Bullying Chapter 13

Bullying, often labeled as just a part of growing up, is a major problem in America’s schools today. Although it is such a hot topic in our country right now, it is also a long ignored problem that only seems to worsen. The complication with bullying is that no one quite understands it, and it is not taken seriously. The definition of bullying is an overbearing person who habitually badgers and intimidates smaller or weaker people. In more simple terms, bullying is not a onetime incident; it is repetitive and happens among individuals when there is an imbalance of power. Statistically, every one in six children are bullied, and this cannot continue to take place. Every child has the right to feel safe and have the pursuit of being happy in which bullying completely takes those rights away.

One of the grimmest, ongoing issues present within all latter-day educational institutions and public facilities is the problem and complications of a recently reinvigorated phenomenon: bullying. Bullying can be defined—and entails—as any of the broad gamut of aggressive, intimidating, and/or negative behaviours that are expressed on behalf of an individual or group towards one or more other people who consequently experience forms of mistreatment and associated sentiments of pain (this behaviour is generally associated with young adults and children). Albeit many younger students have neglected the genuine importance of this issue as a result of many unrealistic, specious clichés and stereotypes present within the media coupled with feelings of nonchalance and lethargy, the problem of bullying has only been aggravated through the inception of the Internet and the concomitant repercussion of cyberbullying: “2 in 5 parents report their child has been involved in a cyberbullying

Teacher and parent awareness is one of main obstacles in preventing bullying prevention. Teachers and parents do not take bullying as being serious and underestimate the effects it has on children (Cohen, 2008). It is reported that 85% of teachers think they intervene to stop bullying, however only 35% of students feel that teachers do (Cohen, 2008). Many parents and teachers do not have the proper knowledge on what establishes bullying. They see bullying as only being violence and ignore the verbal assaults that are occurring (Cohen, 2008). They do not know the signs to look for and have not been properly trained on how to resolve the issue (Cohen, 2008).

Bullying is unwanted, aggressive behavior among people of all ages, but mostly school-age children. Society has been aware of bullying since around 1693, but it was not viewed as a real problem until the 1970s. “While overall incidents of school violence, such as assault and theft, have declined in the last decade, bullying is on the rise.” (qtd in Tyre) The percentage of middle and high school students that have been victimized by bullying went up from 14 percent in 2001 to 32 percent in 2009. (Tyre)

One way of stopping bullying is through anti-bullying campaign and group discussion seminar regarding the effects of bullying. By building this campaign, it can help the victims feel like they are not alone and have someone who will listen to them. Having someone who they can vent to in the time of need, can help relieve the pain they are drowning in. With these seminars, we can teach others about the effects that bullying brings on their victims.This campaign can help them relieve the pain and become stronger as an individual to overcome this horrible obstacle in their life.Statistics have shown that bullies themselves don’t see the outcomes of the harm they are doing. According to Rachel C. Vreeman, assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the Indiana University School of Medicine, “evaluations of the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program, a comprehensive “whole-school” intervention on which many subsequent programs have been based, report reductions of 30% to 70% in the student reports of being bullied and bullying others.” (20) Which demonstrates by having these campaigns it can help dramatically to be spread throughout, to help every child and not simply ignore the problem.

*Bullying is still prevalent today- Bullying, continues to affect an estimated 50–80% of young people. Approximately 16 children each year in the UK commit suicide as a result of being bullied (Side, & Johnson, 2014). In spite of decades of research and more recent guidance by Government, bullying in schools remains a serious concern to young people and educational Practitioners (Side, & Johnson,

Over the past couple of decades, schools all across the nation have noticed a significant rise in the amount of bullying taking place among their students. “Two decades ago, bullying was often seen as a rare occurrence, where small groups of parents sought protection for their children with the school district”, stated by Vikki Healy Ortiz, writer of the article “New inclusive approach helps schools fight bullying”. However, the same cannot be said for our society in today’s world. Our modern world has advanced tremendously over the past few decades and there are even more opportunities for children to be susceptible to feeling isolated from others because they are simply unique. In today’s society, children have the potential to bully each other outside of the classroom as well.

Bullying among school-aged children is regarded as a widespread problem in the United States and there is no one-size-fits-all solution to the problem. According to the National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES), over one third of students in elementary and middle schools are impacted by bullying (Klein, 2012). Bullying is defined as “unwanted, aggressive behavior among school-aged children that involves a real or perceived power imbalance. The behavior is repeated, or has the potential to be repeated, over time” (Klein,2012). Studies show that the consequences of bullying not only include students who are bullied, but the effects extend to those who bully and

Schools around the world offer educational opportunities for their students; which offer many opportunities for social cooperations for the youth. These social opportunities likewise offer many opportunities, one being for children to become victims of bullying.

The results from the survey and interviews I conducted demonstrated the difference in perspectives of teachers compared to students. The teachers thought that their school was actively reducing bullying, while respondents to the survey thought their schools were not helping. This means that there is no common ground for bullying, and that could be why bullying is not changing overall. In the survey,

Bullying is an issue that has been overlooked for many years because of students being frightened to tell that they are being bullied. Many teachers, administrators, and school counselors underestimate the amount of bullying that takes place within schools. The behavior of bullying has impacted so many students’ lives to the point of causing a student to want to cause harm to his or her self or others. Many students that bully threaten their victims by telling them if they decide to tell an adult they will get beaten up worse. Bullying can cause a student to suffer from emotional distress that interferes with the student’s learning ability.

The information was then evaluated by experts, reliability and validity were both determined. From the results, it was determined that students want to see teachers take an active role in eliminating bullying behavior from the classrooms and the students feel that it is more helpful if teachers teach kids strategies on how to stop bullies from targeting them as well as, communication involving both parents of the bullies and victims (Crothers et al, 2006). Rigby's (2008) study found, in a later study, several ways to empower children in how to deal with bullies when the bully targets them. In a similar study, more recently, Espelage, Polin and Low (2014) had found that teachers' are more likely to intervene in a bullying situation when the student reported the bullying incidence to them (Espelage, Polin, & Low, 2014). In other words, students want to see teachers proactive in dealing with bullying, students also want to be empowered through training to deal with the bully, and they strongly find it helpful that some form of contact is made to the parents of the bully and their own

Moreover, behavioral and emotional differences intimidate many people. This study provided the many different definitions of bullying and is a great jumping point for teachers to understand the causes and effects of bullying, both in school and legally. However, the nine helpful recommendations fail to be truly applicable to a classroom and may even raise more questions than answers. Most would agree that policies that apply to schools are a state-level issue, as per our Constitution. However, if the available definitions of bullying are too broad and students do not report issues or teachers fail to advocate for victims or fail to be strong moral agents and correct issues as they see them then all the other recommendations in the article have substantial

In terms of self-nominations and peer-nominations of bullying, 35% of participants were found to be victims, 11% were found to be bullies, and 5% were found to be bullies and victims. Bullying appeared to occur very frequently during the two weeks prior to the survey with frequent observations of physical bullying as well as verbal bullying, relational bullying, and attacks on others’ property. Also, the frequency of bullying failed to significantly change after the implementation of Bullyproof. Furthermore, most students reported attitudes against bullying during the pretest. While 80% of participants either agreed or strongly agreed that helping victims of bullying is necessary, 28% agreed or strongly agreed that victims essentially bring bullying on themselves. Less than half of students in the sample agreed/strongly agreed that they could impact bullying in their classroom. In addition, results showed a general rise in perceived power and anti-bullying attitudes. The most significant increase took place among female participants and fifth graders. Also, the program evaluation results showed that, on a scale of 0-30, the effectiveness averaged 18.99 with a standard deviation of

School bullying and bullying as a whole has become a growing concern. The need for more intervention is more recognized, as incidents of bullying and inappropriate acts towards others occur in places outside of the classroom. This literature takes a closer look at bullying in schools. Olwesus (2013) states “the field of bullying research is to some extent plagued by problems, disagreements, and unresolved issues” (p.752). Whether if anyone will agree on the root of bullying, the fact remains that bullying has to be examined at its very core to remedy the matter before it becomes a bigger concern. There is a dire need for intervention based programs to be set in place to address the fact the act of bullying has lasting effects on the bully and the victim. When intervention programs are put into place to address bullying, the act of bullying decreases due to the gained understanding of the effects.