As you’re walking down the hallway of Perry High School, trying to get to class, you pass by that side stairwell that never gets a lot of attention. You see three or four students there, one of which is being picked on and pushed around by the others. He’s trying to get to class as well, but these other students aren’t letting that happen. Contemplating whether you step in, you finally decide not to, in fear that they would pick on you as well. You walk along, hoping that kid is okay. You had just witnessed bullying, and you are fully aware of it. But you don’t report it. You don’t tell anyone. This is known as the bystander effect, which is one of the most common issues when trying to deal with bullying in school. And while physical bullying …show more content…
The best time to intervene is as soon as possible. It might take a while to identify it as bullying, but as soon as an adult can recognize that it is, they need to step in immediately. Some signs to look for are: fights or arguments in the hallways or in classrooms; particularly in the victim, seemingly more sad or depressed and a decrease performance in school work and/or grades; difficulty paying attention and completing work; disrupting class or acting out; and in extreme cases, thoughts of suicide. Teachers need to pay attention to their students and be able to notice these changes, particularly for the victims, and need to be able to offer support for both the bullies and victims. Bullying isn’t often reported because of the “state of constant fear” it puts everyone in, including the bully and the bystanders, so adults would most likely need to recognize it (Lyness). Another possible solution to bullying, more specifically at Perry High School, is make a communications class required in the graduation credit count. There’s already an Effective Communication class, though it is CCP. Why not take that content and simplify it to make it a regular class? It would benefit the students for their lifetime and would reduce bullying as well because the bullies would finally understand how it affects the victim and be able to recognize that what they’re doing is wrong. This is, of course, the optimistic view of this
Though taking immediate action is thought to be the only way to help, other methods can be used to make a difference. For example, I could report the issue of bullying to a person in an authoritative role, such as a counselor, professor, or administrator. These individuals have been trained to handle situations such as this, and most likely have more information about the students involved. Choosing this method would ensure that the conflict is resolved professionally. Another method would be to focus on the person being attacked. The effect that kindness can have on hurting people is remarkable. Befriending the individual would enhance my ability to stand up for him or her in the
Bullying has become a major problem facing the United States today. The American Psychological Association reports that roughly 40% to 80% of children are involved in bullying on some level during their time in school. (APA, 2014) The magnitude of the problem can be observed in the statistics. In the United States, a total of 4,080,879 children between the ages of five and 18 have been the victims of bullying compared to 3,892,199 who have reported that they have engaged in bullying someone else. Additionally, 851,755 said that they have been both the victim and the bully. That's a whopping 8,824,833 people in the United States that have been involved in bullying behavior on one level or another. (High, B., 2000 Census)
Not only is it already hard to be a teenager, but having to deal with constant teasing and harassment is just something no one needs. There is a point in life where bullying can become so terrifying that students will rather stay at home than have to face their bully. Darnell “Dynasty” Young is a 17 year old gay teen who has gone through every possible way to stop his bullies from harassing him. His mother has tried everything but hasn’t been able to put a stop to it. Until one day, Young’s mother bought Darnell a stun gun. His mother told him to bring it to school and when the bullies began to torment him to take it out. He did just that, he did not actually shoot anyone he just waved it up in the air to intimidate his bullies. He not only got suspended but he also got arrested, yet the six boys teasing him and calling him names received no punishment whatsoever. (CNN) Young is one of the many kids that go through this type of abuse in a place where they should feel safe. This is an example of the school failing to do anything to prevent this kind of behavior, even after the parents try to intervene. This is also a great example of parents failing to implement high behavior standards by enforcing them to retaliate. Parents should be there to advice a peaceful way of resolving this in a non violent way not give them the weapon. By implementing prevention programs such as activities that help fight bullying can ultimately lead to the end of this horrific thing some kids face each day.
Imagine an innocent teen walking home from school, when a bully appears and begins relentlessly taunting, pushing, and calling the teen harsh names. The teen is defenseless and hopeless because he/she is intimidated by the bully and no one around is stopping the interaction. There is one solution to this situation that can help teens when they are in that position, and it is bystander intervention. The University of Texas’ Bystander Intervention initiative defines bystander intervention as “recognizing a potentially harmful situation or interaction and choosing to respond in a way that could positively influence the outcome” (qtd in Mangan). There are several reasons why bystanders should intervene when teens are being
Although bullying has always been a problem in schools, it has more recently become a bigger crisis with vicious consequences. “However it is defined, bullying is not just child’s play, but a terrifying experience many schoolchildren face everyday. It can be as direct as teasing, hitting or threatening, or as indirect as exclusions, rumors or manipulation” (Garrett 2). Most kids do not think certain actions are classified as bullying, yet they do not realize the severity of the way they treat their peers. What they may see as “joking around” can be viewed as them being a bully, and they may even be hurting someone’s feelings without realizing the effect that they have. This can then lead to school violence, which is a prevalent issue in today’s society. There are many causes to bullying and school violence and many effects as well. However, if dealt with properly, there are ways to solve these prevailing problems.
A teenager wakes up; they dress in a fashion comfortable to them. Perhaps the style isn’t the style that is currently “in”, but nonetheless, it is what this teenager feels good about wearing. They never expect that they will spend the entire day at school being made fun of for it. Somewhere else, in a different state, a different school district, a female doesn’t believe she is beautiful. She wakes up every day, looks in the mirror and wonders why life is cruel. She heads to school where her belief is validated by the senseless and relentless taunts of her classmates. She decides later that night that life is no longer worth living. These are scenarios that seem too horrific to be true, but they are all too real. Bullying is a problem, especially amongst school children, and there must be more awareness and more done to hinder the disease.
Imagine dropping your child off at school and he or she leaves the house in a great mood and then you get a call saying your son or daughter is being bullied. Imagine only if that was your child being picked on and wanting to go home to harm
Bullying has been a part of schooling for as long as children have been congregating. To some it seems like a natural, though uncomfortable, part of life and school experience, while to others it can mean terrifying experiences which spoiled and characterized otherwise happy years in school. Dan Olweus, a pioneer in bully behavior research documented that 2.7 million children are affected as victims, and that 2.1 children act as bullies (Fried, 1997, as cited in Aluedse, 2006). With bullying cited as the reason for violent, gun-related crime in the past few years, school districts as well as national governments have put anti-bullying policies in place. Bullying is a complicated phenomenon, involving more than one child demanding lunch money from a smaller child. It is a worldwide epidemic hitting schools everywhere. Virtually everyone has seen or experienced bullying. With technological advances, bullying is even hitting the internet. Parents, teachers, students and governments agencies alike are attempting to put a stop to bullying practices.
Bullying is a growing concern in a society where status and exercising power over another human being are increasingly important in developing one’s social circles. Dan Olweus (Norwegian researcher and founder of the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program) defines it as an “aggressive behaviour that is intentional and that involves an imbalance of power. Most often, it is repeated over time” (Violencepreventionworks.org). School victimization is an especially delicate matter that has only really been in the public eye for the past half century, as more and more researchers and psychologists pointed out its short- and long-term negative effects on targeted individuals. It has since been widely investigated and numerous programs have been developed in an effort to address and prevent the many forms of bullying that exist today. The negative effects of such an abusive behaviour are various and can greatly differ from individual to individual. However, there are three main consequences that can be associated with school bullying, which are: school avoidance, depression/anxiety and even suicidal attempts.
Being a teenager in today’s world can be tough. Adolescence is about friendships and fitting in. Bullying is a problem and can affect that. Students should reach out to those that don’t have friends and help them. Kids that don’t fit in also need to make an effort to do so. If bullying is stopped, which it can be if we tried hard enough, teens would feel much better about themselves. Will you make an effort to stop bullying and help those that don’t fit in?
No matter where you go, bullying is just around the corner. There’s no certain age for anyone to become a bully. Movies make it high school the biggest place for bullies to be created; but in the real world, that’s not the case. Bullying is a serious issue and can happen anywhere at any time to anyone.
In junior high, I was a victim of bullying. It started out in 7th grade when I first moved to my new school, I was extremely shy and kept thing to myself. I was so shy that when the teachers called on me, my face would get super red and I would get a panic attack. And that’s when everyone would make fun of me because I looked like a tomato when someone called me. At this moment, I thought to myself that it would blow over just because school has just started, but nothing changed. Mid-year I’m still not speaking to anyone but my teachers, students would do the most cliché thing as in take my lunch and also push me around in the hallways calling me names. But at the moment I didn’t know if either to tell a teacher because I was so afraid that the kids would probably come back and hurt me more than I was. Every day I got so debilitating one of the guys that picked on me realized how frightened I was and came to me to apologize how he was acting and that he would talk to the other kids to tell them to stop. When he went to speak to the other kids
Bullying is a repeated harmful act that continues to affect millions of students every year. There is no stereotypical person that is a target for bullying; anyone can be its victim. There may not always be any signs of physical harm during these attacks, but our children always suffer emotional harm. Educating students, teachers and parents seems to be the only valid solution to this problem. There are many organizations that can educate the schools on this subject but for it to work people must care. Maybe one day, when enough people realize that this problem will not go away with out their help, we can eliminate bullying from our schools. In a perfect world there would be no bullying, but if you could ask Rachel Scott she would tell you we do not live in a perfect world, only a hopeful one.
Bullying does not have a standard definition. Bullying can be anything from calling someone else names, beating them up just for the fun of it, to texting or messaging them on the internet or any mobile device. Any person can be the victim of bullying, not just children. Bullying causes many issues, physically, emotionally, and mentally, not only for the victim, but for their entire families as well. Bullies have many different reasons as to why they start bullying someone else. The actions done to the victim leaves them with only a few options on how to stop being bullied. How they handle it is always different.
Bullying has become a serious problem in public schools systems. Being a victim of bullying is a daily struggle for some students. The issue continues to grow, but the question is how to stop bullying from occurring. Many ways have been attempted to stop bullying, but some are more effective than others. Having the students get involved seems to have the most positive effect on the bullying issue in public school systems.