On the social network “Facebook,” a famous educator spoke about a conflict among teenagers in Marijampolė. J. Balevičė drew attention and encouraged reflection on where the roots of problematic teenage behavior might lie.
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She agreed to share the post with the readers of the portal Žmonės.lt as well.
“It would be hard not to react.
This is already the Nth post about this incident; in all of them, I first went to the comments section. People would bury them, drown them in the Šešupė River, and do anything to these offenders. HELLO! Do you hear?
Have you ever thought that you should first start with yourself? How do I behave in public spaces, what comments do I write online? What kind of people do I follow on social networks? What are my values? What do I say at home when the child is listening? How do I behave with my husband/wife? What do I say about the neighbor?
All of this is reflected in us.
Often parents are surprised when children eventually “get caught” in similar situations, as the child was like silk at home. One reason may be a lack of conversations and clarity, another is the internet, where anything is accessible to the child… They start to consider bullies, who only become stars on TikTok, as role models. This is a universal problem that must be solved by… who? I leave room for reflection…” – wrote J. Balevičė.
To the portal Žmonės.lt, the educator said that this story reminded her of her adolescence and school days when she herself lived in Marijampolė.
“I myself observed a similar situation as a teenager; a similar situation happened in our gymnasium when a girl bullied another girl, and everyone else filmed it. I only saw it later on the news; it also happened in Marijampolė.
It is such that either you become one of them or you become a victim. It was very difficult to remain neutral, and only the smartest children managed to maneuver enough to keep a sufficient distance; I was one of those children, but I always passed by that student with fear.
People immediately judge and blame the boys who film, but even those boys are afraid of such girls. So either you have to adapt to them, or you yourself will become a victim. This situation reminded me of an event from my adolescence,” – J. Balevičė told Žmonės.lt.
Working as an educator, she also notices that the problem of bullying has greatly escalated, and teenagers feel unpunished.
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“I am also an educator; I see various situations, with bullying being a very big problem, especially online, on Snapchat, where you cannot take a screenshot, images disappear quickly, and students feel very bold in bullying.
I am glad that this has come to light; maybe it will be some kind of lesson. I could not blame the times and say that it is the influence of the internet because bullying has existed in all times, and I could not blame it on parenting mistakes because let’s admit that good families have bad children, and bad families raise responsible children who are against bullying,” – J. Balevičė told Žmonės.lt.
Žmonės.lt reminds that since Wednesday evening, images from the Poetry Park in Marijampolė have been rapidly spreading on social networks. It was recorded how one teenager pulls another by the hair, hits her with a phone, while those around are busy filming, and no one tries to save the victim. Prosecutors announce the initiation of a pre-trial investigation.
The filmed footage, showing a girl about 14–16 years old hitting a peer sitting on a bench and loudly swearing, instantly spread on social networks.
Only one girl from the group of youths tried to defend the victim, but the rest just filmed what was happening.
The Marijampolė County Chief Police Commissariat has started clarifying the circumstances of the incident.
The minors involved in the conflict have been identified, and all circumstances of the incident are currently being clarified.
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