Bullying and cyber-bullying have increased tremendously in past six years. With the increased popularity of Facebook, bullies are finding a new way of tormenting victims. Suicide is the third leading cause of death in teens, with bullying being one of the leading causes. Legal standings on who is accountable have not been clear and when cases are brought forth the infrequent use of laws holding parents and schools responsible is glaring. It is time to make bigger strides on holding parents and school officials responsible for the bullying that occurs within the community. Civil suits are filed at an alarming rate but criminal charges are not considered in some bullying cases. Children are not being led by example but left to think their actions are correct when no parent or school faculty member intervenes. Documentation and no action are simply not enough anymore. School officials sometimes blame the victim and encourage them to transfer to other schools. This should be eliminated as an option. Parents need to be paying closer attention to what goes on under their own roof, with concern that they could be held liable for any criminal acts and schools need to implement anti-bullying rules and offer appropriate reconciliation options or face the consequences of loss of funding and criminal charges. No parent should have to worry about incurring debt by continuous medical bills, legal battles, or worse funeral arrangements.
Bullying: Schools and Parents Accountability
Who is responsible for the victims’ pain and financial expenses?
How often have you turned on your television to watch the news and hear of a child committing suicide due to bullying or cyber-bullying? Studies have shown an increase of bullying in today’s society...
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Maag, J.W., & Katsiyannis, A. (Feb 2012). Bullying and students with disabilities: Legal and Practice Considerations.
Behavioral Disorders, volume 37, 78-86. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.prx-keiser.lirn.net/docview/1022488827?accountid=35796
McGrath, M.J. (2006). School bullying: Tools for avoiding harm and liability.
Thousand Oaks, California. Corwin Press. 55-62, 177-182.
“In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” Martin Luther King Jr. knew it was better to speak up than to stay quiet. This is a lesson that needs to be taught throughout both middle schools and high schools. All around the world, suicide rates are going up, and most of these cases relate back to bullying. The children often do not say anything because they are afraid the bullying will only get worse. When nothing changes, they are driven to suicide to relieve the pain that they are feeling. As Marge Piercy examines in “Barbie Doll,” students are picked on for being or looking different than others. No matter what type of bullying it may be, it hurts people more than they are willing to let on. All forms of bullying, whether it be in schools, physical, verbal, or online, have an impact on teen suicide ideation.
Yudin, Michael. "Keeping Students with Disabilities Safe from Bullying." United States Department of Education News. 20 Aug. 2013: n.p. SIRS Government Reporter. Web. 04 Mar. 2014.
Suicide due to bullying has been given the name of bullycide. One example of bullycide would be Jon Carmichael from Texas who was bullied so harshly that “one day they stripped him naked, tied him up, and stuck him in a trash can, and they taped it with their cell phones and put it all on You Tube” per his mother’s account (Texas Monthly, Hollandsworth). A few days later Jon was found hanging by a rafter from their barn after committing suicide. The perpetrators of this abuse were his fellow classmates and it is reported that “60% of boys who bullied others in middle school had at least one criminal conviction by the age of 24; 40% had three or more convictions” (van der Valk, 41). Bullying behavior not only negatively affects the victims that are singled out and tormented, but from a legal perspective can lead to long term criminal
America has struggled with bullying for many decades. Bullying is a broad topic. Bullying can be defined many different ways as well as expressed in different ways and places. Bullying has different effects on everyone. Bullying is not only physical, but also affects the victim emotionally and socially. Cyber bullying and verbal bullying are different ways someone harms another person. Sexual harassment is a major form of bullying as well. “Bullying Laws” defines cyberbullying as online emails, text messages, or posts on social media and other websites (“Bullying Laws”). Examples of verbal bullying would be name-calling, threatening, and teasing. Bullying can be between peers, or between different ages. People are not aware of the laws that are in place. “As of October, 2010, 45 states had bullying laws” (“Bullying Laws”). Due to the fact, bullying is so common between many age groups and done in many ways, it is important to recognize the problem and make policies and laws to reduce bullying between all ages.
Each year, schools are having to update the Code of Conduct in order to keep up with the bullying that is occurring on social media. Schools have failed to effectively monitor and take action upon what these students have been doing to others and what others are doing in return. This has resulted in many lost lawsuits, in which schools were held liable for not taking appropriate action on what occurs outside of campus. School districts therefore must take more responsibility over what happens to the students, on and off campus. Districts argue that such instances are outside of the school’s control, however, these victims are still their students.
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.
“Many adolescents are taught not to discriminate or intimidate. However, bullying has increased dramatically in the present era. Victims are left physically, mentally, verbally, and emotionally broken. Also, many children are taking their lives due to not being able to handle the misery from bullying. As a result of these incidents, he or she are left wondering who is at fault, the child or the parents. Therefore, should parents be held accountable for the outcome of their children’s bullying? Parents should be held accountable if their child is a bully. When an adult decides to be a parent, they become responsible for whatever mistakes their child may do, until the child becomes an adult. Therefore, it is up to the parent to know what their child is doing at all times. The parent should show their child right from wrong, and as parents, he or she must remember, children repeat what one may say and do. If parents do not provide their child with these resources, they should be fined or even put in jail. Also, their should be a law passed that requires parents, to go to a parent-child orientation, which will provide parents with resources on how to deal with bullying.
Such negative consequences can be far reaching and long lasting, but some interventions, especially school wide or targeted ones, have shown remarkable progress in diminishing both the occurrence and negative effects of bullying. Lawmakers have attempted to address bullying by legislating against bullying behaviors; at this point, however, the legal attention has been varied at best. State legislatures tend to focus on prohibiting bullying behaviors without defining, or at least defining consistently, what such behaviors are. Legislation also tends to place much of the decision making authority on the individual school districts such that they different districts can decide on the interventions and general methods to address bullying. Although case law exits related to bullying, the courts have been relatively reluctant to get involved for a variety of reasons. Future work in this rea should consider addressing the legal inconsistencies and provide lawmakers with clear and consistent
Bullying against teens is still happening even though there are various awareness programs to try to prevent it. I want to create awareness of bullying against teens of all religions, race, and sexual orientation. Even with the various attention to bullying, the problem still persists despite the school providing awareness, students are still afraid to say anything. Societal patterns today make bullying a difficult issue to eliminate. Starting in 2007, a total of 35 states made laws to go against bullying at school. These laws consisted of a clear definition of bullying, and how schools will be required to enforce uniform standards of conduct. The reason bullying comes as such an issue to me is because I actually know friends that have been suicidal and have caused themselves harm due to being bullied every day, in school and at home.
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.
Olweus, D. (1993). Bullying at schools: What we know and what we can do. Cambridge, MA:
“Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me.” These words have been repeated countless times, but they are not accurate. In truth, words can kill. Bullying has become a highlighted problem within our society, and bullying in the school systems is even more prominent. According to the news, there are countless cases of bullying, many of which do not have happy endings. The rates of suicide due to bullying are currently higher than they have ever been before. Suicide is the third top causes of death in young people within the United States, averaging at 4,400 deaths a year, with over 50% of these deaths as a result of some sort of bullying. Studies also show that there are 100 suicide attempts for every one successful suicide performed (“Bullying and Suicide”). These numbers are disturbingly high. Bullying is affecting more kids in ways that some adults may never understand. The fact that words and actions can lead to cutting and suicides is still a distant concept to some and needs to be brought to immediate attention. Laws are now being put into place to prevent these tragedies, but what is really being done to prevent them within the schools or even within the students’ homes? There is a lot of finger pointing when it comes to this topic. But we all want to know what the cause is behind this nationwide crisis and who is responsible for it.
Bullying is a worldwide problem and it requires immediate attention because it psychologically affects both the victims and the bullies. Victims may ultimately have suicidal thoughts and bullies will have uncontrolled behaviors that carry on through school and after school, but they can be helped. Although cyber bullying is a big obstacle due to the large-scale usage of internet and the ability to conceal identities, technological advancements and child supervision help to single out these individuals to reduce the amount of bullying that occurs.
“First, many targets report feeling depressed, sad, angry, and frustrated.” (Hinduja and Patchin). These are just some of the bad effects that cyber bullying is causing for today’s teens. One of the worse effects of cyber bullying is the link between cyber bullying and suicide. “Finally, cyberbullied youth also report having suicidal thoughts, and there have been a number of examples in the United States and abroad where youth who were victimized ended up taking their own lives.” (Hinduja and Patchin). This alarming fact should be the wakeup call to the U.S. that we need to do something about this problem and fast. Cyber bullying simply does not just hurt someone’s feelings, but it is taking lives of our youth. The first step to help prevent this issue can be to have our schools inform the students of the dangers of cyber bullying. “Furthermore, school district personnel should review their harassment and bullying policies to ensure that it allows for the discipline of students who engage in cyberbullying.” (Hinduja and
Too many adults seem to think that bullying is just part of being a kid, but it isn’t, and it has a negative and sometimes long lasting effect on others. Bullying Statistics show that “Suicide is the third leading cause of death among young people, resulting in about 4,400 deaths per year, according to the CDC. For every suicide among young people, there are at least 100 suicide attempts. Over 14 percent of high school students have considered suicide, and almost 7 percent have attempted it.” What some people do not realize is that there are many different types of bullying that include physical bullying, emotional bullying, sexting, and cyberbullying. There are many warning signs of suicide. Depression, interest in death or dying, engaging in harmful activities (e.g. substance abuse, reckless behavior, and self-injury), giving away personal possessions, saying goodbye to people, and making comments about how life would be better off without them. If you are hearing or seeing any of these warning signs, take action! According to Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection about Bullying, there can also be negative mental health issues, anxiety and