Student Voices: The Words of Students Who Participated in No Name-Calling Week 2004

Oct 18, 2004

James encouraged students to write to him about their experiences with bullying and their feelings about the education efforts taking place at their school. He received dozens of letters, which captured both the pain that name-calling causes, as well as the tremendous impact that projects like No Name-Calling Week and David’s comprehensive plan can have on the ways students feel about themselves and treat each other. Below are excerpts from some of these letters, which are proof positive of the value of anti-bullying education.

Quotes from Students' Letters:

“In the past, kids have been calling me names like goo-goo eyes, nerd, 4 eyes, dork, and other bad names. I describe myself as a creative drawer, a nice and funny friend. I think the school would be a better place without name-calling.”

“I think this motivation will help the school a lot. This motivated me to befriend someone who looks left out.”

“Sometimes I go to the bathroom after lunch and cry like there is no tomorrow. Every night before I go to sleep I cry until I fall asleep. There’s been so many times where I didn’t want to come to school.”

“I liked your speech. It made me think hard. I know that I hate being made fun of and you made me realize that I shouldn’t call others names because it really tears them down. … Thank you for helping me make a difference.”

“The whole time I’ve gone to this school I have been called a faggot, been sexually harassed by another student, been asked if I was a girl, and been shunned. I have considered suicide many times.”

“If you judge people by what you think, and you never get to know them, you miss out on such good people.” “I have always been called fatty, lard boy, pudgy. I hated it. Now I am some person who doesn’t have to take it.”

“Now that I heard your speech I took a hard look at myself. … Maybe now I will quit calling names because I don’t want to be labeled as a bully, because I don’t want people to be frightened of me.”

“I really hate it when people say ‘bastard’ because I have no parents, so maybe people will try to stop saying words like that.”

“I was one day being kind of mean to someone to get a lot of laughs and I just realized that this person I was treating like a bug had feelings, too. I wish I would’ve said sorry.”

“In the past I have been called anorexic, skinny, shorty. All kinds of names. Some of the names really got to me. I really thought that was who I really am. But I realized that’s not who I really am. I’m me & I am going to stay me until the day I die.”

“You gave me a new ambition, to go out into the hallways and stop people that bully others and make people with few friends feel like I can be a friend to them. Especially if they are big picking on the little.”

“I have shed many tears over the years. Most of them have been from middle school. When I first started middle school there were a lot of nasty rumors spread about me, and over the years as I come to think of it, a lot of the names I have been called I have also in turn called someone myself.”

“I know this person at school who gets bullied. Most of the time the kids sit around and do nothing. After the school survey the kids think twice before they do it because now the kids stick up for them.”

“I’m proud of my school & we’ve all been trying to stop name-calling & we’re doing pretty good.”

“We’ve grown from this bullying unit so much. My friends and I are more careful about what we say and how we treat others. Since this unit, we’ve learned that what we say about people hurts them more than we think it does. … No one deserves to get made fun of!”