Keeping it Real with Rory Auskerry - September 2008

Act to tackle bullying

A large proportion of my time at school was blighted by bullying. As I've explained in a previous column, I was home educated for the majority of the year on Auskerry; only spending a few weeks in Stronsay School each winter. It was during these weeks and later during the first three years that I spent studying in Kirkwall Grammar School that I suffered at the hands of bullies.

At the stage I'm at now, having put three years between me and the bullying I now feel I can look back with a view to trying to figure out why I was bullied, and how we as a society might help to stop this from happening to other young people. I know a lot of my friends have been bullied; some of them have said that they were bullies themselves.

I'll be the first to admit that my upbringing was different. I think the people who gave me hassle in school might have found this a threat, and because I was trying to settle in I was over eager to impress, too loud and therefore was an easy target. However, I don't believe anyone deserves to be miserable and unhappy particularly when it's the result of a minority of children having a bit of sport.

Our society doesn't seem to me to be that committed to preventing bullying from happening, nor to adequately dealing with it when it has happened. My friends agree with me that all too often the victims of the bullying ended up being bullied even more as a result of telling the school or the police.

Teachers have lost the rights to discipline unruly pupils, parents have lost the ability to protect their children without fear of being abused or even attacked. The police seem equally unable to do anything when the aggressors are under 16. I believe this is because if the child is under 16 the police can only speak to the parents about the issue and the parents are within their rights to refuse entry to their home and decline to speak to officers.

Perhaps the most worrying aspect to this issue is the fact that nothing seems to be happening to sort this out. As a society we need to change our attitudes and our tactics. We need to establish a system that kids find easy to use to register every degree of antisocial behavior that makes their lives miserable. We also need to have a proper structure of adult response to those complaints so that the victims don't feel as helpless as I did. Apart from my parents I never knew who I could go and see on a regular basis that would be able to help me.

This said it may well be necessary to dig deeper into this issue to get to the bottom of it. Why do some kids become bullies? I just don't feel enough is being done by parents who are ultimately responsible for bringing up their children as well behaved, decent citizens. I also think teachers are not given enough support by the community to deal with bullying. I would love to see a real debate about the issue as I feel it's every bit as important as many of the other things councillors and politicians procrastinate over constantly.

Leaving the bullying issue behind for now and things are beginning to get exciting as far as Utopia FM is concerned. I've sent everyone the full schedule for our 16-day broadcast, we have had a half-page story and picture promoting the station printed in a local newspaper which circulates 55,000 copies, and we have all but signed a deal worth over two thousand pounds for full station sponsorship with the brand new student nightclub.

We are also progressing well with getting the community involved through service-level agreements and community programming. I'm now starting to think about getting the station imaging made. This is all the jingles and DJ idents (these are the jingles which are made specifically for the presenters) that give the station a lot of its character and consistency. I'm also trying to get the presenters to include interviews in their shows which have not really happened before. I have been very fortunate that everyone at Radio Orkney has taught me a lot about how to set about doing an interview and I'm keen to pass on what I've learned to the presenters on Utopia.

If you're reading this on the day it's printed I'm travelling back to Sunderland. There are things to be said for living by yourself; you don't have to argue about the remote control, you can play loud music whenever you like and you only have yourself to blame for any mess. But on the down side I find it pretty lonely a lot of the time. I end up going to bed early because there is nobody to talk to. For weeks I've been looking forward to getting back into Uni life and the way we live in our 'gaff'.

The prospect of moving into our new house with four of my best friends from Uni is unbelievably exciting. In the flat, or the house as it will be this year, there is always something going on. We all spend a lot of time together and a usual evening routine revolves around eating, drinking tea (or lager depending on our mood or the day of the week), watching TV and throughout all of this, constantly enjoying a healthy barrage of banter and good humor. It's just relentless good fun and it makes me feel really good.

I'd like to take this opportunity to wish you good luck if you're heading off to college or university this month. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have. Cheers.