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Bullying at School - an overview
Bullying at School
"I Am Jack" creates a personal experience for children, teachers and parents to participate and understand the process of victimization and scapegoating which can destroy children's belief in themselves and their society.
The real questions of bullying are how bullying develops, the social process, the participants. It is an opportunity to find pathways towards social justice in the schoolyard, empowering children, teachers and parents.
Bullying is insidious. It is not one great dramatic incident. It is a gradual process of victimization where the child becomes more and more isolated and afraid and the bully gets more and more aggressive, strengthened through group support and lack of adult action.
BULLYING HURTS KIDS through:
- Low self esteem
- Depression
- Failure at schoolwork
- Children's experience of fear
- Isolation and loneliness
- The bullied learns to become a victim
- The bully learns the success of aggression
Recent studies show that the negative effects of bullying continue into adult years, damaging both the bullied and the bully and creating a distrust of our society.
Susanne Gervay as a specialist in child growth & development, an educator, and author combines these professional experiences into the personal experience of the bullying of her son at school. She wrote 'I Am Jack'.
"I AM JACK" by Susanne Gervay is written from personal experience. Her son, the character Jack in the novel, was a victim of bullying. Jack is a real kid. His story shows children that they should not face bullying alone. Set in a primary school, it is a story that students, parents and teachers can relate to.
Relating to a story or being emotionally engaged facilitates learning. Readers become fellow travellers in a story journey. Lining, Phillips and Burton (1997) in a literature based approach to bullying rationalize that a story can allow the reader to empathize with situations that they may not have experienced, can provide the reader with reassurance that other people experience the same problems they do themselves, and can provide a situation where topics can be explored through a third party - the characters in the book. By taking students on a journey with Jack, attitudes, feelings and strategies about bullying can be explored and discussed in a non threatening way."
'I Am Jack - Using Literature to Teach about Bullying' by Jenny Foster, The NSW Department of Education & Training Vol. 21 No. 3 August 2002.
'I Am Jack' celebrates kids. Unique, valuable kids who deserve the right to take pride in their own special qualities. Bullying takes this right away from them. 
In the context of family and school life, I Am Jack sensitively explores how bullying attacks the very basis of a child's self esteem. Bullying isolates and victimises children. 'I Am Jack' shows them that they are not alone and that they can win against bullying.
'I Am Jack' is children's literature at its most effective. Beautifully written, revealing the quirkiness of kids, it is funny, loving, moving. It gives adults and children a remarkable understanding into an area that challenges children's belief in themselves.
This is a book children should read because kids are unique.
Life Education Australia