Have you ever taken the time to read what is written in your school diary? Ariane, a 5th grade studente high school student who lives in Sherbrooke, yes. And she discovered a, let’s say… surprising, tip for dealing with bullying: “change your appearance”! As you can imagine, it caused a lot of discussion. I’ll explain to you.
Advice in the diary
Ariane, 17, had quite a shock while leafing through her diary during her math class! In the “strategy of the week for dealing with violence and bullying at school” section, she read the following tip:
“Change your appearance: Sometimes, a simple change in your appearance (style, clothing, makeup, etc.) can be enough to stop the bullying. »
“I came across this, and I found it ridiculous, almost laughable, that we blame the victims in this way,” she told our colleague from the newspaper The Tribune.
But what is it doing there?
At supper time, Ariane had her father, David Bessette, read the passage. This one jumped! And he asked himself: “But what does such a council do in a school diary? ! »
David, who is a teacher, shared the “advice” on social media. In a few hours, 1000 people were just as shocked as he was!
A blunder
He learned that these tips come from an app called +Fort. This was created by experts to help victims of bullying. Usually the advice they give is very relevant.
However, in the application, young people can give their own tips to other young people. A speaker then comes to answer them (and say whether it is a good idea or not). It is therefore the (bad) advice of a teenager which was copied into Ariane’s diary, without the response from the speaker.
There for four years!
The craziest thing: this advice has been in Ariane’s school diaries for four years! Looks like she’s the only one who noticed this blunder.
The Sherbrooke Region School Service Center has promised that the tip will be removed from the agenda. But not right away. We will have to wait until next year before changing it. But that means that by denouncing a situation that she considered unacceptable, Ariane managed to change things!
And she has advice for young people: “Even if it’sfun feeling beautiful is not what makes someone valuable. How we dress, what image we project, that doesn’t give anyone the right to intimidate us. There is no reason to justify this, intimidation. »
By Camille Lopez
According to a text by Karine Tremblay, The Tribune
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