Bullying and Leverage

by Dora Raymaker · 2009-03-11 16:00:00 UTC
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three seesaws on a playground the two in the background are down, the one in the foreground is upAdvocates Say Bullying Still A Problem Despite 2001 Law is the headline from OPB News. The 2001 law H.B. 3403 requires schools to create and enforce anti-bullying policies. Since this seems not to have sufficient effect on bullying, a new anti-bullying law is being recommended.

The OPB article details three different bullying stories in Oregon public schools, from an Asperger's teen, a Native American (now) college student, and from a member of the Oregon Students Equal Rights Alliance, a GLBT group.

Anti-bullying laws are good, but I am unfortunately not surprised about their ineffectiveness. In systems science, there is an idea of leverage points, a point in a system where a "small shift in one thing can produce big changes in everything". Example: in the case of a serious sinus infection, the leverage--that thing that will actually change whether one has an infection or not--is in taking antibiotics, it is not in taking an antihistamine.

Laws and policies not to bully are like antihistamines. They may attack some of the symptoms of the problem but aren't working on a leverage point. They do not target lack of understanding, tolerance, or empathy, or other key reasons why bullying may occur.

Dora Raymaker
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