Bullying is Wicked

By Fred Siemon

We're making progress against such social evils as harassment, hate crimes and other forms of prejudice. Bullying is another practice that must be rooted out of the system.

As your Berryessa Union School District Trustee it will be my pleasure and duty to work to make the issues of bullying and negative peer pressure more recognized by faculty and staff, and to set up policies to reduce this hidden evil that deprives our children of the free expression of their native abilities. I mean to nip it in the bud by working with teachers and students to increase awareness of bullying, to feel free to report it when they see it, and to help one another to overcome the insidious and pernicious nature of bullying.

We're making progress against racial intolerance, sexual harassment and abuse, hate crimes and other forms of prejudice. Bullying is just another one of the social evils, but one that is foisted upon defenseless children at a crucial period in their development.

The Russian poet Yevtushenko once remarked that the real tragedy in life is what dies within a man while he still lives. Bullying, intimidation, fear of reprisals from feral children who neither care about the hard-one values of our society nor have respect for their compatriots, instill a sense of worthlessness in other children which is, in my opinion, one of the major hindrances to good education for all and a source for failure throughout life. Our children are asking us for help. Bullying must be removed from the educational system.