Child Cruelty Is Vexing Issue for Educators

By CHRIS BURRELL

When a social worker from Maine came to the Island last month for
the second time in less than two years, he sat down with teenagers,
listened to their worries and feelings and walked away with a disturbing
impression: Vineyard kids, especially middle schoolers, are living in a
world dominated by teasing and bullying.

"There was a lot of emotional pain in that group," said
Stephen Andrew of Portland, Me., who met with sixth, seventh and eighth
graders from three Island schools during his three-day visit.
"There is an incredible amount of bullying and teasing. One boy
said, ‘You either have to get away from it or be it. The best
thing to do is be the bully.' "

The issue isn't new, and it isn't an Island phenomenon,
but after a string of anti-Semitic incidents in November and December at
the West Tisbury School, teachers, counselors and school administrators
on the Vineyard acknowledge the problem carries serious implications.

"Nationally, something like 136,000 kids a day don't go
to school because of bullying and teasing and not feeling safe,"
said Oak Bluffs guidance counselor Bill Jones.

To Mr. Andrew, the pervasiveness of such behavior also creates
fertile ground for high rates of alcohol and drug use among teens, a
persistent problem on the Vineyard. "It sets up a whole series of
dynamics," he said. "If you're different, you're
going to get teased and that sets up peer pressure."

Faced with this "gauntlet of cruelty," Mr. Andrew said,
teenagers suffer. "Those who get a lot [of teasing] get isolated.
Friends don't hang out with them, because they'll get it,
too," he said.

Such an intense climate, he added, erodes young people's
ability to make independent decisions, especially around substance use
and sexuality.

One of the confounding facets of bullying and teasing is that much
of it happens below the radar of adults. "We miss so much of it,
even as vigilant as we are," said Mr. Jones.

And the consequences can catch adults completely off-guard.
"It's always been there," added Mr. Jones, "But
there's a heightened awareness since Columbine and some of the
other incidents. We are much more aware of it now."

With the new awareness, examples of bullying, teasing and racism are
not hard to find. Members of the Martha's Vineyard Hebrew Center
who responded to the anti-Jewish incidents in West Tisbury were quick to
acknowledge that the problem runs much deeper, affecting the growing
population of Brazilian immigrants on the Island and other newcomers.

"There's some prejudice in the bullying and the teasing
in the community," said Mr. Andrew, who said that one Brazilian
high school student shared with him how painful it was to encounter
anti-Brazilian sentiment on the Vineyard.

Viviane Ramos, an 18-year-old senior at the regional high school,
said she still hears racist comments directed against Brazilians, even
among peers she considers her friends.

"My friends say things and then say, ‘Oh, no offense to
you,' but how is that not supposed to be offensive to me?"
she said. "It took me a while to stand up to it. I didn't
want my friends to think I wasn't like them."

And as much as Miss Ramos tries to deflect the impact of such
comments, they still hurt. "I don't care what they say, but
it still plays in your head, that same comment over and over
again," she said. "It makes you scared to talk to new people
and wonder what they're thinking in the back of their heads, are
they like that?"

Miss Ramos, who has lived on the Vineyard for most of the last six
years, said she also experiences a reverse form of racism and teasing
from other Brazilians who resent that many of her friends are Americans
and accuse her of rejecting her own people.

Teasing and bullying are evident in other areas. Guidance counselors
said girls can be especially cruel both at the middle school and high
school levels, the conflicts and cruel words usually erupting around
friendships.

Mr. Jones called it a "major issue" among seventh and
eighth graders. John Fiorito, guidance counselor at the high school,
said upper class girls will pick on younger ones in an effort to teach
them their place in the social pecking order. Threats to spread rumors
about a girl's reputation are not uncommon, he added.

Some of the teasing behavior is rooted in Island culture. Both Mr.
Andrew and high school principal Peg Regan noted that newcomers to the
Vineyard often face a harsh orientation.

"You come from off-Island to the Island and regardless of your
background or race, it's a real adjustment here. There's
definitely an Islander versus off-Islander culture here that's a
little more fluid in other communities," said Mrs. Regan.

Others said the economic gaps on the Island are not only fodder for
teasing and disparaging comments, but also fuel some of the stress that
might underlie the behavior in the first place.

"There's the issue of the haves and have-nots, people
having to work two jobs to make ends meet, to pay for their
housing," said Mr. Andrew. "All those things. Kids are left
alone, and it increases anxiety."

Indeed, Mr. Andrew and others cited several aspects of Island life
that could exacerbate bullying and teasing. Along with the housing and
economic struggles faced by many Islanders, there is also the influx of
immigrants.

"The diverse nature of the community is changing," said
Mr. Andrew.

According to Heidi Spruce, a counselor who works with teenagers at
Island Counseling Center at Martha's Vineyard Community Services,
said one of her clients views the Brazilians as taking over the
Vineyard's limited supply of jobs and housing.

"He feels very affected by the Brazilians. He's a
16-year-old boy from an Island family who's saying, ‘Wait a
minute, they're taking away job opportunities, and we can't
live here anymore,'" she said.

Both Mr. Andrew and Joy Robinson-Lynch, a counselor specializing in
adolescent issues, see the growth of the Island as a significant factor
increasing stress and contributing to prejudice.

The Island is no longer as homogeneous as it once was and is more
divergent socioeconomically, said Ms. Robinson-Lynch. Growth and change,
she said, have expanded tensions.

West Tisbury police chief Beth Toomey, a close observer of Island
behavior around alcohol and drugs, took note of the irony that bullying
is a significant problem on the Vineyard.

"We're on an Island that celebrates being different and
being a little on the edge," she said, "and we have schools
where if you act differently, you get jumped on. But if someone
doesn't like what you're doing in the adult community, that
happens as well."

Chief Toomey, Mrs. Regan and Mr. Andrew all pointed to the issue of
bullying as a community problem, a behavior that is sometimes modeled by
adults in the public sphere and then reflected in the younger
generation.

They cite the brittle and often angry political discourse of the
past couple years, arguments over a proposed golf club, the Steamship
Authority or the hospital that play out in auditoriums across the Island
and on the front pages of newspapers.

There is no simple solution, but schools are tackling the problem,
hiring specialists to train teachers, adopting programs and curriculum
materials and forming committees and parent meetings aimed squarely at
reducing the incidences of teasing and bullying.

A parent group at the West Tisbury School has been meeting monthly
since October to deal with what happens at recess. Mr. Jones said one
approach taken at the Oak Bluffs School attempts to empower kids and
turn passive bystanders into teenagers who will stand up to bullying and
say, "No, this isn't okay."

Mr. Andrew said many of the students at the regional high school
favor the idea of a peer-led response. One of the biggest challenges is
getting students to speak up about what's really happening to
them. Taylor Ives, a high school senior, said such initiatives would
meet with more success than going to adults in the school system.

"We were looking at ways to get kids to speak more openly
about issues they've had to deal with," he said. "With
peer groups, you're less inhibited, not afraid to say what you
feel."

At the Martha's Vineyard Public Charter School, teacher Jonah
Maidoff said the school weaves tolerance into the history curriculum,
teaching students the tragic connections between bullying, prejudice and
racism.

Still, the temptation is to downplay teasing, viewing it as an
adolescent rite of passage. But Mr. Andrew warned that teasing and
bullying have kept pace with the increasing stresses of modern life.

"Maybe it's so painful that adults don't want to
think about it, and it's hard to have empathy," said Mr.
Andrew. "And yes, we've been teasing and bullying for years,
but as the anxiety of our lives goes up, it becomes more pronounced, it
gets more hurtful and we lose the compassion and sense of people. And
it's more pronounced on the Island as you become more
diversified."