Re : Bullying - is it our problem ?
Christian Eickhoff (EICKHOF2@HERMES1.ECON.UNI-HAMBURG.DE)
Thu, 15 Dec 1994 10:16:43 GMT+0100
Last Saturday, Ian Ford wrote:
> ------------------------------------------------------
> What do we , as Scouters , need to do about bullying ?
> -------------------------------------------------------
>
>
>Any ideas / comments / experiences ?
Well, perhaps. As You might know, we have a serious problem with Skinheads
and Neo-Nazis. About a year ago, German Youth organizations (initially Boy
Scouts, but others joined) founded the "Aktion Courage" -no need to
translate, is there ? - which has the aim to teach young people to
de-escalate dangerous situations and avoid violence on the streets.
Actually, no bad idea, but IMHO the problems lies in the de-escalators,
i.e. _us_. If a violent person feels trapped (he can't run away and he
won't talk to me/us, either) he will hit me. That means, if
nobody else helps, I could end up as the only victim. We just had an
incident in Hamburg, where a man wanting to help was shot. This was not
Neo-Nazi-violence, but it doesn't matter.He died the day before yesterday.
Allright, if I don't care about myself, should I encourage my scout
troop (aged 10-12) to move in? If I really think about it -no way. I do
NOT like the thought of visiting a boy or girl of my troop in hospital
after I told them to move in.
Does anyone have really good ideas for dealing with these guys?
<Besides the axiom: "If you're alone, you're lost">
Unfortunately I can't provide You with results of any "Courage"-
workshops, since I was too busy too attend seminars etc., but we do have
this problem, too, and we try to do something about it.
Enjoy X-mas and have a great new year,
Christian
eickhof2@hermes1.econ.uni-hamburg.de
Terry Howerton Sakima Group, Inc. SCOUTER Magazine Kansas City |
