Bullying goes beyond the doors of education and out into society. On Wednesday, Feb. 25, businesses, schools, and individuals wore pink, as a way of saying enough is enough.
The halls of Barrhead Composite High School were overflowing with pink with over half of the students and all of the staff members participating in Pink Shirt Day, along with thousands of other institutions across Canada.
“Today across Canada… is Pink Shirt Day in recognition of anti-bullying,” Steven Kaplan, Principal of BCHS said. “We want to be a part of all of the other schools in the province and the country that are working on this.”
Kaplan said bullying goes beyond the schoolyard.
“This isn’t a school issue, it’s a community issue, it’s a society issue, so we can’t change our climate here in the school without the community reflecting on some of the work we have done,” Kaplan said.
The movement started in Nova Scotia, after two boys witnessed a student being bullied because of his pink shirt.
“He was wearing a pink polo shirt that day and he had gotten beat up for it,” Rebecca Carr, BCHS Student Leadership Group said.
The two students purchased 50 pink shirts, and handed them out to schoolmates, beginning the movement that spread across the country.
“The movement spread beyond what they thought it would, and now it’s gone international,” Carr said, adding bullying is preventable through education.
“I think education is the biggest thing,” she said. “Oftentimes bullies have been bullied themselves so they need to be taught other ways to handle their anger and aggression.”
“It’s realizing that we all need to stand together and stand against this to make it not happen anymore,” she said, adding that the school handed out buttons for students who weren’t wearing pink on Wednesday morning.
The school is looking to promote a safe and inclusive community where differences are celebrated, not just tolerated.
“What I would like to have is a safe, positive climate in the school. One where we respect diversity, and that would be the opposite of tolerating diversity,” Kaplan said. “Let’s celebrate what makes us different… and not be threatened by the differences.”
“We are all unique,” he added. “That’s part of the message that we want kids to understand, that everybody should be valued.”
Pink Shirt Day is just one of the ways that the school can shed a positive light on diversity, Kaplan said.
BCHS student Alex Kopf said she decided to take part for several reasons.
“I’ve been bullied so I know how it is,” she said, adding another reason for participating was because of the opportunity to help others.
“It’s just nice to help people,” Kopf said. “I love helping people and it’s nice when people smile.”
“Bullying leads to a lot of bad things, like suicides, and people feeling bad about themselves, it’s not good, and it’s not good to have people with no confidence,” she said. “This kind of thing brings confidence back to people.”
Kopf said she is hoping Pink Shirt Day will help put an end to bullying.
“If people keep on doing this nonsense it’s just going to cause more problems, and hopefully people will be nicer in the simplest terms,” she added.
Local businesses and financial institutions also participated by wearing pink.
“It’s exactly what we want to see, because again, it’s not a school issue, it’s not a one kid issue, it’s a community and society concern,” Kaplan said. “We know bullying doesn’t just happen to kids, bullying can happen in the adult world.”
ATB Financial was one of the institutions that took part in Pink Shirt Day, and Shawn Fillier, Branch Manager said it’s for a good cause.
“We are big supporters of anything going on with anti-bullying,” he said.
When asked why it’s important for businesses to participate, Fellier said it’s a way of showing that they know what is happening.
“To show kids, and to show even adults, that it’s not acceptable and not tolerable,” he said.
Fillier said education is the first way of preventing bullying in communities.
“I think it starts with the schools, it starts with awareness, with awareness of what is bullying,” Fellier said.
“It’s good to see that when kids go to the bank, or adults go to the bank today and they see bank staff members wearing pink, it only reinforces that it’s a community concern and not simply a school concern,” Kaplan said. “We certainly deal with the brunt of it, but when we are all on the same page dealing with poor behaviour and bad treatment of each other and bullying, we are more likely to get it out of our school and out of our community.”
