NZ schools lead world in bullying

What I want to know is which countries came first? Where is it a safer, friendlier place to bring up our children?

This is a very old and interesting topic,bullying. I don't believe it is any worse in any other society, and if evidence can be shown then fingers can also be pointed, but where is the appropriate place to point? Sick systems stem from sick societies. Raise the level of consciousness, caring, acceptance and responsibility and one raises the bar of behaviour in a society. Nobody has all the answers, but we each possess the right answer inside of ourselves. Talk and we speak knowledge, act and we live wisdom.

I totally agree with all of the above.Society needs to bring up their children, values don't fall out of trees! And in response to Poster number 1, I find totally the opposite here in Australia. I always reassure my kids that, in my experience, the bullies are the ones who always end up losers in the end. Nobody remembers the bullies and toughies from my school 20 years ago!

For all the meddling in the social fabric of our society by the Intelligencia we are no closer to solving these problems and the situation is getting worse. I thought Social Workers and Teachers had all the answers ? It appears not.

We live in a society of fear. As a child at school, I used to fear the cane or te strap. Now as a parent I fear the government rules and regulations put in place to 'protect' children. However, it all seems to be having the opposite effect. Rather than 'protecting' children, it's letter a minority run riot and ruin school for the rest (including teachers). Boundaries are not able to be enforced by words and 'time out' alone. Children are not stupid. If they feel that they are not 'suitably' punished for bad behaviour, then they will keep pushing the boundaries. I'm not saying that we bring back corporal punishment, but we do need a solution that had the same effect.

I am unsurprised at this news. I do not think that New Zealanders are fundamentally nastier than people elsewhere, but I think that New Zealanders are far too accepting of loutish behavior, both in school and outside of it.

Here in the United States where I live, the kind of bullying I saw while teaching high-school in New Zealand is not tolerated. It happens of course, but it is dealt with when when observed. This sometimes involves the police. In New Zealand, I observed that it is part of the culture to make excuses for bullies (e.g., calling the police will ruin his life, she is just looking for attention, etc). Well, think back NZers, to the kids who were bullied in your classes and ask yourselves what those people are doing now. I can tell you that many of the NZ kids I knew who were picked on ended up dropping out of school or becoming depressed.

In the news, I was frequently surprised at comments/letters from the NZ public about stories involving violence. For example, the Veitch story was a big one when I was in NZ. Many of the comments following news stories about Veitch, the TV presenter who assaulted his girlfriend, astounded me. So many focused on the motivations for complaining of the woman who was assaulted. Same thing with almost any news story involving violence or bullying. I frequently found myself thinking, what is wrong with NZ people? Why is it always the fault of the victim here? Why can't these people take responsibility and learn to control themselves and their children?

I live in a pretty rough area of New York and have never had anyone yell insults to me on the street in over 30 years. My students have never threatened violence against me. In New Zealand, I often had children/youths intimidate me on the street and threaten violence in class--usually when I intervened to stop them bullying another student. I would not want to bring up my children in NZ.