Bullying and the Ugly Duckling

The Ugly Duckling, central character of the homonymous fairy tale of the Danish autor, H.C. Andersen, was bullied for being different from the other ducks in the stable, until he simply accepted himself and realized that he had exactly the same value as all the other animals in the stable...until he realized that he was a beautiful swan!

Unfortunately, Bullying is not just a topic of fairy tales with moral lessons or a kind of humor. How many of us have been in the place of the Ugly Duckling, the other animals as bullies or just as bystanders?

But, first, let's talk about what bullying is:

Bullying is unwanted, aggressive behavior among school aged children that involves a real or perceived power imbalance. It includes actions such as making threats, spreading rumors, attacking someone physically or verbally, and excluding someone from a group on purpose.The behavior is repeated, or has the potential to be repeated, over time. Both kids who are bullied and who bully others may have serious, lasting problems.

Just a month ago UNESCO, the UN organization for education, science and culture, recognized that Bullying constitutes a concern of global relevance (based on 2019 data).

The LGTB at school being concerned about the Bullying consequences organized a workshop about it, which took place in IES La Rosaleda. The main speaker was the psychologist, Luis Rodriguez, who talked about the consequences and the causes not only from the point of view of the victim but also from the bully´s. 

Moreover in the same framework, a survey, with the participation of students from the four project partners, was conducted. Among the positive results, it is to highlight that the most participants know what Bullying consists of and recognize it as a challenge for the school community. Furthermore, 87% of the participants are not afraid to come to school and feel safe. Likewise, most of them also feel safe on the way home.

According to the survey, social media is the keystone for the quick advance of this complex social phenomenon. Αnonymity online has become a tool to spread misinformation and to harass and hurt other people. In the same vein, hiding behind anonymity, the majority of Bullying episodes occur in the school washrooms. This type of Bullying includes writing offensive comments on the walls or someone's phone number and in worse situations recording a video while someone is using the toilet. 

What does school do in order to prevent and address Bullying? The majority of the students mentioned lack of trust in the school staff. Is that ´´Warning mode ON´´ for the school staff? Yes of course!

The victims can not and they should not handle alone the problem. The bullies also need help! The solution is:

-More awareness campaigns not only for the students but also for the school staff and the parents,

-Keep the lines of communication open and encourage the students to report Bullying,

-Advance social and emotional learning, that involves teaching skills of self-awareness, self-management, social-awareness, responsible decision making, and relationships management. 

We may take under consideration that the bully, probably, is a person who suffers, maybe someone who did not get the social or family acceptance, that she/he needed. There is a lot of different reasons to be a bully. In most of the cases, the bully is treated as a criminal, cause the punishment is the easy solution: you just expel the bully and you are done. As a matter of fact, the bully keeps  the same or worse attitude in her/his new school. Teachers should counsel and rehabilitate such students through social and emotional learning methods.

Last but not least, (as it is the most curious for me): More than the average of the participants says that they have never been a victim of bullying. Likewise the !96%! of the participants says that they have never been bullies. I do not know if we should consider those tightly connected results as just positive data or should we look deeper...for issues of acceptance and recognition? We know more or less the definition of Bullying, but are we able to accept that we have been bullied or bullies?

Let's work on it together and make our school ´´Bullying Free Zone´´.

And for all of us that felt at least one time in our life as the Ugly Duckling did, just bear in mind the last sentences of the fairytale:

- He had been persecuted and despised for his ugliness, and now he heard them say he was the most beautiful of all the birds. Even the elder tree bent down its boughs into the water before him, and the sun shone warm and bright. Then he rustled his feathers, curved his slender neck, and cried joyfully, from the depths of his heart, “I never dreamed of such happiness as this while I was the despised ugly duckling”.-

WHAT HAS ART MEANT TO YOU? A REVIEW OF THE FILM PHILADELPHIA

 

    Art is not an intellectual but dispensable production, a kind of ornament without which we can live. On the contrary is one of the most important elements of our culture. It expresses our concerns, the way we feel about the world we are living, our ambitions, wishes or hopes. Moreover, art also changes the way we feel. It opens new perspectives, because art shows the same reality we know from a different point of view and, therefore, help us to understand better the reality that surrounds us.

    But art also helps to become aware of the problems that exist in our society. It happend with the film Philadelphia, an Amareican film produced in 1993, directed by Jonathan Demme and starring Tom Hamks and Denzel Washington. It was one of the fiirst films that spoke openly about AIDS, homophobia and discrimination at work.

    VIH was isolated for the first time in 1983, by that time it meant a mortal illness and people panicked. Those who were infected sufferd employment discrimination. Particularly LGTB people, suffered a double discrimination, because of the infection and becuase of being LGTB, as a part of the society considered that it was their sexuual behaviour that was the cuase of the infection. Many awareness campaigns were need to change the situation and make people understand that VIH could be stopped is we all took preventive meassures, to make people see, that we were all safe by doing that, that we were not at risk by working with an infected person. In few words, that the discrimination people suffered was unbeareble and totally absurd. 

In this context, the film Philadelphia came to help. It showed openly that kind of discrimination and introduced  this debate in our society. 

More than 30 years after our students wanted to know what did this film mean to our generation.

CREATING ART

     

    Finally we decided to create our own piece of art!!!!

     Thankfully we have extraordinary students. Spencial reference should be made to Miguel Muñoz Alabarce student in IES La Rosaleda and in the conservatory of music in Málaga. He and the producer Luis Amador Goberna have created the song Free Spirits that talks about freedom and pride and breaking down stereotypes in a very optimistic way.

    We were so completely happy with the result that we decided to record it and Bahia Records was in charge of it. Students and teachers had a great time. 

    Not only the song fits perfectely with the project, but it is really good itself. Here you can check it and see if tou don't end the video singing the chorus.

    THANKS MIGUEL AND THANKS TO ALL THE STUDENTS AND TEACHERS FOR YOUR COMMITMENT!!!!