Poll: US vs UK Bullying Experiance- Which is worse?

[JasonKaotic]

Whichever country has the most schools with a "zero-tolerance" policy

Bullying isn't actually that bad in the UK. It's there, but for the most part it's nothing as serious as what I've seen and heard of the US's bullying. So my vote goes for the US.

Well I know for a fact that the schools in the US are just as wild as they seem but I'm wondering if British schools are just as strict as the media portrays them to be.

That really depends on the school. Most schools are like what I'd assume American schools are like in terms of general strictness, but you do get the occasional school that would flay their students alive if they so much as turned up to school without their tie. I think those are mainly the private schools, though. So you'd have to go out of your way to end up in one of those.
I think.

 

[TheKaduflyerSystem]

It's almost impossible to make a truly (first hand) informed decision as times change and peoples attitudes change, no matter what country you're in.
With an educated guess I would say US on account of sheer numbers: More people in America = More children in schools = more bullies overall = more people bullied.
That's just logic and assumption BTW.

 

[Black Arrow Officer]

I went to a more liberal high school school in America where the amount of homework is reasonable and you got to do more "fun" activities in classes like watch movies, do Origami, and go outside to do science classes. During our French Revolution and Napoleon unit, I even convinced our teacher to let us watch the Napoleon Bonaparte vs Napoleon Dynamite Epic Rap Battle of History. I think the kids learned better that way, and everyone was very friendly and accepting. There were tons of openly gay and bisexual kids who were never bullied or discriminated. It was paradise compared to the shithole school in Texas I went to for my freshman year. I had my head shoved in a locker and the locker door slammed on me the first day of school, I got snuck up behind while I was on a computer and punched in the back of the head for no reason, the teachers turned from comatose to raging psychopaths at a moments notice, and the school grounds were filthy and dangerous, with broken glass, condoms, cigarettes, and trash everywhere. Some of the teachers even slept with students.

 

[Dogstile]

I got jumped at least twice a month, so i'm gonna vote UK on this one. My american friends haven't really had to same problems, but then again, they were a tad bit more popular than me.

 

[AngloDoom]

I have not gone to school in the US or UK so I cant compare them.

This, and the fact that we haven't been to the majority of schools in each country to make a fair enough 'average' experience. I've been to a few schools and I have to say that each one was total different: in my earliest Secondary school there was less bullying in general but it escalated into violence very quickly, then simmered down again. The school I went to after that was a relentless bullying experience where people would be shunned and rumours would be made to create rigid social barriers that were practically inescapable, but barely any violence whatsoever.

In the end, I think the individuals (teachers, the bullies, the bullied) are so different in each school that it's hard to truly get a grip on the subject.

 

[Grogman]

I attend a kind of laid back private school in the UK, where the premise of the school is to have a friendly, positive environment. There's no school uniform, we address the teachers by their first name and there's only like 600-700 students from reception to year 13, so pretty much everyone is aware of eachothers presence. In my experience, there was a fair bit of subtle bullying, and not so much beating people up and stuff. For me, I joined in year 6, and from about year 7/8 to the end of year 11 people were really being quite mean to me, excluding me and mocking me etc. However, in year 12 we start our A-levels, where we only have 4 subjects and have basically free reign over what we want to study, and a bunch of people left and some new students came, and the bullying completely stopped; I was able to spend time exclusively with the people I liked, and some of the people who left were the worst of the bullies, so I really enjoy school at the moment.

 

[MysticToast]

Because we have uniforms in Britain, I think that there are less "social groups", and most people in my year at school would talk to most of the other people in the year because we didn't separate ourselves into "goths", "nerds", "jocks" etc.

In all my years of US schooling, I have never seen these supposed "social groups" occur. Friends would hang out with friends. I certainly wasn't a goth, but I would hang out with a few kids who could be considered goths and I certainly wasn't a nerd and I hung out with some kids who would be considered nerds and the same with jocks and every "social group".

I've gone to a lot of schools. At least 6 or 7 from Kindergarten to my Senior Year (this year).

Interesting. In my district, the social grouping was absolutely rampant in middle and high school. I can attest to it at the schools I went to, and my friends from other schools would vouch for their experiences.

Given my experience in school (though elementary school had no social classing, unsurprisingly), I thought this was a big thing throughout the country. I hope I'm wrong.

 

[ElPatron]

I would assume it is worse in the US as you didn't even have uniforms so there was more to tease you with.

I have the opposite opinion. Not having uniforms might group people into "cliques" but in my personal opinion the "vein attempt of making everyone look the same" doesn't hide any differences from the bullies' minds.

Because we have uniforms in Britain, I think that there are less "social groups", and most people in my year at school would talk to most of the other people in the year because we didn't separate ourselves into "goths", "nerds", "jocks" etc.

Yet the uniform doesn't change who you are. This might be complete bullshit, but if I was a bully that was forced to wear the same clothes as any "freak" (basically the group(s) he/she hates) I'd be totally pumped to show everyone how different we are and how much of an atrocity it is to "pretend you people are like me".

Your personal experience might have been favored by social factors, not the uniform.

Edit: also, I never went to a school where people worn uniforms and while there were people who "stood out" everyone kinda dressed the same and there were no "social barriers" between groups. Nerds and "jocks" dress the same, and goths have no problems talking to anyone.

 

[Cat of Doom]

I have not gone to school in the US or UK so I cant compare them.

Then why Comment?

Anyway, I would have to vote for the UK, then again I have no idea what US bulling is like, except from what I have seen on TV. On that basis the UKs "I'll knock you spark blad" and being threatened with a knife and spanner seems worse that "Gimmie your're lunch money" and being wedgied.

Never been routinely bullied myself but I'v seen these things ,among other insistence like these, happen to friends. The worst part is you're to afraid to defend yourself or your friends. the best thing to do is try and talk your way out of it or run. I don't even know if this classes as bullying. Most 'Bullies' in my school would threaten anyone weaker than them just to get in a fight, and by fight I mean getting kicked to death by about 8 different people.

Don't know what american bulling is like, and doubt its like it is in the movies. But if it is, I would much rather be shoved in a locker than stabbed.

Yeah I went to a bad school

 

[Froggy Slayer]

It depends on the type of school. My school was pretty nice (UK), even though we sort of had 'cliques' there was quite a bit of crossover. For examples, the 'nerds' and the 'jocks' associated quite a lot. I assume this is something to do with the fact that they only let intelligent people in. Of course, we did have our share of douches, but they never really bothered me, despite being what many would consider a 'prime target' for bullies (ultra-lanky, open about nerdy interests, shit at sports). I heard about some schools in the area that just sounded terrible though.

In the US, however, I think people tolerate bullying a lot more. In the UK, people continue bullying because they don't care about authority, in the US it's more because the authorities don't really care about them.

 

[OmniscientOstrich]

I went to primary and secondary school in pretty rural areas so I didn't see/experience much bullying per se in that time (in fact I'm rather ashamed to admit that I probably could have been described as something of a bully myself in primary school) though I imagine if I went to school in Bristol (replace with whatever your closest big city happens to be) I would have likely got the shit kicked out of me on a fair few occasions. I realise that anything I have to say about the American high-school experience is purely conjecture; yet I would still posit that the higher crime rates, higher prevalence of socially conservative attitudes, higher emphasis on sports and higher concentration of religious evangelics among other things would make not just bullying, but high school life in general a lot more arduous to deal with. Though of course people's experiences are going to fluctuate wildly depending on what area you grew up in and the size and quality of the school you went to, I'm just saying in regard to the average student I think they'd have a more torrid time in the US.

 

[kurupt87]

For guys I would think US, for girls I would think UK.

 

[Jjtricky]

For guys I would think US, for girls I would think UK.

Really? In America, I would think it would be worse for females, because of the "cheerleader" clique and the stupid, popular female "role models" out there, like Kesha and Paris Hilton.

Is it right to assume that schools are grouped in terms of cliques in America like jocks and nerds etc.?

 

[neoontime]

Never really experienced bullying. In fact, bullying was looked down upon and uncool. Just as 21 Jump-street portrayed, the smart kids in my school were also popular.

 

[unoleian]

Seems like the number of people who could definitively reply to this with any experience would be few and far between. Anyone else is just pulling assumptions out of a bodily orifice or extrapolating on very little observation that's heavily weighted by their country of choice.

In other words, this poll is just a bunch of garbage. And before anyone goes on with trying to make more assumptions about things, I have not responded to the poll and have no idea how people have been answering, so don't go bandying around any claims of how I must feel about the answers. I have absolutely no idea what they actually are.
But the poll is still garbage.

 

[eimatshya]

For guys I would think US, for girls I would think UK.

Really? In America, I would think it would be worse for females, because of the "cheerleader" clique and the stupid, popular female "role models" out there, like Kesha and Paris Hilton.

Is it right to assume that schools are grouped in terms of cliques in America like jocks and nerds etc.?

Well, I only have experience with one high school in the US, so I can't say what things are like in general, but my high school was pretty different from what you see in most American movies.

While people did tend to hang out in their own little groups, there were plenty of people that migrated from group to group. Furthermore, such groups mostly manifested during lunch. During class, people generally chatted with whoever was near them, which often included people from different social groups, and even though I was a creepy, nerdy kid who wore lots of black, I always got along fine with the football players and cheerleaders and other people from that spectrum of the community.

As far as I know, there was very little systematic bullying at my school. In general, people kind of minded their own business. Usually when there was a fight or something, it was between two people in the same social group. The atmosphere was, overall, very laid-back.

 

[Doclector]

Can't say for sure, only went to school in england. I'd say america's "first or last" culture encourages more bullying, but their schools seem more ready to actually do something about it. Here, many schools simply don't seem to care.

I was pretty much bullied all through school. Not much was ever done about it. Hell, they even lied to me repeatedly that the bullies had been talked to. They hadn't so much as been put in detention. To this day, I don't know who I hate more. The bullies, or the teachers. Fuck 'em. They're both soulless in my eyes.

One thing england needs to stop with is focusing on the rights of the bullies. If I had my way, the fuckers would have no rights, but what they really need to do is prioritse the rights of victims. If they need to be chucked out, chuck 'em out. They wanna think about the bully's future, what about the victims? What about them? If it gets bad enough, they won't have a future. If they make it, they'll probably carry the scars for the rest of their lives. Fuck the bullies, let 'em rot.

 

[FalloutJack]

If I say that the United States bullies the entire world, does that make me win the thread?

 

[MortisLegio]

Snip

Same here, I don't really remember much "bullying" in my school days either. I remember some fights but those were fights between two girls who had an argument and some idiots who didn't know when to ignore stupidity.

OT: I think the US has more bullying because of the larger population but that's about it.

 

[Mikeyfell]

I've never been bullied in the UK so I guess I'll vote US? I suppose...

I did get stabbed by a bully in the US and the cops, teachers, principle, and his parents all treated him like the victim, the victim of him stabbing me. So I don't say US frivolously.

America fuck yeah...? Justice? what's that?

There used to be a kid o beat the hell out of me regularly and he got away with it cuz his dad killed himself.

So he was the victim of me being hit with cricket bats and beaten up by 5 or 6 people at once.

There isn't any justice anywhere in this world my friend.

Well, that makes me feel better. I mean, I feel bad for you, but better about my situation.