School Bullies – Caught on Tape

A video posted by Twitter user Collin Meek shows about five schoolboys, in full school uniform, violently beating up another school pupil had made its way on to social media last week. In the video, the boys, who I later learned were from Palmview Secondary School in Phoenix, are seen chasing their peer while punching and slapping him. He eventually falls to the ground, and they continue to kick him while tearing off his shirt.
 
A number of other school children are seen laughing and cheering on these bullies while they mercilessly continue their attack. Then, a member of the public pulls his car over to the side of the road and chases the bullies away.

I hope these children, including those standing around cheering and laughing, are appropriately disciplined for the violence in the video. And without sounding too much like an old fogey, when I was at school, if you had done anything outside of school hours that brought the school into disrepute while wearing your uniform and somebody reported you, there would be huge consequences.
 
So what these boys have done is completely disrespectful – disrespectful to their peers, to their school, and to their parents. And I asked this question of many people – why didn’t some intervene? The majority of people said that they didn’t feel it was their responsibility to do anything. One child asked, “Is it my responsibility as a decent student to put myself in danger because these thugs were beating up this boy. Yes, I think it’s unacceptable but I didn’t want to get involved and find myself in conflict.”
 
As a young person, I can understand where he was coming from. Why should this group of thugs put him in a position where he might be compelled to do get involved and get beaten up himself. If you filmed it, that’s different because you’re actually relishing in it. What you should be doing is hot-tailing it into the principal’s office and saying, “There’s a violent fight taking place, can you please come and sort it out!” You shouldn’t be standing there and filming it with a big Cheshire cat grin on your face. You should be calling an authority.
 
These thugs should be disciplined and expelled from the school. In fact they should be put into some kind of correctional facility. If you’re going to behave like a criminal, then you need to go and await your trial with other juvenile delinquents. And you should be compelled to go through a programme that is designed to rehabilitate you; to teach you to be a better human being.  
 

Would you encourage your child to intervene if he or she sees a peer being assaulted?