Handwriting features of bullying students, by Professor Ikechukwu Benjamin Ezeohagwu
In contemporary world events, bullying among students has noticeably increased in temper and tempo, causing avoidable deaths, particularly in Secondary Schools to some extent. Bullying is quite not new in different climes across the world. According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary (1828) denotes that Bullying: ‘’is abuse and mistreatment of someone vulnerable by someone stronger, more powerful; the actions and behaviour of a bully; prone to or characterized by overbearing mistreatment and domination of others’’. Bullying is a negative behavioural pattern exhibited by deviants in any human environment and institutions that require urgently effective measures to curb in order to avoid casualties by those in authority.
There are several cases in the past and in recent times of bullying in Nigeria among students in different schools, a few of such cases in Nigeria are: Dowen College, Lagos: Sylvester Oromoni, a 12-year old student, was reported to have died on November 30, 2021; Premiere Academy, Abuja: Karen-Happuch Akpagher, a 14-year old student, who was sexually assaulted and later died of complications June 2021; Deeper Life High School, Uyo: Don Davis, a Junior Secondary School Student of 11 years, was abused; Government Secondary School Kwali, Abuja: Yahaya Nuhu Aliyu, a 13-year old JS2 (boy) student was flogged to death by his teacher in August 2021, for failing to complete his assignment; GDSS, Minna: JSS Student impregnated by her Vice Principal, Malam Mohammed Mohammed in 2017; among others.
Bullying may take place at home, school, church, Mosque, workplace, neighbourhood, street, and market, among others. There are different types of bullying, a few types include: direct and indirect bullying, cyberbullying, physical bullying, emotional bullying, sexual bullying, and verbal bullying, among others.
Bullying may be exhibited in varying measures by anyone who lacks a commendable degree of self-control, nobility, and integrity, among other similar virtues. Causes of bullying in humans generally are several, however, the dominant cause(s) can be primarily traced to HOME circumstances particularly during formative years, followed by examples of SOCIALIZATION agents in the society, among others. Bullying in students is evidently uncouth human behaviour that evolves primarily from home circumstances (in most cases) where parents or guardians (be they rich or poor) may not be model examples, in that case, they do not exhibit uprightly appropriate desirable virtues, where such parents or guardians may be morally bankrupt, exhibit indifferently wrong attitude towards their children or wards upbringing, with loads of corruption, pride, greed, incompliant, among other kindred human vices, in which case youths or students from such home or family circumstances are not appropriately brought up, while society as another source of remarkable or unpleasant influences.
Diverse factors breed BULLYING among students. Bullying among students is a strong trigger symptom signal if not curbed in time by parents, guardians or institutions can grow wildly in later life leading the individual student to BANDITRY, MILITANCY or TERRORISM, among other unfortunate societal ills and upheavals. However, the object of this article is to examine and portray in a practical rendition of those common and basic handwriting features that are often manifested by bullying students, such that audiences may examine and learn to take caution.
From a graphological point of view, every bullying student manifests mental and emotional challenges and disorders (in some cases), portraying undesirable and unwholesome thoughts, feelings and habits, (Ezeohagwu, 2018). The undesirable and unwholesome thoughts, feelings and habits are clearly inscribed on paper by the bullying students while writing.
The following are basic and common handwriting features of bullying students: Bullying students inscribe their thoughts and feelings on paper with uneven pressure textures, as a result of certain unpleasantly wavering weaving emotional and mental challenges.
Bullying students also manifest Angular handwriting feature, as a result of personality traits of rigidity and forcefulness in their opinions and habits about issues relatings to how they do things and how they relate to others. In other words, their scripts show almost straight stroke features with fairly rare curved stroke scripts.
Bullying students inscribe their thoughts and feelings on paper with the irregular rhythm of the letter(s) and word strokes in an inconsistent manner.
Bullying students manifest in their handwriting variable sizes of letters which present quite illogical impressions of letters and words stroke features.
Bullying students manifest a handwriting feature that is called diffused handwriting, in this case, letters and words spread out unduly.
Bullying students inscribe their thoughts and feelings on paper with unstable direction, in other words, the letters and words are varied in direction, combining two or more rectilinear, vertical, backhand or forward slant handwriting features.
Source of handwriting samples used above as illustrations: Ezeohagwu script archives.
In the above handwriting features of Bullying students, every bullying student is characterized to manifest more or many of the psychographic features highlighted above. In conclusion, some or many of the following human personality traits characterize bullying students in real life: Egocentricity, obstinacy, tactlessness, aggressiveness, deceitfulness or dishonesty, violence, mental strain, lousiness, unbridled emotions and temperamental, among others.
Ben Ezeohagwu won the Onigraffiks Prize for literature (2017). He is Professor of Graphonomy and Chancellor, African American University, Porto-Novo, Republic of Benin and can be reached via Email: benezeohagwu@yahoo.com, www.africanamericanuniversity.org, 08173175540.
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