Bullying at school

is  apparently growing worse, not better.
There is a report in this morning's paper about the research being done by two of the staff at one of the state's universities. If accurate then there is an alarming rise in the way in which adolescents wish harm on one another - and think it is funny.
I already know that Ms W does not find such things funny. There was a short spate of severe bullying at her school several years ago. She was still in the junior school but one of the senior school students made a serious suicide attempt because of the bullying of another.  The girl doing the bullying was removed from the school and the other girl will now finish this year. She should do well because the other girls in her year rallied around her. It wasn't done because they were asked to do it by adults. It was done because they genuinely like the other girl and were upset, angry and confused that it could happen. It took a near tragedy for the girls to really understand how harmful bullying really can be.
I won't say there is no bullying in the school. That would be ridiculous. What I do think is that it is not common. It gets called out pretty quickly if it does occur. There is an anti-bullying awareness program and it seems to work.
There is a girl in Ms W's class who is moderately deaf. She has occasionally been the subject of some teasing. Ms W tends to be fierce about such things.
     "It's not nice!" and "I hate it when you do that!" were common cries when she was younger. She knows that everyone gets teased occasionally and, although she doesn't like it, she will tolerate it if she considers it not likely to harm someone. She has been teased herself. I've dealt with tears over someone "not being nice" on more than one occasion but it hasn't been the sly bullying that does so much harm. And yes, she has probably teased others in return.
Ms W will see the report in this morning's paper.  I have no doubt at all that she will raise the subject with me before she goes back to school tonight.  Her form teacher may well use it as a topic for their weekly discussion.
Even if she doesn't I know that there is no girl in the class who would find it "funny" to tell one of  the others "I hope you get murdered" or "I hope you die in a crash". The school knows it doesn't have to be that way. It's hard work and they have had to devote time to "mutual respect and caring for each other". 
But, as Ms W's distressed form teacher told me when the attempted suicide occurred, "Teaching them to care for each other is more important than maths."