Examples Of Bystander Intervention

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Bystander Intervention
Imagine an innocent teen walking home from school, when a bully appears and begins relentlessly taunting, pushing, and calling the teen harsh names. The teen is defenseless and hopeless because he/she is intimidated by the bully and no one around is stopping the interaction. There is one solution to this situation that can help teens when they are in that position, and it is bystander intervention. The University of Texas’ Bystander Intervention initiative defines bystander intervention as “recognizing a potentially harmful situation or interaction and choosing to respond in a way that could positively influence the outcome” (qtd in Mangan). There are several reasons why bystanders should intervene when teens are being …show more content…

Ultimately, having low self-esteem can ruin their teenage lives. In his article, “Bullied at School, Bullied at Work: a Prospective Study”, Lars Peter Anderson informs us that “Self-esteem refers to the global and evaluative view of oneself “and”…self-esteem has been found to be associated with bullying” (Moore qtd. in Anderson).Therefore, a teen having low self-esteem results in poor academic performance, health difficulties, and shyness around others. However, this could be avoided when someone intervenes and stops the teen from being a target of bullying. When a bystander enters the situation and encourages the victim, the teens self-esteem is boosted, which results in the teen developing good interaction and communication skills, leadership, and great academic …show more content…

Also, the teens ' depression can turn into anger towards the bully and people around them. When this happens it leads to school shootings. The victim that is being bullied finally has enough and seeks revenge by killing the bully. Jessie Klein, author of, The Bully Society: School Shootings and The Crisis of Bullying in America’s Schools, informs us about the shooting that took place at Virginia Tech in 2007. The shooter, twenty-three-year old Cho Seung-Hui was constantly bullied throughout his young life. His anger that he had bundled up from being bullied resulted in thirty-two people being killed, including himself (15). By someone intervening and stopping the situation from escalating to this point, the teens would not have suicidal intentions nor hostility toward others, preventing a deadly rampage at a

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