Bullying in Franklin Academy (Wake Forest)

I find it easy to think about what an individual can do, but it's not so easy for me to practice it.  I will consider an issue that is well-know in many schools across America, and that is bullying.  I created a survey for students at my school with questions relating to bullying at my school.  Here are my results!  (Notice: My answers is in red)



1. Have you ever been a victim of bullying at some time during this school year? (This includes teasing, name-calling, hitting, threats, intimidation, and so on and so forth).

No

Students: Yes 40%
                No 60%

2. Have you bullied someone during this school year?

No

Students: Yes 0%
                 No 100%

3.Have you seen someone else being bullied this school year?

No

Students: Yes 82%
                No 18%

4. What do witnesses or bystanders usually do when they see someone being bullied?

They immediately tell a teacher or trusted adult.

Students: Tell a teacher 50%
                Help the victim by standing up to the bully/hitting the bully/telling the bully to stop 40%
                Bystander would be afraid to tell a teacher 10%

5. Is bullying a problem here at Franklin Academy?

No

Students: Yes 63%
                No 27%
                Sometimes 10%


Conclusion
Based on the results, I can see that bullying is a huge problem at Franklin Academy.  The school seems well-organized and well-managed, but under all that, the students are being bullied.  I love the school, but I wish something could be done to stop bullying.


Quote
"All that is necessary for evil to succeed is that good men do nothing."  - Edmund Burke

Notice I highlighted the word "good" in the quote.  I did that to show how this quote applies to the issue of bullying at Franklin.  The only way for bullying to continue is by students letting it happen.  Even when their friend is being bullied, the "good" guy does nothing or keeps quiet in order to protect himself from the bully.  It think that Franklin Academy should do more to encourage students to report bullying when they see it or experience it.

What would YOU do?

Viewing the Holocaust

Quote:  "I have decided to devote my life to telling the story because I felt that having survived I owed something to the dead.  And anyone who does not remember betrays them again." -Elie Wiesel


     A lot of people do not like to remember the Holocaust.  It was a very terrible and depressing time.  Many Jews all over Europe were killed in only a few years.  Now, years later, many people still don't like to talk about it.  All that most people want to remember about it is that it was a very important part of history, and they choose to believe that something like that will never happen again.  But as I write, genocides still happen today.

     In the quote above made by Elie Wiesel, he gives his reason for telling his story about surviving the Holocaust.  He wants people to hear his story since others who died in the Holocaust can not tell theirs.  He also says that whoever chooses not to remember the Holocaust will betray them all over again.  This means that people today act like the family and friends of those who died, who did not do anything to help the Jews.  I agree with Wiesel because I can relate to a similar situation.  When a kid views a particular group in school to be popular or "cool", he would do anything to be with them including betraying his old friend.  He would rather trade his old friend for the new group in order to appear "cool" to other students in school.  This situation proves Wiesel's statement to be true of people's betrayal of others.  It is not right for someone to betray a friend in order to become popular, safe, or benefit from someone else's misfortune. 

     Here are some images that I think of when I read Wiesel's passage.

The two dogs used to be friends until the dog sitting betrayed the dog standing and got a new cat friend.

Judas has betrayed Christ.

The picture shows Wiesel's reason why he wanted to tell his story.  Wiesel should tell his story because the other Jews in the Holocaust can not tell their story.  Wiesel "owes" it to the Jews to tell his story.

The girl is cheating on the guy in orange, betraying him for someone else.

The red person represents Wiesel.  The blue people represent the Jews who died in the Holocaust.  Wiesel is holding his hand up because he is choosing to tell the story of Jewish life during the Holocaust.

     This is my view of the Holocaust.  What 's yours?

Elijah Waldon