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...
... middle of paper ...
...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
"Bullying." Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, 2012.
Web. 16 April 2012.
Kritsonis, W. PhD. School Discipline: The Art of Survival. Mansfield, Ohio: BookMasters, Inc.
1999. Print.
Meyer, E. Gender, Bullying, and Harassment: Strategies to End Sexism and Homophobia in Schools. New
York: Teachers College Press. 2009. Print.
Singer, L. Jerome, and Dorothy G. Singer. Television, Imagination, and Aggression: A Study of
Preschoolers. Hillsdale, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. 1989. Print.
Bullying is a challenge, and it affects individual students, as well as the entire community. Bullying occurs along a continuum, with students assuming bully, victim, and bully-victim roles (Espelage & Horne, 2008) and is believed to create severe and long-term mental and physical consequences (Hawker & Boulton, 2000; Lunde, Frisen, & Hwang, 2007; Rigby, 2003; Smith, Ananiadou, & Cowie, 2003; Stassen Berger, 2007).
Hurst, Marianne D. “When It Comes to Bullying, There Are No Boundaries.” Education Week. 24 (2005): 8.
Analysis of School Anti-Bullying Policies: A Follow-Up After Six Years. Educational Psychology in Practice, 28(1), 47-70.
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...
Bullying can be recognized by a clear intention on the part of one child to cause
Each day school children learn valuable skills and lessons from their teachers as well as through in- tractions with their peers. Although school, undoubtedly, is beneficial to America’s youth, there are some ex- periences, such as bullying, that may negatively affect and stick with these children for the rest of their lives.
Many instances of bullying behavior can be linked back to the climate in which a child was raised. Those who are raised in poverty or who have no good role models will frequently suffer due to the lack of examples of adults in productive roles. If the “coolest” guy in the neighborhood is a gang member, then his or her bullying behavior will be emulated by the children in the neighborhood, continuing the cycle of abuse. This pattern usually leads to other negative traits such as becoming easily provoked and developing an inability to solve problems effectively. When these traits are continued in the school system, they are compounded by peer-pressure and the lack of faculty support. The bullies soon learn that they are free to abuse whomever they wish, and although faculty and staff help when they can, there are simply not enough resources necessary to catch and prevent bullies from targeting their peers (Bennett-Johnson, June 2004 p199).
In the school environment, the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) community is an example of one particularly targeted group which is consistently besieged by attacks from homophobic students, faculty and staff. There have been charities and other organizations founded to specifically help minority groups, who are regularly targeted. In 2004-2005, a prominent English activist and charity group in the U. K. called Stonewall, set up partnerships to discuss homophobic bullying in schools with Friends and Families of Lesbians and Gays (FFLAG) and Lesbian & Gay Youth Scotland and then launched a campaign to tackle that same homophobia and homophobic bullying in schools, called Education for All. Since then, Stonewall has done surveys, held conferences, and lobbied legislators, as well as worked with teachers to gather the research from the surveys on homophobic bullying in schools. In 2010, Stonewall released the first film centered around the problem of homophobic bullying, made solely to help schools tackle the challenges they and the students face, called FIT ("History of Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Equality." www.stonewall.org.uk). Even though the U.S. is notorious for its school shootings and school violence, a survey given by the Health Behavior in School-Aged Children (HBSC) conducted between the 2005 and 2006 school year, which spanned forty countries, showed that the United States was directly in the middle of the ranking of the survey when it came to the most reported bullying in school age children. The U.S. ranked 20th for girls and 17th for boys, with Sweden as the country with the lowest amount of reported bullying and Lithuania as the country with the most reported bullying in schools (Craig, "Global Bullying ...
As soon a child enters school, they are taught right from wrong and how to make the best decisions. This seemingly innocent lesson can transform a child as they grow up throughout their education (Denogan). Sadly, many students learn fraudulent ways to get ahead in competitive and social surroundings in school. These domineering strategies can contain compelling others for their work and taking credit for it, which results in false success, or gossip between people. These tactics are dangerous because once a student realizes their effectiveness; he or she may construct a life style from them (Denogan). Cultivating a chronic use of bullying strategies can result in...
(Swearer et al., 2010) One area of concern is the frequency and severity of school bullying can vary greatly depending how one defines bullying and who is asked to report on bullying. Another area is the possibility that students, teachers, and staff differ substantially with their perceptions of school bullying causing a negative school climate and its occurrence in their school. In an article published by the National Association of School Psychologist (NASP) it states, “25% of teachers see nothing wrong with bullying or putdowns and consequently intervene in only 4% of bullying incidents” (Cohn & Canter, Ph.D., 2003). Furthermore, it states, “Over two-thirds of students believe that schools respond poorly to bullying, with a high percentage of students believing that adult help is infrequent and ineffective” (Cohn & Canter, Ph.D., 2003). Schools, specifically the teachers, staff, and administration are responsible for keeping our schools safe and play a critical role in establishing a positive school climate. A sustainable, positive school
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.
Shootings and physical violence are only part of the problem in schools. More than twenty percent of students have encountered bullying whi...
“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).
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.