There is a war that is plaguing our nation’s future. It is not the war on drugs, the war on terror, or the war on hunger. It is not for rights, or freedoms, or equality. It is a war seldom seen, but often felt. It is a war that sends home more participants with such irreparable mental trauma than any war before it. This damage will be felt for decades to follow. It is fought not through conventional weapons, but those of a much more innocent nature. A dodge ball to the face, a lunch tray knocked to the floor, shoelaces tied together under a desk, and hurtful gossip that spreads like a plague, are a few of the components of the arsenal used. Few can argue this point made continuously by children over the past 30 years and beyond if they have been privy to the abuse and trauma provided by our school systems and other social communities. Almost 350 years ago German philosopher and author Samuel von Pufendorf wrote, "More inhumanity has been done by man himself than any other of nature's causes.", and any child being raised today would not dare to contest this centuries old fact. The constant heckling of children by their peers is intrinsic, but a cruel reality many face to a devastating extent. The constant conflicts between youth and their peers is directly related to variables of parenting styles, domestic arrangements, and peer populations and environments, creating a lack of a unified interpretation of socially accepted behavior.
In order to understand the complexity of social engineering in the regard to today’s youth, we must first look at the parenting styles that produce the self-image of the developing children therein. The spectrum along which parental methodologies are oriented is a simple passive to aggres...
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... variance between passively or aggressively raised children. The more children that are together, the greater the differences are along that spectrum, and the more conflict that will naturally ensue.
In closing, there have been no significant changes in how students bully, tease, or defame each other to their peers over history. This maliciously natured behavior between children is intrinsic in the development in American culture and can only be averted through a joint effort of parents striving to develop their children as emotionally balanced as possible, as well as for K-12 school administrators to work to reduce class sizes. If we fail to effectuate change in the current model it will not lead to the downfall of society, but the challenges to the emotional wellbeing of our children, and in turn as adults will forever be altered negatively because of it.
The lack of full emotional development of adolescents can lead to confusion and pressure while making life-or-death decisions during serious situations such as war. Along with being forced into war, living in inferiority to an overpowering presence only enrages the teenagers and their families more about the situation. Suzanne Collins depicts this class difference by writing, “Taking the kids from our districts, forcing them to kill one another while we watch- this is the Capitol’s way of reminding us how totally we are at their mercy. How little chance we would stand at surviving another rebellion” (18). The districts are outraged by the idea of forcing children into a violent atmosphere in which they have to fight each other for their lives.
Once tolerance and acceptance is established and taught, bullying and harassment in secondary schools will significantly drop. Aside from the ineffectiveness of bullying programs, “Targets of bullying behaviors are more likely to suffer from depression, anxiety, and loss of self-esteem” (Domino, 2013). Not only are schools being ineffective with their programs, the students are facing the effects of this. “Research has advocated that individuals must work together to effectively reduce bullying practices within schools” (Jones and Augustine, 2015). By creating a kindness program, students will be taught to work together to solve problems, and, in the end, create a better society.
As Garbarino recognizes, the effects of war and such violence is something that sticks with a child and remains constant in their everyday lives. The experiences that children face involving war in their communities and countries are traumatic and long lasting. It not only alters their childhood perspectives, but it also changes their reactions to violence over time. Sadly, children are beginning to play more of a major role in wars in both the United States and other countries.... ...
“This is how wars are fought now: by children, traumatized, hopped-up on drugs, and wielding AK-47s” (Beah). Innocent, vulnerable, and intimidated. These words describe the more than 300,000 children in nations throughout the world coerced into combat. As young as age seven, boys and girls deemed child soldiers participate in armed conflict, risking their lives and killing more innocent others. While many individuals recollect their childhood playing games and running freely, these children will remember “playing” with guns and running for their lives. Many children today spend time playing video games like Modern Warfare, but for some children, it is not a game, it is reality. Although slavery was abolished nearly 150 years ago, the act of forcing a child into a military position is considered slavery and is a continuously growing trend even today despite legal documents prohibiting the use of children under the age of 18 in armed conflict. Being a child soldier does not merely consist of first hand fighting but also work as spies, messengers, and sex slaves which explains why nearly 30 percent of all child soldiers are girls. While the use and exploitation of these young boys and girls often goes unnoticed by most of the world, for those who have and are currently experiencing life as a child soldier, such slavery has had and will continue to have damaging effects on them both psychologically and physically.
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)
An article entitled “How Boys Become Men,” written by Jon Katz was originally published in January, 1993 in Glamour, a magazine for young women. This article details the process of a boy growing into a man and mainly focus on the lesson boys learn that effect their adult lives. These lessons are about how to hold back emotions and never appeared sensitive. The author includes examples of his own experiences as a boy to convey to the reader the challenges of growing into a man. Through the various stories of young boys, the author is trying to prove that the men are insensitive because they had to learn to hide their feelings during the stage of growing up with other boys. The purpose of the author is to explain the women of the world, why men appear to be emotionalist and “macho.” The author’s main idea of this article is to explain why men are insensitive and to help women understand why men sometimes seem “remote” and “uncommunicative.”
Twemlow, Stuwart W., and Frank C. Sacco. "Why School Anti-Bullying Programs Don't Work." Google Books. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 May 2014.
Sometimes men will go to great lengths to try to impress women. In the story “A&P” Sammy, a 19 year old cashier who is the narrator of this story. The story of how he attempted to look good in front of the girl he happened to have a crush on. In the story the reader is able to understand Sammy’s emotions. Sammy is seen as a typical immature teenage male attempting to find himself in society by experiencing a slow shift towards maturity by taking a stand.
Every seven minutes a child is bullied. On average, 68 percent of students say that “other kids pick on them, make fun of them or bully them” (“Statistics”). This causes students to turn to violence. bullied or made fun of which cause them to become violent. How much longer are schools going to sit back and do nothing about bullies? Without punishing bullies, students’ will continue to harm themselves to massive extents. Schools are not doing enough to stop or prevent bullying, as demonstrated by the creation of the group Stand for the Silent.
Bullying, often dismissed as a normal part of growing up, is a real problem in our nation's schools, according to the National School Safety Center. One out of every four schoolchildren endures taunting, teasing, pushing, and shoving daily from schoolyard bullies. More than 43 percent of middle- and high-school students avoid using school bathrooms for fear of being harassed or assaulted. Old-fashioned schoolyard hazing has escalated to instances of extortion, emotional terrorism, and kids toting guns to school. It is estimated that more than 90 percent of all incidents of school violence begin with verbal conflicts, w...
Would you have come out different if your parents used a different parenting style? If you are considered “cool” now could you have come out a nerd if your parents would have used a different parenting style? “Parenting style is one of the primary determinants of your child’s outcome whether he succeeds, achieves, meets the challenges, flounders, gives up, or runs from or fails in handling life.” (6) The purpose of this paper is to describe the outcomes, processes, labor, and techniques of parenting in a psychological point of view. Parenting styles are defined as the “manner in which parents express their beliefs on how to be a good or bad parent.” (4) Each parenting style has its weaknesses and strengths. All parents incorporate love and limit in their style of parenting. There are four different types of parenting styles: authoritarian, permissive, democratic, and uninvolved parents.
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.
Neimen, Samantha, Brandon Robers, and Simon Robers. “Bullying: A State of Affairs.” Journal of Law & Education (n.d.):n. pag. Print.
Bullying within an elementary school begins right from the very first day of school. By the end of Kindergarten, over 20% of students report being bullied within that year. By the end of elementary school, 9 out of 10 students report being bullied at one time or another. The students, who bully during elementary school, are more likely to have it carry on with them for their middle school and school years. The aggressive and violent behaviors towards students in elementary school not only carry on after graduation from high school, but they end up having criminal records.
On the afternoon of April 9, 2010 I found myself in a meeting with Kerri Evans, the assistant principal of Pleasant Ridge Middle School, and my son Nicholas. I was there because my son had become a victim of verbal abuse. It was shocking to learn that bullying has become such an epidemic in our school system. “Nearly 1 in 3 students is involved in bullying” (Hertzog, 2010). In a perfect world there would be no bullying. Kids wouldn’t get shoved into lockers, and they wouldn’t be beat up in the hallway. Students wouldn’t talk about another student behind their back because of their shape, size, race, or religion. In a perfect world this wouldn’t happen, but at that moment in our imperfect world it was happening to my son. The question is, why does it happen and what can we do to stop it? “According to a 2009 federal survey of school crime and safety, 32 percent of middle and high school students said they'd been victimized during the academic year, compared with 14 percent in 2001” (Tyre, 2010). Bullying was making its way into my home and affecting my life. It was then that I realized that bullying was a problem that needed to stop. Bullying in schools is escalating and becoming a bigger and bigger issue, and we must take action to eliminate it.