In today’s world there are many laws that have been established in order to protect everyday civilians from being harmed or robbed of their possessions or piece of mind. However, in school, children play by different rules. Rules do not seem as imperative as say a law being broken. For example, imagine if it did not matter what the robber stole, but how much he took that lets him off the hook. One would still be upset that his valuables were interfered with without permission. This scenario can be compared to bullying and how adults sometimes overlook the seriousness of the effects (no matter how big or small) it can have on a student and his or her achievements. Sometimes bullying is acknowledged, but is ultimately cast off as mere “child’s play,” but it can become so much more. A bullying incident does not stop in the school yard simply because a teacher puts an end to it; bullying must be addressed from all angles of parents, guardians, media, and everyday civilians that are children’s immediate examples of proper ways to behave. Again, bullying spans beyond school walls and cannot ultimately be controlled by teacher discipline alone. The effects bullying can have on student achievement may interfere with their life choices, their physical and mental stability, and of course their future behaviors as a reaction to such behavior that was shown to them.
It is arguable that broken citizenship among students is not as harmful as everyday citizens breaking common laws, but I argue that it is. However, this paper is not to argue; it is to inform every one of the issue at hand, so that it may be reduced, and that can only be done with harmony, not coercion, or plainly “bullying.” What exactly is bullying, to the extent that I am spea...
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...l abuse. However, it is not a situation exclusive to occurring in school, it happens outside as well; the effects of it are simply more noticeable through the results of student work or lack thereof. If bullying is not addressed, dropout rates, youth suicide, and lack of positive future leaders are in store for future generations of education.
Works Cited
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Meyer, E. Gender, Bullying, and Harassment: Strategies to End Sexism and Homophobia in Schools. New
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Preschoolers. Hillsdale, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. 1989. Print.
Experts say that bullying begins around middle school, where children are changing to young adults. In bullying there are three people involved the bully, the victim, and the bystander. The bystander also holds responsibility when bullying occurs, because they are present but never take part because they fear the intimidator. Often targets are considered to be “different” from others, and that consists of students having specials needs, being gay, bisexual, overweight, or most importantly students who are viewed as easy prey. When bullying is attempted it can ruin a student physically and emotionally influencing the capability of a pupil to learn. It is recorded that in the United States 160,000 teenagers skip school in order to avoid bullying, and one out of ten teens quits school because of continuous tormenting. In 2014 statistics in the U.S. showed that only 20-30 percent of students who are bullied tell an adult or the authorities. The only way bullying can be prevented is when schools make a great effort to create no tolerance programs, and effective rules. That will result...
Many people find the word “bullying” hard to define. In fact, the definition of the word has changed greatly within the last ten years. The current definition of bullying, according to stopbullying.gov, is “unwanted, aggressive behavior among school aged children that involves a real or perceived power imbalance. The behavior is reappeared, or has the potential to be repeated over tim...
Granted, bullying was once typically confined to the occasional war of words in locker rooms or at a park after school, but direct bullying as physical and verbal abuse are now occurring spontaneously in most schools and communities on a regular basis. Teenagers formerly had the luxury of time to cool off, to think of their options and consequences; they had time for their conscience to take over and rethink a rash decision. Unfortunately, with the ease of instant gratification w...
Everyday, children go to school and learn many valuable skills that are unquestionably beneficial to their youth all around the world. It is a fact that youngsters learn much not only academically but also a lot through the interaction with their peers. Nevertheless, some experiences such as bullying may possibly lead to some serious long-term negative effects. Unfortunately, the society perceives bullying as an unavoidable factor in schooling as well as a natural procedure of growing up. Bullying has now become an inevitable part of school life. The rapid growth of Internet technology has allowed bullying to expand and thus, created a much bigger and worse problem in the modern society. Bullying has been a problem in our society for decades. Although the problem seems almost inevitable, a solution to prevent further victims is urgently needed. The research paper will focus mainly on the various types of bullying, history of bullying, the prevention methods, and the effects on the victim’s health.
The Rwandan survivor, Paul Rusesabagina, once said, “If we want to change things, we must first change ourselves. If we want to play-- if we want to change the world-- we must first show up on the field to score”. Kids are constantly being mean to each other, whether it is verbally, physically, or through their phone screen. As Rusesabagina said, if people want to make a positive change, it is important to make the effort to make the change. According to dosomething.org, over 3.2 million students are victims of bullying each year. Approximately 160,000 teens skip school every day because of bullying. 17% of American students report being bullied 2 to 3 times a month or more within a school semester. These numbers are way too high, and schools need to find a way to reduce them. Students who are victimized are not receiving enough help from the people who are supposed to be the most influential people in their
On any given school day, 30% of American teenagers are classified as perpetrators, sufferers, or bystanders of bullying, and 3.2 million kids are on the receiving end of bullying each year (Greenya). Some kids today wake up early during the school week anticipating another day of school. To them, it’s like a home away from home that provides a safe environment to learn, interact with peers, grow up, develop a sense of self, and make impressions of how they want to be perceived in the world. Of course, there are also occasional moments of complete anxiety: a week of final exams, a nerve-wracking class presentation, or doing well in a composition class. However, for the other kids, anxiety is an everyday problem. For them, the weekend can’t arrive fast enough, and normal weekday mornings are instead filled with feelings of nausea, gloom, and dread. Some may even have thoughts of ending their life. Every day, hundreds of thousands of people’s lives are affected by this brutal form of abuse. In fact, there is an estimated “160,000 children who skip school every day to avoid bullying” (Greenya). What was once regarded as the typical raucous behaviors of childhood, bullying today is a national school occurrence that has grabbed the attention of parents, teachers, administrators, police, and even state and federal legislators. Bullying has become a serious and widespread problem.
Bullying and Violence in Public Schools 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 a 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.
Bullying is defined as “verbal, physical, or psychological abuse or teasing accompanied by real or perceived imbalance of power” and is usually targets what children perceive as different (Olweus, 1993). Bullying is prevalent across the nation. It has devastating effects on students each day. Bullying is a problem for all students, regardless of race, gender or class. The National Education Association reports that 160,000 children are absent intentionally from school each day because they fear being bullied whether it is an attack or just intimidation by other students. This accounts for 15% of all school absenteeism (Hunter, 2012). Dan Olweus (1993) from the National School Safety Center tells us that bullying includes three parts: (1) Unwanted, negative aggressive behavior, (2) the behavior is repeated over time and (3) there is an imbalance of power or strength. One in every seven school age students will be victimized by a bully or will commit the act of bullying. (Hunter, 2012). Statistics show that 10% of students who drop out of school do so because they have experienced repeated bullying at school (Hunter, 2012).
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...
The first reason anti-bullying laws in school are necessary is they help prevent suicide. Studies show that in America today, “suicide is the third leading cause of death among youth ages twelve to nine-teen”(Leavasseur 3). These are the ages that school aged children are most easily influenced. “Suicide rates have quadrupled the rate at which they were in 1950” (Stacy Teicher Khadaroo 1) as education has become more necessary. “For every death recorded, research suggests that many more teens think about or attempt suicide” (Stacy Teicher Khadaroo 1). Because it is a place students are forced to spend the majority of their young lives, the responsibility to prevent their students from becoming another statistic has fallen upon the shoulders of the schools today. When schools fail to accept these responsibilities to enforce rules against bullying things such as what happened to Rebecca Ann Sedwick take place.
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 and sexual harassment perhaps do not immediately come to mind when discussing school violence, however they are two of the most widespread and pervasive issues facing schools today. While the word “bully” brings to mind a harmless school age right of passage to many, research today shows that bullies often times have a number of family or social problems. Also, in today’s modern world, bullies may not merely shake down classmates for lunch money; they have found ways to hound their victims long after they have left the school grounds by using the internet. Another form of bullying is sexual harassment, which is bullying based on the person’s gender or sexual preferences. Sexual harassment is a very damaging problem, especially for school age children who have yet to develop a strong sexual identity of their own.
Shootings and physical violence are only part of the problem in schools. More than twenty percent of students have encountered bullying whi...
Bullying has always been present within the United States. Although the issue has been around for a long time, it continues to grow and become more of problem. It is said that about 160,000 children within the United States are refusing to go to school because of bullying. Another statistic is that within American schools alone, there are an estimated 2.1 billion bullies and 2.7 billion victims (Dan Olewus, MBNBD). The numbers presented here are outrageous and although there are organizations to stop bullying, obviously there needs to be a new set of solutions. Any type of bullying presents problems to children, “Suicide, depression, anxiety, substance abuse, trouble with the law, poor performance in school and work, and lack of involvement in socially accepted activities are some of the difficulties resulting from bullying (Austin, Reynolds, Barnes, Shirley). Of course, there is more than just a single type of bullying. Feeding ground for bullies can range anywhere from text-message or cyberbullying to physical bullying in schools. Also, bullies can begin to strike at a young age and could also be; teenage, middle-age, or even the elderly. Even though there are these many versions of problematic bullies, the largest bullying problems take place within the school setting: a place that is supposed to be safe for children rather than harmful. Although it seems impossible to completely get rid of bullying, these are a few suggested solutions; making the school informed on bullying issues, schools implementing rules on bullying, and having students positively use electronics to stop bullying.