change his dorm following bullying in his first year at Virginia Tech. Another student stated she was talking to him and another student warned her of his behaviour – stalking of her and other students. All these actions and reactions reflect how isolated Seung- Hui was from his peers at school.

In the aftermath of tragedy, the answer to the question of why an event took place and the finger pointing of fault emerges. There is no excuse for the violence he engaged in against the community; just as there is no excuse for the history of bullying he experienced in school. Research has shown that the 2/3 of those involved in school shootings are male and were bullied at school. A child who is bullied is more likely to stay home from school or avoid school. A child who is bullied is more likely to drop out from school. By not being in school, requisite skills are missed and a bullied child suffers academically. The lack of achievement leads to dropping out of school and of lost academic opportunities. The school also suffers because the children in standardized tests do not perform as well because the students have either not been present nor able to focus because of the stress and anxiety caused by bullying. Students and families of students lose trust in the school to insure a safe and positive learning environment.

Seung-Hui Cho had the opportunity to pursue his education on a tertiary level. Research shows that Caucasian and Asian students are more likely to stay in school than African American and Hispanic students according to recent studies regarding student retention rates. They experience chronic victimization and isolation from peers. Mr. Cho identified with other chronic victims of bullying who went from being bullied to being a mass killer according to the media reports of the past week. A focus has been made of Mr. Cho’s mental health and the fact that he was identified as having special needs. Research also shows that children with special needs tend to be bullied at a greater frequency rate than students not identified as special needs.

Temperance needs to prevail at this time and understanding needs to arise from the loss of children, siblings, parents and classmates. Children who are bullied become isolated and in some instances exhibit post traumatic stress disorder. Repeated bullying can result in depression, anxiety and lost of connectiveness with the community. A person who is a chronic victim through how they behave can cause even more bullying to take place resulting in the victim being caught in a perpetual bullying loop cycle. At some point, the victim can take one of two courses, disengage from society and life through suicide, substance abuse or other disorder or become a bully – a perpetrator and seek revenge against those they perceive as ‘the enemy’ but who are in reality ‘the innocents’ who are a safe target for the rage, anger and frustration which finally manifests itself as “Bullycide” and may not be the actual individuals who committed the bullying.

Privacy laws, since Mr. Cho was over 18, kept the school, mental health providers and the court system from notifying parents of their concerns. Mr. Cho had a speech problem and in the United States, students with special needs have an Individual Education Plans (IEPs). Some students with behaviour or emotional issues have an Individual Behaviour Plans (IBPs) require educational settings to have a plan in place to meet the educational and behaviour needs of special needs children. Not all children with an IEP have an IBP. These documents result in the special needs child having two sets of standards for learning and behaviour. The behaviour plan may have interventions and strategies that need to be followed and are prescriptive in nature. The IBP needs to be in agreement with society’s expectations and consequences for behaviour for two significant purposes. First, to provide the individual with consequences that are consistent and according to legal guidelines and to provide the special needs child with opportunities to practice “appropriate” social behaviour in the “least restrictive environment”.

Mr. Cho was bullied. Mr. Cho chose to become a bully. Mr. Cho decided to become judge, jury and executioner to those he perceived to be a threat. He chose to escalate the situation and to end his torment. He decided to take control of the sense of oppression and to end his own existence.

The hindsight observations and reflections of those investigating and reporting of these tragic events need to look at this as an opportunity to institute a collaborative interagency approach to end bullying not just in the educational setting of the United States but on a global level. What can we do?

• Focus on breaking the bullying cycle.
• Bullying is abuse. Just as teachers are required and mandated to report abuse so should they be mandated to report bullying.
• Make bullying an illegal act.
• Have a consistent and uniform definition of what constitutes bullying. I recommend Rigby’s (2002) definition of malign bullying.
• Take bullying seriously. 1 out of 3 people in jail were bullies. A bully can become a serial bully.
• Respect disclosure and confidentiality. There are no rules that state you cannot mail communications from schools and universities to the students’ permanent home addresses.
• Look at policies and practices and align them consistently.

We are each responsible for our own safety and the safety of those around us. Bystanders to events need to act when it is safe to do so. From last week’s victims emerged heroes at Virginia Tech, individuals who demonstrated their love for others through self sacrifice and quick thinking. The potential of great contributions or accomplishments by these heroes in the years to follow in their fields of study are lost now. Yet, their actions have contributed to insuring that their students or classmates will have the opportunity to make a difference.