The Oct. 28 editorial, "Bullying still a school problem," suggested that teachers should reduce the tasks that overload them and prevent them from paying attention to their students, and "open their eyes and search for bullying in places and situations where it may not be obvious at first glance." But I think that teachers actually are aware of the bullying in their classes and just pretend not to notice it.
Reported cases of bullying in 2005 are said to be the second highest in 10 years. Yet we are led to believe that teachers don't notice the bullying in their classes. Of course they do. But they hide it just as local education authorities have been trying to hide the truth about bullying to avoid trouble.
I think a change in the school system is necessary. We need to break the closed nature of today's schools. It's very difficult for teachers to change their thinking, so instead of changing teachers, we should make schools more open to the outside. For example, it would be a good idea to make it easier for parents, local residents and the media to come to schools and watch classes, students or even teachers. If there was bullying, somebody would notice it. Bullied students at present don't have an easy way to call for help to people outside.
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