In the past couple of weeks, a tragic story about the loss of a young girl has been circulating social media platforms. A primary school student, after being publicly humiliated by her teacher,decided to take her own life by jumping off the building.

I have been following up on this story. There are many voices out there. Many of them accused the school and the teacher in question, others blame the parents. And there are even voices claiming that the poor girl is just too sensitive,not tough enough.

But today I don't want to talk about those voices. The final verdict. It's still yet to be reached. However, despite all these voices, this tragic incident does touch upon a very serious issue, that is bullying on campus.

So in today's episode, I would like to talk to you about another type of bullying on campus.

Being a teacher myself for all these years and being involved in training other teachers, I’ve seen many teachers. Some of them truly inspirational. But there are also the occasional few that really just don't deserve to be in that position. The fact is the majority of teachers genuinely care about their students.

In fact, many of them go beyond what is expected, although they may have the occasional bad day, they're generally kind, fair and supportive. But there are teachers who do not handle their responsibilities well.

And even some who bully their students instead of using proper discipline procedures, they use their power to condemn, manipulate and ridicule students.

And in some cases, these behaviors they just crossed the line and a teacher becomes the classroom bully. You might say it's teacher’s responsibility to discipline students. So where is the line？How do you define bullying behaviour from a teacher.

Usually the definition is when a teacher uses his or her power to punish, manipulate or disparage a student beyond what would be a reasonable disciplinary procedure.

And to make it more specific, some of the examples of bullying from a teacher might be singling out one student for punishment or ridicule.

Humiliating or shaming students in front of classmates.

Being bullied by a teacher at school can have long lasting negative impact on a child's mental health. I think reading the tragic story, a lot of parents are concerned because unlike physical abuse, sometimes verbal or emotional bullying are harder to detect.

Then how would if your child is a victim？And I’ve done quite a bit of research and collected some of the experts opinions. Here are a few common signs that you can watch out for.

Sign number one, unexplainable illnesses. One telling clue that something is wrong is a child who used to enjoy school, suddenly making excuses to stay at home. They may even experience nightmares on school nights. This could be a sign that he or she is afraid of something.

They may complain of stomachache, headaches or oher vague illnesses to avoid going to school.

Sign number two, complaints about the teacher. It's very common for kids to complain about their teachers. Most of the times, this is nothing more than a personality conflict, or it might just be a teacher being more strict than your kid would like. However, if your child keeps complaining about the same teacher, saying that this teacher does not like them. Then what you can do is to ask a few more detailed questions to see if there is anything to worry about.

For example, how long has your child felt this way about this particular teacher？Has there been any issues of negative behavior from your child in the class？Has the teacher acted this way to other students? Pay particular attention if the complaints about the teacher include humiliating your child or other children.

The next sign to notice is changes in your child's behaviors and moods. If your child is a victim of teacher bullying, they may have angry outbursts.

They may also appear withdrawn, moody or clingy. And also watch out for negative comments towards themselves or their school work. Pay attention to self-deprecating comments or excessively critical statements about the quality of their school work. If your child is usually a good student and suddenly starts complaining that they can't do the work, or they are not good enough. This could be a telltale sign of classroom bullying.

Having said all these signs, what should parents do？Many parents may be somewhat reluctant to report bullying behaviors by their child's teacher. They often fear that they would make the situation worse for their child.

However, if a teacher is really bullying your child, it is vital that you take action. First of all, support your child, do it calmly. Being angry might frighten your child even though you're not mad at them. Truly listen to your child and let them know that you believe them and reassure your child that you will take action to stop the bullying.

The second thing you can do, especially if your child is feeling a lot less confident, it's important to help build their self esteem. When dealing with bullying it is always important for kids to see their own strength.

You can encourage them to focus on things that are unrelated to bullying. Like their favorite activities or even new hobbies, do not spend all your time talking about the bullying. Instead, help them see that there are other things in life to be happy about.

And the next thing you can do is what a lot of experts suggest document all incidents. This means keeping detailed written records or any other evidence that you can find about all the bullying behaviors and incidents, list the time and date of the incident. Describe exactly what happened, what was said and who was involved. Write down the names of any other teachers, students, parents who witnessed these incidents. And if other students participate in the bullying as a result of the teachers actions, be sure to include that information too.

And if possible, find out more about relevant laws and regulations, the next step is to confront the bullying up front. Depending on how serious the bullying is, schedule a meeting with your child's teacher, but remain calm.

Give them the opportunity to explain their perspective, directly interacting with the teacher might help discuss and resolve the matter. If the teacher keeps refusing to meet up with you, this could also be a sign of bullying.

You can also ask around, ask other parents if their children have similar complaints about the same teacher, ask other teachers if they know of any problems with your child and this teacher in question.

And after all that is done, if the problem is still not resolved, you can follow the chain of comment. If all of these actions fail to generate any result, maybe the best action is to request a transfer for your child to a different classroom, to a different teacher.

No matter what you do, don't let your emotions get in a way of finding out a solution that is in the best interest of your child. Even though I know this is easier said than done.

In the end, I just want to say that when things like this happen, a lot of casual comments on the internet would blame the victim for not being tough enough, for being too weak.

But the actual situation is, if your child is really a victim of bullying from their teacher, it's a bad idea to just simply tell your kids to toughen up. Because unlike us adults, for a young kid school and home are their entire life.

Things that we might not think as serious means the world to them. Even though it might be really tough to address the specific bullying issue, especially when it’s coming from the teacher. What is always important is to show that you are always willing to listen and to be their support system, then may be similar tragedies can be avoided.

That is the end of the day's episode. Hopefully you find these tips that I have collected useful in some way. If you have anything to share on this topic, don't hesitate to leave a comment. I'll see you next time.

Bye.

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