I couldn’t help but overhear their conversation. They were practically yelling down the hall. A group of boys stood at their lockers during break discussing the events of the past weekend. “I heard she did,” one of the boys said. “She’s such a slut. Everyone has been with her.”

“Look, look,” laughed another. “There she is.” Suddenly, they started making moaning sounds as if to imitate a sexual scenario. It was devastating to see the look on the girl’s face. Her whole demeanor changed as she slammed her locker and hurried down the hall while the boys just laughed.

This is a classic example of psychological harassment and bullying.

And it has to stop.

A district-wide investigation of in-school bullying initiated a mandatory “Bullying and Harassment” faculty training Oct. 31 and Nov. 1 by school psychologist Jim Hansen. “We’ve only had a few [physical] instances this and last year,” said Principal Peyton Chapman. “However, it’s an important topic. Student safety is our top priority.”

Though it’s important that faculty and staff are able to recognize bullying and harassment in the classrooms, this mandatory training seems pointless.

The majority of the bullying taking place doesn’t happen in class but in the halls and in the privacy of one’s home.

In the past two weeks I’ve heard of two online forums dedicated to belittling, bad mouthing and spreading rumors about other students. Lately it seems like I can’t walk down the hall without overhearing someone saying something negative about someone else.

It’s ridiculous. We need to police ourselves and be more mature. I’m not sitting here pretending to be some perfect and holy angel who never talks about anyone, because I’ve definitely had a few choice words about certain people. I am saying, however, that WE need to clean it up.

Honestly, people. Find something else to do with your time instead of disrespecting others.

As a school, we are doing a great job of keeping physical bullying to a minimum. Let’s work to keep the psychological harassment to a minimum as well. As YouTube star Chris Crocker says, “Keep it cute, put it on mute!”

Translation: be nice and stop talking, belittling, gossiping, and spreading rumors about people.