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Radio Disney Transcript
Female Speaker:
Welcome to Radio Disney, AM 990's weekly Kids Concerns show. Kids Concerns is a show involving discussion on a topic of local interest that concerns kids. Radio Disney kid casters ask the questions, and an expert on today's topic is here to answer them. Listen in as some of our kid casters ask the questions that you want answers to, because our concerns are everyone's concerns.
Male Speaker:
Good Saturday morning, everyone, Radio Disney, AM 990's Kids Concerns show here. My name is Jim. Good morning, we're glad to have you with us early on this Saturday morning. We have with us three kid casters today. How lucky am I? We've got kid caster Brooke. Good morning.
Brooke:
Good morning.
Male Speaker:
And we've got kid caster Devon . Good morning.
Devon :
Good morning.
Male Speaker:
And kid caster Joey. Good morning.
Joey:
Hey, how are ya'll doing?
Male Speaker:
Hey, you guys are sounding pretty chipper for 7:30 in the morning. Not too bad, not too bad. And we're very, very, very happy to have a special guest with us today, Dr. Betty Duke from Health Resources and Services Administration. Did I get it right?
Dr. Betty Duke:
You got it just right.
Male Speaker:
All right. Very good. Well, welcome to the show. We're very happy to have you here.
Dr. Betty Duke:
Thank you, I'm delighted to be here.
Male Speaker:
Good, and among all the other things that your agency does and all the other things that we're going to talk about today, we are here to talk about bullying.
Dr. Betty Duke:
Bullying. Bad thing.
Male Speaker:
So that is our topic of the day. And I'm going to say -- oh, Brooke looks very eager, so let's let Brooke ask the first question.
Brooke:
What is bullying?
Dr. Betty Duke:
Bullying is really about, on purpose, trying to harm somebody or scare somebody. And it's not just doing it once. It's sort of repeatedly, intentionally, on purpose, making somebody else's life miserable.
Devon:
Is bullying illegal in the United States ?
Dr. Betty Duke:
Well, you know, you could go all the way to illegal, but you know, most bullying isn't across the legal line. You know, bullying is shoving, pushing, or scaring somebody. It's talking bad about somebody, it's kicking them out of a group, or doing something online that destroys their reputation or makes them miserable. Now you could go across the line if you're, you know, physically abusing somebody and it ends up in causing a big “accident.” Then you could go across the line to illegal. But most of it's not illegal, it's simple horrible.
Male Speaker:
And it's not necessarily physical either.
Dr. Betty Duke:
No, that was my point. It is not really just physical. It's that bad talk. It's the kind of stuff that makes people feel less good about themselves. It's spreading false rumors about them, it's calling them names, it's ugly stuff that hurts, that just simply hurts.
Joey:
Yeah, what makes a bully? Like what kind of history does the average bully have?
Dr. Betty Duke:
Well, bullies come in all shapes and forms and all kinds of backgrounds. The things about bullies that we know are that bullies really victimize other people over whom they think they have some power. It may be that they're older, or they're bigger, or they're better at something. But there's this uneven power distribution between the two parties.
So it's really a mixture of the person, their circumstance, and the circumstances in which the situation happens. And so there's no universal characteristic. Sometimes bullies are bullies because they've seen other people do it and get away with it, and sometimes bullies are bullies because they're afraid they're going to get bullied themselves and they sort of want to build a reputation for themselves as tough, or smart, or powerful, and so that's sort of -- it's not just a characteristic, it's much more complex.
Brooke:
What should you do if you are being bullied or watching someone being bullied?
Dr. Betty Duke:
Well, I think the first thing to recognize is you're not helpless. And you feel helpless, because when somebody's really trying to hurt you and trying to make you feel powerless and trying to make you feel as if you have no options, the most important thing is to recognize you do have options. And here's where actually talking to trusted, informed adults can really help.
And this is not squealing or ratting somebody out. What it really is doing is getting people involved who have the power to do something about a bad situation. And that's really important, and so it means you need to talk to an adult who can do something about it. And one of the things we're saying to adults in this campaign is adults need to understand that bullying is just not “kids being kids.” You'll find some adults who really misunderstand the situation. “This is not okay,” is the message we're sending. It is not okay.
Joey:
I've seen a lot of kids, like, they tell on a bully, and the teacher says, “Okay, such and such stop bullying such and such.” What are ways to get other kids to try and not find out that you told a teacher or something.
Dr. Betty Duke:
Well, you know, one of the things we do in this campaign is we put together a lot of materials. And some of the materials are for young people, and some of them are for adults. And I'm going to give you a Web site: www.stopbullyingnow.hrsa -- that's the agency I work for -- .gov. And if you go to that Web address, there are all sorts of hints there on how to help yourself. And you can go in there and you can actually interact and lay down a scenario, they lay down a scenario, they give you some options, you can go back and forth. And adults can also go there.
So we have electronic advice, we have printed advice, and so one of the things you can do that's really helpful is be proactive. And the proactive part of that is helping the school have a stop bullying policy. And not all schools do, and so if you see bullying happening, one of the things you may want to do is to bring to the attention of the authorities that we could put together a policy that everybody in the school would know, and our children and our parents, our teachers, our administrators, can all know about it, and we can help you from our campaign.
Because we have kits for teachers so that if a teacher is not used to dealing with this problem, one of the things -- a young person who could say, “You know, that wasn't maybe the best way to handle that because now that's going to cause a problem,” that teacher could actually go to our Web site, get that kit and learn some techniques. And as I said, I think the best thing is to be proactive and make sure you have a stop bullying campaign. And I have a feeling that that's a growing movement as a result of this program.
Joey:
That's going to be cool.
Brooke:
About how many people a year are bullied?
Dr. Betty Duke:
I don't think we know the answer to that. You know, we can make some estimates and we have some research. Now, Tina tells me that about 30 percent of them are bullied, in any given year, and the way we know that is because we do some surveys. And what -- and from those surveys, the students tell us that about 30 percent say they've been bullied at some time or another. So we don't have case-by-case files. We just simply have reports. But I will tell you that if you probe adults, and you say to an adult, “Were you ever bullied or were you ever a bully-er?” you're going to find that you've got a survey that'll come out -- at least 30 percent of grown people will tell you at some point in their lives they were bullied.
Male Speaker:
That's a lot of kids.
Dr. Betty Duke:
That's a lot of kids. And that's a lot of harm. And you know, some people survive and go on and have successful lives. But some people don't. For some people it scars them and makes life much more difficult for them. And that's not right. We need every adult we've got in this country to be as healthy and hearty as possible, and so we want to make sure we don't scar people.
Male Speaker:
Even if you do go on, I don't think it ever goes away.
Dr. Betty Duke:
It never goes away. Actually, we had a conversation at breakfast this morning. I have with me my friends Tina and Steve, and we had a conversation at breakfast this morning. When I said -- you know, one of the things -- when Steve and I first started this program, this program actually came on in 2004, but we got the ideas to start working on this -- part of it came from the research that we were reading that said what happened to bullies and what happened to bully-ers, we had that conversation about “Were you ever bullied when you were a kid?” And every one of us can tell you a story about -- and to this day, now, you know, I'm many decades older -- to this day I can remember a terrifying situation. I remember the boy's first name.
I was terrified, and I literally went back years later into that school building, when my niece went to that same school in a state that I came from. I walked through that gymnasium and I can remember that -- I can remember it, I could feel it as I walked in there because every time I was by myself and I had to walk through the gymnasium on this little path that you were supposed to walk on and the big boys were playing basketball at the other end, and I can always remember that big boy Paul would pick up that ball and he would throw it as hard as he could and that just terrified the heck out of me.
When I walked into that gymnasium many decades later, boy that feeling of terror came right into my heart as I walked across that path. And I said to my niece, I said, “Gee, there used to be a little path here and us little kids, we were supposed to walk on this path and then we were supposed to take a turn and walk on the path over here to the big door,” and it's amazing, every time I had to do that I was by myself and I would -- Now, that's just one story and, -- ask your parents, ask your aunt and uncle to tell you a story. Everybody has a story, not everybody, but unfortunately, too many. And so why are we doing this? We want to stop bullying now. It is not okay.
Brooke:
Where are some common spots that bullying takes place?
Dr. Betty Duke:
Well, you know, unfortunately, a lot of bullying takes place at school. Because, of course, that's where lots of us get together and so if you think about it, in the hallways, in the stairwells, which of course, is physically very dangerous, in locker rooms, in bathrooms. So, yeah, school is sort of the most common place.
Devon:
Do you ever see cases where adults are being bullied, and not just kids and teens?
Dr. Betty Duke:
Oh, yeah, unfortunately. We call that abuse, and physical abuse and verbal abuse, and the courts often have to get involved to stop things like that.
Male Speaker:
Are those the same adults that were bullies as kids?
Dr. Betty Duke:
Well, you know that's interesting you raise that, because our research says that two kinds -- one is, bullies as children often grow up as bullies as adults, but you know what's also frightening? Bullied people, people who were bullied as young people, often grow up to be grown-up bullies.
Joey:
Oh, really?
Male Speaker:
The kids who were bullied grow up to be bullies?
Dr. Betty Duke:
And the kids who were bullied, the victim of bullying, grow up to be bullies.
Male Speaker:
Why is that?
Joey:
That's kind of strange.
Brooke:
That is.
Dr. Betty Duke:
It is a strange phenomenon, but think about it. There are different ways in which people cope with bad situations.
Male Speaker:
Mm-hmm.
Dr. Betty Duke:
And some people take the view, “Well, I'm never going to be on the receiving end again,” unfortunately. We want to prevent both types of bully. But the research is there that says both the victims of bullying and the bullies have a less good picture as adults, in terms of possibility for getting involved in crime and so forth. So, we want people to grow up healthy and wholesome.
Devon:
Now, with what you just said, that people who are being bullied grow up to be bullies, would that be because they might want revenge for people being bullies to them?
Dr. Betty Duke:
I'm not exactly sure that I could pinpoint the motivation, but you could see that might be one of the possible causations.
Joey:
Who is the average target for bullies?
Dr. Betty Duke:
Oh. The average target is -- it really, again, varies. It's usually somebody that the bully perceives as someone who can't do anything about it.
Joey:
Yeah.
Dr. Betty Duke:
Somebody who's less powerful, a smaller person, or a younger person, or for some reason, the bully sees that person as more fragile. And it's a relative thing, that is, it may not look that way to everybody else. So I can't really give you a generalized answer there.
Brooke:
In what stage of school do you think bullying most occurs, like, high school, elementary school or middle school?
Dr. Betty Duke:
Well, actually, the research actually shows that it's most commonly started in middle school. In middle school we see a lot of it and it carries on through. And I can actually tell you of folks who have experienced bullying right on through high school. And in fact, some people, when their high school reunions come about, I've heard people say, “I wouldn't go back to my high school reunion for anything under the sun,” because they were horrible years. Not because they didn't like the teachers or they didn't like the education, because they were horrible years because they were victims of bullying. And so we want everybody's school career to be something they want to look back on and say, “That was great.” And we can help if we can stop bullying now.
Devon:
Does it tend to be more boys who bully, or girls?
Dr. Betty Duke:
Well, boys and girls both bully. They bully differently. And so I'm afraid it's a human condition, as opposed to just one sex or the other. There's a little bit more physical bullying among boys, though that is not exclusively boys; girls also used physical abuse. Girls, again, on average, tend to use more the verbal abuse, the social shunning, the kicking people out of the groups or getting people to gang up, that kind of thing.
Joey:
I heard you talking before about online bullying, is there any form of online?
Dr. Betty Duke:
Oh yes. Every form except punching [laughs] --
[laughter]
Dr. Betty Duke:
I think you can't punch online.
Joey:
Sometimes.
[laughter]
Joey:
Well, I mean on certain games, you can do that.
Dr. Betty Duke:
That's true and the issue is that, yes, online bullying is happening, we're very conscious of it, because so many of our young folks today play games online, they're interacting online, and so one of the things that we're trying to convey is when you're bullied online, you are not helpless. And again, that's one of the things we're trying to get across. You are not alone, you are not helpless, people are there to help.
And so one of the things you can do when you're online, if you are bullied online, you actually can go to the company, you can -- and you know, people think they can do these stunts because they think they are anonymous and they can't be identified, so they can get away with it. So some pretty yucky stuff happens online. And the companies can trace that down to the source, and so it's important for people to know that online bullying is not okay, you're not alone, and something can be done about it.
Male Speaker:
That could be something -- even a comment left on a MySpace page.
Dr. Betty Duke:
Absolutely right. Absolutely right. Ugly stuff said or written, or bad pictures, or gossip, yeah. All that can happen.
Joey:
Yeah, because, I mean, I play RuneScape a lot online and I just constantly see people just scamming or something like that. And when I see that I use the “report abuse --”
Dr. Betty Duke:
Absolutely right, and that can happen on all of the online features. So we encourage people to recognize there are limits, you cannot get away with it, and if people will use the rights they have and the avenues they have, it can be traced and we can take care of it.
Brooke:
What is the Stop Bullying Now campaign?
Dr. Betty Duke:
Well, the campaign is designed to stop bullying now and one of the first things we can do to stop bullying now is awareness. Having people recognize what bullying is and that it is not okay. You know, some people say, “Well, it's just kids being kids.” Well, it is not. It is harmful, it is hurtful, and it is long lasting. So, it's to raise awareness.
And I'll tell you a little history of the program. We decided to take on this topic, because, as I've told you, we thought it was a significant problem. We got together a youth advisory group to help us identify: “What was the problem? What did it look like? And how could we best get people involved in trying to stop it?” And so our youth advisory committee worked with us, we put together a campaign. We tested our materials with our advisory group, so we put together some materials, like our scenarios on our interactive Web site, and we worked for three years on this campaign. We worked with a lot of partners, we have over 80 partners in this and this campaign has cost about $1 million.
Joey:
Whoa.
Dr. Betty Duke:
And that tells you how important we think it is.
Joey:
Yeah, it is a very important subject, because I even remember when I was in elementary school. I was bullied, actually a lot, because I was --
Dr. Betty Duke:
You were just the victim, and yeah --
[overlapping speakers]
Dr. Betty Duke:
Yeah. Well, I think that you look at it, and you think about it, this is a nationwide problem. And so what we've tried to do is try to provide materials and access to those materials and ideas that would get to the community that needs know it. Because, you don't really know why somebody decides you ought to be the person they should tease or bully, or hit, or say nasty things. You don't know why. And it's not right.
And so trying to get across that idea, we have these materials, that our youth committee works with on a regular basis, and so we brought them into Washington for our last session. Just before we were going to lunch, we ran all the materials by them and our goal was: would someone who was being bullied in elementary school, would they be able to access this material, would they understand it, could they use it, would it help them? And that was very, very helpful. When I say access the material -- is it written at the right level? So, one of the things that's wonderful, one of our partners is Time Magazine --
Joey:
Well that's cool.
Dr. Betty Duke:
And so they put together a comic book for us. And I'll show you a copy of it, and it's really a neat comic. It's very attractive and it gets the message across about what behavior is not acceptable, and what you can do about it.
Joey:
Wow, cool.
Dr. Betty Duke:
And then we have the Web scenarios in which you can go in and you can do that as well.
Joey:
That's really cool.
Dr. Betty Duke:
And so we put a lot of attention on that, and put a lot of particular attention, again, as I said on the middle school grades, 5th and 6th grades.
Male Speaker:
So, for any students or teachers who are listening that want the materials, tell us again, what's the best way to get a hold of them?
Dr. Betty Duke:
The best way to get a hold of them is come to our Web site, which is www.stopbullyingnow.hrsa--
Male Speaker:
Which is --?
Dr. Betty Duke:
Health Resources Services and Administration --
Male Speaker:
HRSA, right?
Dr. Betty Duke:
HRSA, H-R-S-A, the first letter of each of our title words, and then it's .gov. So I'm going to give it to you again, it's www.stopbullyingnow.hrsa.gov.
Joey:
All right, cool.
Devon:
When did this campaign start?
Dr. Betty Duke:
In 2004. It took us a while to get the research, to get the partners, to put together our youth advisory committee, to put together our drafts of material. We went through lots and lots of drafts of material. And I can remember the day that we thought we were just about there, we brought our youth advisory committee to Washington and we had a blizzard.
Joey:
In Washington ?
Dr. Betty Duke:
In Washington . Yeah, we did, we get them about once a year in Washington . While it's pretty far south, we get a blizzard about once a year. And the city was sort of socked in, but our advisory committee was already in town. So Steve, from his house in Virginia, and I, from my house in Maryland, we got ourselves downtown, I walked a mile and a half out and got to the Metro, which is the subway system, was running.
Joey:
Yeah, I rode that--
Dr. Betty Duke:
Yeah.
Joey:
-- when I went up there, it was really hot though, I can't imagine it being -- snowing.
Dr. Betty Duke:
Oh yeah, it snows and, actually Washington in the snow is very beautiful. You really should be there at winter, although it can get a little treacherous. But anyway, Steve and I got ourselves in there, we met with our advisory committee, and we got approval for our materials. And then we were ready to launch.
And launching was just wonderful. I invited my friend -- at the time, the Surgeon General was a really great guy named Rich Carmona -- and we invited Rich Carmona, the Surgeon General, and the previous Miss America, who had made anti-bullying her platform, we asked her. And she was now in law school and we asked her if she would come and help us launch it. So, I, with my two friends, went to a middle school in Washington DC , and we launched it.
And I'm going to tell you Miss America 's story, because Miss America told that group about, when she was a little girl, she was bullied. And it was a very sad story. She is a beautiful and smart woman. Boy, is she something special. And she said, she was very fortunate that her father got transferred to a new job, and because of that she went to a different school and her life took off and flew, and she grew up to be poised and confident and beautiful and smart and lovely.
And you know, it just sort of made me feel really good to be able to say to our young colleagues in that room that day, “You can grow up to be bright and accomplished and confident, smart and beautiful too, because all of us are beautiful, and each in her or his own way.” And it's all because you feel good about yourself. You can't feel good about yourself unless you feel protected and that's what this is about.
Joey:
Yep.
Male Speaker:
Now, I would think that anybody who is being bullied, there is probably an element of embarrassment to it, that you feel like you don't want to say anything, that you feel embarrassed. Either you're afraid because the bully has threatened you, if you say anything to somebody, they're going to retaliate in some way, or there's some perceived weakness or embarrassment that goes along with it. If there's anybody listening that's feeling that way, what would you tell them?
Dr. Betty Duke:
Oh, I would say that, just remember, you're not alone. It is terrible, you are embarrassed, because you're always asking yourself, “Why me, what did I do? What's wrong with me?” The answer is, there's nothing wrong with you. The bottom line is, there is help. There is nothing wrong with you. You need to seek that help out. And if you get that message to the right caring adult who knows how to help, and if that adult says, “I don't know what to do,” one of the things you can say to that adult is, “Could you help me go online to that place I heard about, Stop Bullying Now, and we could find some help and advice there?” And that would be my message: “You're not alone. Don't be embarrassed.”
Joey:
Now, are there any social groups for adults and kids that can meet and talk about being bullied?
Dr. Betty Duke:
Yeah, and again, online, we have advice going into how to build such a group and identifying groups that exist nationwide who can connect you to local groups. So that's an important part of the service -- campaign. And again, that proactive approach I took earlier, if you have a policy in your school, one of the things that should be tucked into that policy would be identification of local support groups that could help.
Joey:
Yeah.
Brooke:
What is the Stop Bullying Now carnival?
Dr. Betty Duke:
Our carnival is -- you know, one of the things in our material is, we have a lot of ideas for ways that you could help get awareness of what bullying is and how to stop it. And so one of the things we've said is, a way to get the message out and have a lot of fun doing it, is to have a carnival. And here you can have booths that are set up and you can do such things as -- you can have contests, you can have [unintelligible] contests, you can have poster contests, you can put on hats, you can put on t-shirts, have people decorate their own t-shirts, you can have murals, a graffiti mural --
Joey:
Yeah, that'd be cool.
Dr. Betty Duke:
Yeah. Yeah. And your art teacher can help with that. And you do things like that that are fun, and then people walk away with a message, “Bullying is not okay.” And so, it's a fun way to do it. A lot of people put it together with popcorn and soda and music and a lot of fun. You can involve a lot of people in helping you get the word out.
Devon:
Can anyone volunteer with your campaign, the Stop Bullying Now?
Dr. Betty Duke:
Yes, indeed, yes indeed. And that's exactly what I'm talking about is, people hear us talking about that today. If they say, “Gee, our school doesn't have policy,” that's an opportunity to talk to the principal about developing a policy. It's also the possibility of, if you have a policy, is it a time to have an awareness session. And again, it's volunteering, it's putting your self forward and saying, “Could we do something like a carnival? Could we do something like a contest? Could we do something that brings attention to this?”
Male Speaker:
So it's all about awareness.
Dr. Betty Duke:
It is really.
Male Speaker:
Very good. We are out of time.
Joey:
Wow, really?
Male Speaker:
That was a fast half hour.
Dr. Betty Duke:
That was fast, thank you so much for letting me be here.
Male Speaker:
You're welcome. Dr. Betty Duke, closing comments? Anything you want to add?
Dr. Betty Duke:
I've just been happy to have this opportunity to share this morning with you. Thank you so very, very much.
Male Speaker:
And we're pleased to have you here, thank you for sharing your Saturday morning. We appreciate it.
Dr. Betty Duke:
Thank you.
Male Speaker:
Kid casters Joey, Devon , and Brooke. Thanks for a good job as always.
Joey, Devon , and Brooke:
You're welcome.
Male Speaker:
See you guys. Dr. Duke, thanks so much.
Dr. Betty Duke:
My pleasure. Bye, bye.
Kid casters:
Bye.
Female Speaker:
We hope you've enjoyed listening to this weeks Kids Concerns show. Be sure to stay tuned to Radio Disney, AM 990, and listen next Saturday for another important discussion. And remember, Radio Disney cares about what kids care about.
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