kids-being-bullied4Iowa Governor Terry Branstad seems to be jumping on the bandwagon of having tougher anti-bullying measures based on the recent tragedy in Northwest Iowa.  We should care about all bullying and anti-bullying policies should place the emphasis on the the wrong actions of the bully, not on perceived thoughts or motivations.  The bully’s reasons or excuses should matter.  Schools should pursue this problem by prohibiting any bullying regardless of the reason or the child.  Schools, communities, and families can do the best job addressing this problem, not the state government.  When government gets involved polices become politicized which ends up focusing on an agenda instead of the problem at hand.

Some facts that we must consider before jumping on the current anti-bullying bandwagon:

(Above bullet points from Fast Facts on Bullying in Schools)

Update: Some stats from the 2010-2011 school year to consider from the top 10 largest school districts in Iowa (based on 2010-2011 enrollment).

Now I admit that not every instance of bullying gets reported.  I would say that is definitely true in Ankeny, Council Bluffs and Iowa City which have extremely low numbers of reports compared to their enrollment.  I still don’t believe, and the facts simply don’t show, that is the prominent cause of bullying.  Since that is the case I think we can reasonably ask why is all of the anti-bullying emphasis at the state and federal level on homosexual kids?

Update 2: You have to love how the “anti-bullying” activists bully people who disagree with them.

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