Translator: Dan Meyer Reviewer: Riaki Poništ
On the 13th of February 2013,
Marion was found hanged in her bedroom,
just like Amanda who took her own life in Canada at the age of 15.
Or like Killian, the boy from Grasse,
who made headlines a few months ago by bringing weapons to school,
intent on taking his revenge on his fellow students.
Marion, Amanda, and maybe Killian were victims of bullying at school.
In 2016,
there were almost a million cases of school children being bullied in France
and 80% of the young people who commit suicide in the US
do so because they're being bullied.
There is no need for additonal statistics.
This is a tragedy, and we must fight it.
But first we need to understand it
because bullying takes several forms.
There is the physical bullying,
verbal bullying,
sexual bullying,
bullying based on prejudice against particular groups.
Of course, there is the cyber bullying,
the attacks on the social media.
And let's not forget parental bullying.
And the list is even longer than that.
The cyber bullying -
the bullying process is quite well known.
The vulnerable student is identified and isolated
so that he becomes even more so.
Most often the attack involves a group of students
so that individual responsibility is diluted,
and the bullies feel strong
and able to act with almost complete impunity,
repeatedly and intentionally.
So bullying is a real torture for the child,
almost an invisible one
because it goes on over a period of time
drop by drop,
like a Chinese water torture.
It is also very difficult to detect it
because it frequently happens in cyberspace.
It is indeed very difficult to detect it,
but solutions exist.
And the solution lies in the child.
And we must do everything we can
to increase his or her inner strength
one drop of strength after another
to support and empower the children.
It begins at school
by creating a strong anti-bullying culture
as we started to implement at the International School of Monaco,
just like corporate culture in the workplace,
by reminding all students of the school's values and principles
from the very first day of school.
And stick to them without fail
by involving the whole community,
the parents, the teachers, the students, the support staff, with no exception,
by creating new roles and responsibilities
such as the head of student's well-being,
the student's health coordinator, the student's counselor and so on,
and by applying child protection policies and procedures,
actively and proactively.
As soon as an issue is identified,
a response team is put in place.
Meetings, warnings, reprimands and sanctions
should be immediate and proportionate with parents immediately involved.
But obviously the solution is also at home
As a father myself, I sometimes think
that I have to be strong on my children's behalf,
which is a natural feeling.
But the idea is much rather to make them strong,
which is the very definition of education and also the very difficulty of education.
Not by banning social media for instance
because today, they are part of young people's life.
Not by joining them on Facebook
because children need to have parents to be parents, not best friends,
but by discussing, by anticipating, by supporting,
by making sure that they are safe
and well-protected at home
so that all the cruelty outside is counterbalanced by home.
There is no perfect solution,
but at home, I ask questions to my children
"What do you do if this happens?"
"Has it happened to a friend?"
I want to make sure that I spend quality time with them.
I want to make sure that I can reverse the Chinese torture,
one drop at a time, one conversation at a time.
For sure, my dear friends,
our children are going to have to struggle for themselves
That's life,
That's what education requires;
that's what freedom involves.
We don't learn to swim by sitting on the side of the pool.
But being a child is not easy.
Growing up may not be easy,
but it shouldn't be a traumatic process.
And it is our responsibility as adults
to make sure that we enable them to make the transition.
Because one Marion is one tragedy too many.
Thank you very much.
(Applause)