In the book Sticks and Stones, Emily Bazelon's choices to incorporate surveys, statistics, research, and multiple perspectives were considerably successful in helping her achieve her purpose of educating the reader about bullying culture among teens.
In Sticks and Stones, Emily Bazelon successfully uses multiple perspectives to convey her purpose of educating the reader about bullying culture among teens. Throughout the story Bazelon makes the choice to speak with not only the victims of bullying but also the perpetrators. Monique is a 12 year old girl who gets bullied everyday at her middle school. Instead of only speaking with Monique and deciding the bullies are terrible people, Bazelon chose to dig deeper into the culture at Monique’s
…show more content…
school and see what is going on. She spoke with Ashlynn, who was one of the bullies friends.
Ashlynn stated, “‘Everyone wants a reputation for being a hard-core mofo,’ said a girl named Ashlynn who was friends with Jasmine. ‘For being bad. You don't want anyone to think you’re a softie’” (Bazelon 137). By saying this Ashlynn gives the reader a look straight into the mind of teens. It proves the “stay on top” culture that has taken over the halls at Woodrow Wilson Middle School, which is what Bazelon is working to explain. Ashlynn also gives the reader a taste of her own perspective which in turn, is helpful in achieving the author's purpose. Bazelon also followed the story of another middle schooler named Jacob. Jacob was a gay male that was bullied daily by a boy named Aaron. Again, instead of marking Jacob the victim and shaming Aaron, Bazelon looked into the story so she could hopefully find out more about bullying culture.. She spoke with Aaron and he stated, “’Look, you don’t go to school with a bunch of farmer kids in the country, put makeup on, and expect to have nothing happen you,’ Aaron said. He sighed. ‘Just act like normal people’” (Bazelon 72). By taking a look at Aaron's perspective the reader can gain a greater sense …show more content…
of what the culture at Jacob’s school. It educates them about what is going through the teen’s mind at the time. By choosing to take a look at multiple perspectives of a story, Bazelon effectively educates the reader about bullying culture among teens. Another effective way Emily Bazelon communicates her purpose of educating the reader about bullying culture among teens is through using professional interviews, and research.
All along the story, Bazelon uses interviews, and research to further communicate her purpose. Bazelon spoke with Laurence Steinberg, a psychologist at Temple University. Steinberg tells Bazelon, “‘To the extent teenagers think bullying will elevate their status in the eyes of their peers-the immediate reward-they may not be paying as much attention to the longer-term cost,’ Steinberg told me. ‘Bear in mind that a lot of bullying occurs in front of other kids’” (Bazelon 47). This information establishes Bazelon’s purpose because it states exactly what the mindset of the teens is, and helps showcase the bullying culture. By knowing this, the reader can form more educated thoughts and opinions and, her purpose is effectively conveyed because she chose to incorporate a professional interview. Bazelon also spoke with Philip Rodkin, a researcher at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In an Interview he believes that, “patterns of ‘reciprocated dislike and animosity’ between bullies and their victims don’t get as much attention as they should. They don't fit in with the idea that bullies are entirely innocent. And yet, Rodkin has found, kids who bully tend to pick as targets the kids they don't like: ‘low-status peers whom they already dislike, and who dislike them’ (Bazelon 71). By choosing to
incorporate this interview, Bazelon even further educates the reader about bullying culture because Rodkin explains how the relationship between the bullies and the target come to be. This essentially is the bullying culture Bazelon is getting at, therefore she successfully educated the reader about bullying culture among teens through the use of professional interviews and research.
When the word bullying is brought up, one always pictures in his or her mind a big angry boy, who picks on other small helpless children. What some don’t realize is that bullying comes hand in hand with popularity, likeability, and peer acceptance. Children are heavily influenced by other kids his or her age, as the old saying goes, “But mom Jimmy gets to stay up past 10, why can’t I?” According to Miranda Witvliet, to understand children’s peer group affiliation, you need to be able to examine children naturally occurring groups resemble each other on bullying, likeability, and perceived popularity. To be accepted by a popular group of kids, others would follow in his or her footsteps and will bully others, even if the child knew it were wrong. Schools around the country have constructed anti-bullying campaigns and have programs setup to teach students, teachers, and family members what to do to prevent bullying. In an article by Jennifer Dignan, she explains how Stomp Out Bullying and The National Center for Bullying Prevention are two organizations working to put an end to the epidemic. To help prevent bullying people need to understand how the victims and the bullies are affected by other peers.
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)
Imagine coming home from school, you are already upset from getting bullied and then your phone starts beeping. It repeatedly keeps alerting you and it fills up with hateful messages and threats. This is the life of a child who is bullied and harassed, this happens to them constantly until they eventually implode. Adults think of bullying as kids being kids and being a part of life; but, no child should go through the pain and torture of that. Bullying happens across the world, with no cure to it, it 's a plague that needs to stop. Children from the UK, France, and many other countries are subjected to this. In the United States, many cases have been dealt with which involves pre-teens and teens committed
The word “bullying” can be defined as the use of superior strength or influence to intimidate someone, typically to force him or her to do what one wants. In the novel Nineteen Minutes, written by Jodi Picoult, the high school students prove the definition to be true. The forms and effects of bullying have no real limit, but are always going to be negative. Children, or even adults being bullied is extremely common, and can often get out of hand. A lot of the times there nothing is done to prevent bullying, which is a huge mistake that should be corrected as soon as it could be. Through the extremely emotion filled novel, Nineteen Minutes, Jodi Picoult goes deep into the face of a small town to find out what it means to be truly different in society. Jodi Picoult uses the social issue of teenage bullying to create a realistic story about the effects of verbal and physical abuse, leading to a tragedy for society. This novel is a great example of how bullying no only affects the people who are involved, but many others as well. Bullying in teenage children not only has an effect on themselves and their peers, but on society as whole.
In the first chapter, “Sticks and Stones”, Dave Weber explains the rising epidemic of bullying among children and teenagers. Weber gives an example of his own experiences with bullying, and how his father would say, “You need to remember that sticks and stones may break your bones, but words will never hurt you,” (Pg. 1). Weber goes on to explain that harmful words can in fact result in injuries and scars. Using just your body language can result in hurt feelings. Rolled eyes, crossed arms, and sighs can throw sticks and stones. This chapter is meant to inform the audience that this book is supposed to teach them valuable lessons.
Emily Bazelon’s Sticks and Stones focuses mainly on the stories of four students from various schools in the United States. The students Bazelon focused on were Monique, an African American girl who was bullied, Jacob, a homosexual boy who was bullied, and the stories of Flannery, a girl who was accused of bulling the fourth student, a girl named Phoebe, to death. Bazelon interviewed these students and the friends, family, and administrators who surrounded them to provide the reader with stories through which they can understand the experience of bullying victims. Bazelon uses these stories as examples and starting points for discussions about the experiences of bullies and their victims, the rights of bullied students, and the programs and
The documentary film Bully (2011) – directed by Lee Hirsh – takes the viewer into the lives of five families that live in various, predominantly remote, towns across the United States. All families presented have been affected by bullying, either because their child was at the time being bullied by peers at school or the child committed suicide due to continuous bullying. The film also profiles an assistant principle, Kim Lockwood, whose indiscreetness makes the viewer...
According to nobullying.com, nearly 160,000 thousand students stay at home every day because they are afraid that they might be bullied. With the growing technological advances, bullying can take place anywhere ranging from school, the bus, or even through the screen of cellphones. Bully, an awe-inspiring film seeks to create awareness to the most problematic conflict that adolescents face in this country. The documentary explicitly captures five families with children who struggle with bullies. Through the use of pathos, tone, ethos, comical relief, figurative language, and rhetorical implications, the audience is left with a very gruesome impression of injustice, and a lamentable experience of bullying.
Bullying in girls is said to peak between the ages of ten and fourteen (Simmons, 2002, p. 4). This adolescent period is characterized by physical changes as well as cognitive and social-emotional changes. During this time, an adolescents' relationship with her peers is most important for support and approval of ...
In a CNN study by Chuck Hadad he states “That bullying is pervasive even though the schools have anti-bullying programs from kindergarten through 12th grade, assemblies throughout the year, and a peer-to-peer program where older students talk to younger students about the dangers of bullying” (Hadad). Robert Faris, a sociologist found that bullies and victims are generally the same person. Whe...
Neimen, Samantha, Brandon Robers, and Simon Robers. “Bullying: A State of Affairs.” Journal of Law & Education (n.d.):n. pag. Print.
Bullying has been around for decades and yet it is still a reoccurring problem, and it is only getting worse. The National Center for Educational Statistics, in 2009, said nearly 1 in 3 students between the ages of 12 and 18 reported being bullied in school. Eight years earlier, only 14 percent of that population said they had experienced bullying(Ollove,2014). There are two types of bullying the direct form and indirect form, in the direct form the victim receives physical harm example kicking pushing shoving. In the indirect form the victim receives emotional or mental harm by name-calling, rejection, gossip, threats, or insults(Green,2007). It doesn’t matter which way the victim was bullied it still causes
This essay intends to compare and contrast the strengths and weaknesses of the quantitative and qualitative approaches to research which addresses young people and bullying using two journal articles. The first article (quantitative) aims to “establish the relationship between recurrent peer victimisation and the onset of reported symptoms of anxiety or depression in the early teen years” (Bond et al. 2001, p. 480) while the second article (qualitative) aims to “investigate the nature of teenage girls’ indirect aggression” (Owens et al. 2000, p. 70).The two articles will be critically compared in terms of research design, methods used, approach to data analysis, reported results and the plausibility and appropriateness of the conclusions and recommendations posed. The aim of this essay is thus to evaluate and assess the methods of social science research currently undertaken in published research.
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”).
Bullying can also be considered as a major problem in the teenager bracket. This can occur in any social environment not just schools as mostly portrayed. Bullyi...