Sir – I was deeply saddened to read PJ Cresswell’s letter about school bullying in Oxford (March 11). As a student at two of Oxford’s schools about 20 years ago I experienced and also witnessed some horrendous bullying.
This has certainly affected me adversely, and some of my friends from the time even go as far as to say that it has scarred their lives. The philosophy of the teachers at the time was that students should “learn to stick up for themselves”, and a blind eye was generally turned.
It is part of the responsibility of a teacher to strive to provide a safe environment for all students.
Bullying is not an aspect of human nature that we all have to deal with, but is ugly, preventable abuse.
Since bullying is clearly still a serious problem in Oxford’s schools, I would like to pose a question: what needs to be done to stamp out this problem for good?
It would mean so much to me and other veterans of Oxford’s state school system if bullying were to become a thing of the past in our city.
Dr Daniel Emlyn-Jones, Oxford
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