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How to address the issue of bullying
How to address the issue of bullying
How to address the issue of bullying
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Bullying is not something that can just be addressed inside one teachers classroom, it requires a comprehensive community effort to effectively stop bullying and the tolerance of bullying. Research shows only 4% of teachers intervene in a situation where a student is being bullied yet 50-75% of students with special needs are the main targets of bullying. These percentages do not add up. With more adult involvement and awareness of what to look for with students educators possess the power to not only stop occurring bullying incidents, but to reduce the number of new occurrences in the school’s community. The factors that are a result of victimization are the same ones that cause students to be targeted and bullied it is a vicious cycle. When educators are not afraid to intervene in a situation involving bullying the student’s self-esteem rises as well as their willingness to learn.
BULLYING
Bullies. At some point or another everyone has either been one or known one, but what happens when we as educators suspect it is happening in our classroom, and what if it is happening to a student with special needs? Bullying is defined an overbearing person who habitually badgers and intimidates smaller or weaker people. It is no surprise that bullying is still a huge factor in schools today. (Nansel, Oveepeck, Pillia, and Ruan 2001; Olweus 1999). Currently there is a strong value placed on the standardized test scores of students but the social developmental aspect is being over-looked. (Fleming et al. 2005). Over the past decade violence has dropped but it is still something that plagues classrooms all over the world because educators lack the training required to deal with anti social behaviors. (Brener, Lowery,...
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...h: Prevalence and association with psychological adjustment. Journal of the American Medical Association, 285, 2094-2100.
Olweus, D. (1993). Bullying at School: What We Know and What We Can Do. Malden,
MA: Blackwell Publishers.
Perry, D. G., Kusel, S. J., Perry, L. C. (1988). Victims of peer aggression. Developmental
Psychology, 24(6), 807-814.
Rose, C.A., Monda-Amaya, L.E., & Espelage, D.L. (In Press). Bullying perpetration and
Victimization in special education: A review of the literature. Manuscript submitted for publication. Remedial and Special Education.
Sullivan, K., Cleary, M., & Sullivan, G. (2004). Bullying in secondary schools: What it
looks like and how to manage it. London: Paul Chapman Publishing.
Torrance, D. A. (2000). Qualitative studies into bullying within special schools.
British Journal of Special Education, 27, 16-21.
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)
Not only is it already hard to be a teenager, but having to deal with constant teasing and harassment is just something no one needs. There is a point in life where bullying can become so terrifying that students will rather stay at home than have to face their bully. Darnell “Dynasty” Young is a 17 year old gay teen who has gone through every possible way to stop his bullies from harassing him. His mother has tried everything but hasn’t been able to put a stop to it. Until one day, Young’s mother bought Darnell a stun gun. His mother told him to bring it to school and when the bullies began to torment him to take it out. He did just that, he did not actually shoot anyone he just waved it up in the air to intimidate his bullies. He not only got suspended but he also got arrested, yet the six boys teasing him and calling him names received no punishment whatsoever. (CNN) Young is one of the many kids that go through this type of abuse in a place where they should feel safe. This is an example of the school failing to do anything to prevent this kind of behavior, even after the parents try to intervene. This is also a great example of parents failing to implement high behavior standards by enforcing them to retaliate. Parents should be there to advice a peaceful way of resolving this in a non violent way not give them the weapon. By implementing prevention programs such as activities that help fight bullying can ultimately lead to the end of this horrific thing some kids face each day.
How can society possibly put an end to bullying, there can be as many sit downs with the children of today’s generation, but it is nearly impossible to put an end to this ongoing epidemic among the children of today. Many students are victims of bullying and not even half of the victims file reports against their attacker. Do Something, a Nationwide anti bullying organization said that “Over 3.2 million students are victims of bullying each year”. What can possibly be done to reduce and or possibly get rid of this number of students that are being bullied? The United States of America is currently fighting a war with bullying, and so far are losing. Although the number of state and federal laws against bullying have been increased, it seems that there have been more incidents that have not been heard about until it is far too late for something to be done.
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.
Neimen, Samantha, Brandon Robers, and Simon Robers. “Bullying: A State of Affairs.” Journal of Law & Education (n.d.):n. pag. Print.
No matter where you go, bullying is just around the corner. There’s no certain age for anyone to become a bully. Movies make it high school the biggest place for bullies to be created; but in the real world, that’s not the case. Bullying is a serious issue and can happen anywhere at any time to anyone.
Olweus, D. (1984). Aggressors and their victims: Bullying at school. In N. Fmde & H. Gault
... Bullying." Digital Directions 13 June 2012: 8. Educators Reference Complete. Web. 27 Mar. 2014.
In recent times bullying has become a national issue, notwithstanding the fact that it has been in existence for many years. Traditionally, bullying has been seen as horseplay, but with the increase of harassment in schools and suicides; parents and schools are now forced to take action to prevent bullying in schools. Bullying is an unwanted, aggressive behavior that involves a real or perceived power imbalance which has the potential to be repeated over time. Strategies to prevent bullying in schools are grouped into identifying the causes of bullying, creating policies and rules, building a safe environment and educating students and staff.
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).
Bullying does not have a standard definition. Bullying can be anything from calling someone else names, beating them up just for the fun of it, to texting or messaging them on the internet or any mobile device. Any person can be the victim of bullying, not just children. Bullying causes many issues, physically, emotionally, and mentally, not only for the victim, but for their entire families as well. Bullies have many different reasons as to why they start bullying someone else. The actions done to the victim leaves them with only a few options on how to stop being bullied. How they handle it is always different.
Bullying is an issue that is a problem in society today. Bullying is any kind of unwanted behavior to an individual on repeated occasions which is a display of power over someone. Bullying is mainly common among students in school, and unfortunately, it happens in other places like at home between parents and children, and on rare occasions, among adults. When people began to identify bullying for what it is, it was only known as a physical aggression towards others, but over the course of time, bullying has moved from just physical bullying to verbal bullying, and power abuse in the workplace between co-workers in different ranks. In a book called Welfare Brat: A Memoir, Mary was bullied in school by boys on the streets, and unfortunately, she was verbally bullied by her mom. Bullying among children in the society is caused by different reasons, and affects its victims negatively.
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.
Bullying is something that is not something new and is actually something that society continues to face. Over the years, bullying has been looked at as being so ordinary in schools that it is continuously overlooked as an emanate threat to students and has been lowered to a belief that bullying is a part of the developmental stage that most young children will experience then overcome (Allebeck, 2005, p. 129). Not everyone gets over the extreme hurt that can come as an effect from bullying, for both the bully and the victim. Because of this, we now see bullying affecting places such as the workplace, social events and even the home. The issue of bullying is not only experienced in schools, but the school environment is one of the best places
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.