Bullying in Ireland: 'Schools are in denial' [IrishTimes]
- Published: 18 September 2010
Bullying is much more common than many of us – including school principals and parents – would like to admit. Kate Holmquist talks to one girl who has lived through the nightmare
THE RELENTLESS bullying started in her first year in a mixed secondary school in Dublin. Ciara was branded a “loser” and a “nerd” because she was highly academic, small for her age, wore glasses and had braces on her teeth. She refused to conform to the girls’ style code of having a fake tan and straightened peroxide-blond hair – and performing sexual favours for boys. In first year.
Ciara believes she was picked on because she stuck by her morals. “I wasn’t drinking and smoking or flirting like a Playboy bunny . . . The bullies told me to kill myself . . . And I knew I couldn’t win with them.” The daily insults, which included cyberbullying, intensified in second year, and she had to leave school when the stress made her ill.
Full Story: www.irishtimes.com
