Bullying in Schools: Can It Be Stopped?
Even though schools face cost issues in education of staff and anti-bullying enforcement, bullying is a serious problem that is not being properly addressed. With the shootings at Columbine High School in Colorado, where on April 20, 1999 two students started a massacre where 12 students and one teacher were killed, and suicides in multiple places, it’s clear that bullying causes tragedies. All of the events, in some way, are related to bullying. In recent years, there has been more media coverage of incidences of bullying and its repercussions. There was a girl in Massachusetts named Phoebe Prince that after being bullied for months went home after school on January 14, 2010 and committed
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However, neither document provides much information on the disciplinary process. It should be more specific about the steps and levels of diciplinary actions.This is not acceptable to me as a parent. For my childs safety at school, I want to know what the school is doing to prevent bullying. My twelve year old son attends Ashland Middle School and has been a victim of bullying. He has been dragged across the floor to the point of bleeding from rug burns, had his fingers slammed in a locker,been slapped in the face, and been verbally bullied. When I approached the staff at the school, little was done to the bullies in question. One was told to apologize and the two others served after school or lunch detention. If I, as an adult caused physical injury to another person, I would go to jail for assualt. The punishment doesn’t seem to fit the crime in our schools. The schools aren’t the only ones responsible for the safety and education about bullying to our children. Parents need to make sure that their children understand that this type of behavior is unacceptable at school and at home. Unfortunately there are parents who don’t exactly know what constitutes bullying. There was an interview done by CBS Sunday Morning where the reporter Tracy Smith talks to students, parents and staff at Irving Middle School in Lincoln, Nebraska. The reporter talks to the
One important cause for the state or federal government to put laws in school to prevent bullying is make children safer in school. Temkin (2003) writes about the intention of the Senator Bob Casey want to introduce the Safe Schools Improvement Act. The time to pass this bill is now for making children feel safe and empowered in school. The U.S Department of Education showed that shown to be effective in reducing bullying. It is known that the horrible effects child abuse can have on a child’s current and future 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
Bullying has engrained in American society since the country’s founding. Bred from a capitalistic economy and competitive social hierarchy, bullying has remained a relevant issue through the years. School age children are learning skills and lessons from their teachers as well as through peer interactions. Although schools are great tools that children benefit from, there are some bad experiences, such as bullying, that may negatively affect and remain with these children for the rest of their lives. Some
Students who are victims of bullying force themselves out of bed every morning with an overwhelming sense of despair because they know one foot stepped inside the institution interprets into a new day and a new game for the oppressor. Even though there has been a nationwide policy adopted by many Institutions in the efforts of putting a stop to bullying, many victims stay unnoticed due to failure of acknowledgment, failure of anti-bullying programs, and failure of catching early discerning behavior. Nonetheless, Bullying has gotten to be such an overused word that those who are in dire need of assistance aren’t receiving the attention needed to eliminate the issue from the start, however, there are solutions that could solve the epidemic
The public school system has been governed by landmark cases and school law throughout history. One of the early cases was Brown v. Board of Education in 1954 where the Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional for states to have separate public schools for black and white students (Hubbard, 2014). Since 1954, the public school system has had a series of landmark cases which effect educational law such as Tinker v. Des Moines (1969), New Jersey vs. T.L.O. (1985), Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier (1988), and Individuals with Disabilities Act (1990). The State and Supreme Courts have ruled on everything from Freedom of Speech to Special Education.
Bullying has become a major topic of discussion within the education field in our country. The number of national public service announcements that center around controlling/stopping bullying has undoubtedly been heightened in the United States. Now more than ever, United States citizens are witnessing a constant influx of news stories developing around the problems that associate with bullying. This is certainly no different for those living in Northwest Ohio as more and more instances of bullying are being exposed at all educational levels with our children via local media outlets as well. Bullying has even hit close to home for me as a single mother as my 6-year-old daughter. She has already been battling with bullying as early as her kindergarten year of school, which in large part provoked this article’s creation. Before
Although schools, agencies and pediatricians can do much at the community level to mitigate bullying and its effects, the problem is clearly societal in scope. Bullying cannot be stopped with a single intervention or by a single social agency. The use of violence to solve problems is repeatedly illustrated through television and other visual media. Many parents of bullies believe that it is appropriate for their children to learn how to compete in the schoolyard and do not see bullying as an issue (Feldman Hertz, Donato, & Wright, 2013). Too many children in our society are exposed to domestic violence directed towards parents and themselves. Too many children are born into adverse family situations, including low maternal age at the birth
The July 23,2010 New York Times article “There’s Only One Way to Stop a Bully” by Susan Engel and Marlene Sandstrom (2010), reveals that laws do not stop bullying, only teaching the values of human life can make a difference . In Massachusetts, a recent state law is about anti-bullying. According to Engel and Sandstorm (2010), “schools are required to institute anti-bullying curriculum, investigate acts of bullying and report the most serious cases to law enforcement officers”. Research shows Children have been always been mean to one another. The desire and ability to protect and tolerate are not natural instinct in children.
According to the Journal of School Health, 71% of students report incidents of bullying as a problem at their school (“11 facts”). Bullying is widespread epidemic and it is one of the most unreported safety problems that occur on school campuses across the nation. People take days away from school to avoid being terrorized, see their academic performance decrease, experience depression, and in extreme cases take their own lives, or kill some of their schoolmates due to the fact that they were constantly burdened with people bullying them. Can you imagine seeing your own child apprehensive about going to school because they are haunted by the memories of constantly being called names, having false rumors spread between their peers, or even, battered? I have noticed that bullying is often dismissed by people because they believe that it is just
One of the most undeniable reasons why schools should protect the safety of students is bullying. Bullying is everywhere in this country and the students are victimized daily by this type of behavior. The act of bullying comes in many forms. Physical violence, poking, kicking, pushing is a form of direct bullying. Verbal bullying, name calling, and teasing is another form of indirect bullying. Basically, excluding a person from a peer group (Scarpaci,2006; Reid, Monsen,& Rivers,2004). Children between the ages of 9-15 are most often bullied. Research by Cohen (2015) states, since the early 1990s there have been more fatal school shootings due to this type of harassment. Prevention of this type of behavior educators as well as parents are working together to identity the characteristics of bullies and victims to stop this violence.
Lawmakers, activists, and parents have all been working to institute laws to help reconcile the bullying that has invaded the schools. It has not been a speedy process, only nine states require the schools to report bullying to the local authorities (Garby, 2013). New Jersey has the stiffest anti-bullying law thus far, by suspending or
While bullying has occurred for many years, anti- bullying programs in schools are having a strict development. Bullying was not an important subject that was paid much attention in schools or classrooms before 1999. When the Columbine and Virginia Tech shooting happened, schools did not have any anti-bullying programs. In 1999, schools started to implement anti-bullying programs like The Espelage Lab and Collaborator and many others. Unfortunately, bullying is still happening in nowadays. Bullying tragedies are in nowadays active. One big example is the bullying tragic ending: Angel Green hanged herself in a tree outside of her school so her bullies could see her every morning (Goad, 2015). This and many other tragedies have
Bullying is displayed in numerous forms from destructive and socially damaging aggression and interactions to teasing, name calling, and other verbal abuse to physical violence or threats of physical harm to exclusion. In the documentary, Bully, filmmakers address the complex interworking of bullying in schools. I found adults’ interactions and “solutions” or “aid” to be particularly interesting. I do not think anyone was totally equipped to handle bullying. With this being said, I am aware that bullying is an extremely complex issue and every case is different, so I am sure that the parents, teachers, and administrators believed they were doing the right thing. Because of how far off base these adults are in regards to effective strategies to reduce bullying and aggressive behaviors, I think that teachers and administrators should be required to hold a yearly round table conversation and workshop on how to best advocate for children how are the victims of bullying as well as reach the children who are bullying. Whether it be ignoring the bullying, removing children, either the child bullying or the child who is being bullied, or demonstrating inconsistency in the way that bullying is handled are all examples of techniques that do not work effectively. Furthermore, documented cases of teachers bullying and physically or verbally abusing children, especially those with special needs, seem to be surfacing with disturbing frequency.
Can you phantom your memory of high school being filled of fear, sorrow, a sense of neglect, or even the constant though of suicide? Many school-aged children face these feelings on a daily basis due to horrifying act of bullying. We have all seen the movies where a character threatens a kid in the hallways for his lunch money, but in reality bullying is an act that happens far too often in our society. The Board of Education defines the core elements of bullying as “unwanted aggressive behavior, observed or perceived power imbalance, and repetition of behaviors or high likelihood of repetition.” The malicious act of bullying has reached a point where legal consequences are necessary to punish the actions resulting in emotional distress and even worse, death.
Schools should start addressing the issue of bullying in school because the bullying is happening on school grounds therefore it is the school’s responsibility to address this issue, the parents most times do not do anything to stop the bullying their kids are doing to others and the bullying going on has caused the victims that get depressed and not want to come to school and school is supposed to be a safe learning environment.