Bullying is defined as intentional repeated behavior that physically or mentally hurts a person. Bullies usually wish to gain power over the person that they are bullying (Besag, 1989). There are three types of bullying: physical, verbal, covert or social, and cyber bullying (The Deparment of Education and Early Childhood Development's Building Respectful and Safe Schools, 2010). In school age children, bullying can occur in places like the school building, on the internet, and on the bus (Bullying Definition). Bullying is less present in elementary school, such as 4th grade, than upper level schools, but that does not mean that it does not occur.
It is estimated that more than 3.2 million students are bullied each year (Do Something ) Studies have shown that verbal abuse is the most common type of bullying in elementary school children (Bentley & Li, 1996). Additionally, physical bullying develops and increases in elementary school. Younger children as usually picked on by students in higher grades. Boys make up the majority of bullies in this age group. Most acts of bullying take place in a playground setting. If a child is bullied in elementary school, they have a much higher probability of being deviant in later years than if they were not bullied (Kumpulainen & Rasanen, 2000).
The goal of this bullying intervention program for 4th graders is for the children to understand what bullying is and what to do when they witness acts of bullying and they are being bullied. This program will also hopefully reduce future cases of bullying.
For a 60 minute program, an assembly would be held and led by the principal, some of the teachers, preferably ones who teach 4th graders, and counselors at the school. The program would start by asking the children what they think bullying is. After a couple of responses, the official definition will be shared and examples will be used to support this definition. A short video would then be shown further addressing bullying from children’s perspectives. Having a video with children talking about bullying would make it easier for the 4th graders to relate to and understand. This will take about 10 minutes. After the video, the program would shift to discussing reasons why some children are likely to be bullied, such as having visible differences and disabilities. The children will be taught that they should view others differences in a positive way and celebrate them.
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)
Milsom, A. “Bullying in Middle Schools: Prevention and Intervention.” Middle School Journal, Web. 31 Jan. 2014
The assessment is designed to identify the major issues, concerns and challenges facing students who are being bullied. Particular emphasis is being placed on how these students’ educational needs are being affected as a result of being bullied. The results will be used as follows: (1) to help guide the counseling programs towards developing effective intervention for bullying in schools (2) to examine the nature and causes of bullying (3) to implement bullying policies that outlines consequences and (4) to create a safe environment for students. Victims of bullying often benefit from interventions that are designed to increase their self-esteem which protects them from future bullying (Kaiser & Rasminsky, 2003). Bullying can take many shapes; it can be in the form of hurtful teasing, physical violence, threats, humiliation as well as destruction of student’s personal property. These things can cause students to be unhappy to the point where it affects their academic performance and interest in school. The most effective way of addressing bullying in schools is through a comprehensive school counseling program (Atlas & Pepler, 1998).
Bullying has been a fast growing problem in American schools. According to an article by Mansbacher, twelve million children are bullied every year (2012). Most people think of bullying as just a big kid beating up a smaller kid on the playground but there is so much more than that. There are actually four types of bullying; verbal, social, cyber and physical. Stopbullying.gov defines bullying as "unwanted, aggressive behavior among school aged children that involves a real or perceived power imbalance. The behavior is repeated, or has the potential to be repeated, over time" (n.d.). Bullying can have long lasting detrimental effects on the victim of bullying, the bully, and those observing the bullying. Because of this, bullying is a concern of social workers in and out of schools and like many other social work issues, has the potential for ethical dilemmas.
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.
Interventions implemented by schools to deal with bullying and bullies can range from short term efforts, such as the head of year, or head teacher speaking personally to the bullies, to buddy systems being set up and other more social-style
"A person is bullied when he or she is exposed, repeatedly and over time, to negative actions on the part of one or more other persons, and he or she has difficulty defending himself or herself." Dan Olweus (Olweus1). Bullying effects millions of kids on a daily basis and will most likely never cease to stop. According to international studies, bullying is common and affects anywhere from nine to fifty-four percent of children (Parker-Pope). Statistics also show that seventeen percent of students in grades sixth through tenth reported having been bullied "sometimes" or more with eight percent being bullied once a week, and ninteen percent said they had been a bully to others "sometimes" or more (Olweus2). Bullying has the capability of lasting effects on a ones physcological state, as well as physical. No human being should be in constant fear of when a bully may strike next, or whether one will survive the next day. For this reason, bullying awareness programs should be implemented in schools across the nation to aid and battle bullying to protect kids as well as teach the importance of anti-bullying.
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 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.
Bullying is a devastating issue that threatens the well-being of today’s youth. Those who are most likely at risk are those who; have a learning or physical disability i.g., autism or ADHD, are underweight or overweight, are gay/lesbian/transgendered, or speak a different language. Of course, there are no specific guidelines of who will become victims of bullying. Children who are bullied experience lower self-esteem, greater loneliness, greater anxiety, and more depression in addition to the already stressful adolescent years. The longer the bullying occurs the more profound the symptoms can become. As a low-level, subtle form of violence, bullying creates an unsafe school environment and can lead to more serious types of violence among students (Whitted & Dupper, 2005).
“Researchers have conducted that at least 25% of all children will be affected by bullying at some point during their school years, and many of these children miss significant numbers of school days each year owing to fear of being bullied” (Bray, M., Kehle, T., Sassu, K. (2003). Bullying has become a major problem for our students and our schools. Children are missing educational time and are losing self-confidence because they are afraid or intimidated by other students. We, as teachers, need to reduce bullying in our schools and prevent bullying from being a reoccurring issue in the lives of our students in order for them to learn, grow and develop. Our goal as teachers should be “to reduce as much as possible-ideally to eliminate completely- existing bully/victim problems in and out of the school setting and to prevent the development of new problems” (Olweus, D. (1993).
Some children have normalized the bullying culture and can no longer recognize what is and isn’t bullying. By adding anti-bullying programs schools, including administration and parents, will be aware of all forms of bullying and what they could do to help the cause. There are many forms of anti-bullying programs said to be built for the many different forms of bullying. There are programs that find the parents to be the source of the solution. This includes schools sending guides to the parents homes to teach how to deal with bullying, and to begin a discussion on how to talk about bullying with their child, which often leads to therapeutic talks. Programs that only involve schools are filled with anti-bullying messages throughout the school year that reinforce positive behavior. There also are programs that include both forces, parents and schools. These programs according to Elizabeth Lawner and Mary Terzian in “What Works for Bullying Programs: lessons from experimental evaluations of programs and evaluation” say “Five of the six programs that involved parents and implemented a whole-school approach worked for at least
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.
Bullying is an issue that has been around for decades and is something that can affect everyone, no matter what his or her age is. Even though bullying has changed over the years from being physical abuse and harassment that happens on the playgrounds of schoolyards to tormenting over the Internet. The same groups are still affected namely adolescents. Statistically about 30 percent of all teenagers in the United States are bullied in one-way or another (“Teenage Bullying”).
An estimated amount of 160,000 students across the United States misses school each day due to being a victim of bullying. From a present study, 29% of students involved in bullying, 14% of the children were said to be victims, 7% were bullies, and 8% were bullies and victims. The worst type of social behavior stems from bullying, and leads to complications in a student’s future. Bullying is a way of expressing aggressive behavior that is intended, and continues that sometimes leads to physical or mental injuries. Those who are victims of bullying, lack self-esteem, and become easily depressed by small objects. There are four common types of bullying: verbal, physical, relational aggression, and