School Bullying Policy:
Effective or Not?
Do you feel safe at your school? Do you feel like your school’s policies protect you from potential threats? Some may say yes, yet others feel like the school doesn’t do enough. Schools enact rules against bullying, but does it really prevent it, or is that just how it looks from the surface. I think that the school policy tries to make an effective way to combat bullying, however it has some issues. The main problems with it are the fact that it requires repetitive “bullying” for it to be considered so, how it requires direct first hand knowledge of an employee to report the bullying, and lastly how it requires forms to be filled out within a certain span of time for the harassment to be acted upon.
First of all, I really don’t agree with how the Hollister High School Handbook describes and defines bullying. According to it, bullying is “intimidation, unwanted aggressive behavior, or harassment that is repetitive, or is substantially likely to be repetitive” (Hollister R-V Schools 14). So basically it’s saying that it’s not bullying unless it’s repetitive. A kid could shove you in a locker or push you over and it’s ok, as long as it’s only one or two times. I think that bullying doesn’t require it to be repetitive, because it’s still hurting a kid in some way, and can hinder the educational process; the school should take out the repetitive part of it. Branson’s harassment policy, which is similar to the bullying policy at Hollister, describes it as “graffiti; display of written material, pictures or electronic images; name calling, teasing or taunting; insults, derogatory remarks, slurs, jokes, gestures; threatening, intimidating or hostile acts; physical acts of aggression, assault or violence; theft; or damage to property” (Branson R-IV Schools 24). However, it does not require it to be repetitive, and that’s how I think Hollister’s should be.
Another problem I see that could come up with the handbook is how it only requires an employee to report bullying if they have “first-hand knowledge” of the incident. So with that in mind, a teacher or any other employee could ignore a reported instance of bullying, even if reported multiple times, because they have not
Students in Hollister High School hold their heads up high with pride. They are the stars of the school with the most friend and attention. While they are getting all the attention no one notices the students in the background. The ones getting shoved to the ground for being “annoying”. Things like this lead students like Tyler Long ,from the movie Bully, to commit suicide. Hollister High School has the chance to stop things like this from happening. Based on the student handbook and the way the administration acts it makes you wonder. Who would Hollister High School protect? The quarterback of the football team or the quiet girl at the back of the classroom who gets picked on? If this high school really wants to protect the harms of bullying then why don’t they have a proper bully policy? One of things that is good about the student handbook is are the consequences, but there are still some flaws in the policy. Such as the Report form, this form is helpful in some cases, but a waste of time. Lastly, one of the other flaws is the teacher's role in letting kids know about the bully problem, and giving teachers more of a opportunity to inform their students about bullying, and how it affects the people around them. If Hollister High School wants to improve their school then there are going to be some changes to be made.
The first factor is physical abuse; physical abuse is any intentional and unwanted contact with you or something close to your body (Google). If someone were to do something to you like pat you on the butt, or make you do sexual acts that you are against, also damage to or taking someone else’s belongings may also constitute as physical bullying.
Bullying is defined as “verbal, physical, or psychological abuse or teasing accompanied by real or perceived imbalance of power” and is usually targets what children perceive as different (Olweus, 1993). Bullying is prevalent across the nation. It has devastating effects on students each day. Bullying is a problem for all students, regardless of race, gender or class. The National Education Association reports that 160,000 children are absent intentionally from school each day because they fear being bullied whether it is an attack or just intimidation by other students. This accounts for 15% of all school absenteeism (Hunter, 2012). Dan Olweus (1993) from the National School Safety Center tells us that bullying includes three parts: (1)
As stories like Moniques and other people demonstrates, there are policies out there that just simply do not work.. One is called zero-tolerance policies, and while these succeed at sending the message that bullying is not tolerated, there are several problems with them. Nora M. Findlay believes, “ One of the most serious problems inherent in zero tolerance is that it treats dissimilar problems in a similar way” (6). Secondly, “Students and teachers may be less likely to report and address bullying if suspension or expulsion is the consequence” (United States Department of Health and Human Services). Two other policies that are used but never works is called peer-mediation, and conflict resolution. The United States Department of Health and Human Services stresses, “Conflict involves antagonism among two or more people. Whereas any two people can have a conflict (or a disagreement or a fight) bullying only occurs when there is a power imbalance-where one child has a hard time defending himself or herself” (“Myths about Bullying” sect. 1). This difference is very important to be aware of because these strategies can make the people being bullied feel even worse. Not only that, but it sends the message that all children share equal blame, which is definitely not an appropriate message. The message to the person being bullied should be,
Furthermore, since there are no federal laws that address bullying, “bullying overlaps with discriminatory harassment when it is based on race, national origin, color, sex, age, disability, or religion.”(Federal Laws 1) After the 1999 Columbine High School shooting, forty-eight states put anti-bullying laws into place. All of their laws state that a hardcore investigation must take place, along with reporting it, followed by strict punishment. A victim has to report it happening from the same person or group repeatedly before anything is done about it, in order to suspend or expel the bully. Not many students in school are willing to report any bullying activity, they fear that they too will become bullied, for being a “snitch” or “tattle tale”. Students know that if the bully discovers who told on them, then it will make them more hostile and escalate them to find more cruel way to punish their victim. Even if the bully is expelled from school there is other means of torturing someone.
By law all schools and nursery settings must have a behaviour policy in place within their settings, which should also include anti-bullying procedures and a policy for everyone in the setting to stand by and use. The Education and Inspections Act 2006 states that the head teacher should have policies and procedures in place which promote self-discipline to try and stop acts of bullying within the school setting, it also states in The Education and Inspections Act states that school and child care settings should encourage good behaviour and ‘preventing all forms of bullying amongst pupils and staff’. Also, the Department for Education released a guidance on preventing and tackling Bullying in 2014 this was brought about and put into place
Bullying is bound to happen anywhere at any time but occurs mostly within school limits. Kathleen Winkler defines bulling in her book, Bullying, as “...any kind of ongoing physical or verbal mistreatment, done with the intent to harm, where there is an imbalance of power between bully and victim” (Winkler 14). Bullying has an extremely important impact on one’s everyday life and can affect their life negatively getting to the point where they can no longer take the blow. To try and prevent bullying from taking place in schools, one needs to know how bullying effects a person, what the role of each person involved in the situation is, and have knowledge of specific methods on how to prevent it. Bullying in schools is a serious problem and a handful of school do their part to prevent it; others, not as much, which means there is room for improvements.
In Lord of the Flies, the kids secluded Piggy from their group because of the way he acted and his appearance was different from his peers. Children with abnormal appearances or who suffer from disabilities are more likely endure constant harassment from their peers in the classroom, this behavior is unacceptable and needs to be addressed. Bullying is when one person intimidates another. Bullying involves an aimed threat of physical aggression and is done by a larger or older person toward a smaller or younger person.
As described on my work setting Policy for Anty-Bullying, bullying is a “behaviour which is repeated, deliberated and intended to hurt, threaten or frighten another person or group of people; it is usually unprovoked and always reflects an imbalance of power”.
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
Our bully policy is good where it stands and I believe it should not change at Hollister High School. The handbook for HHS works for this school due to the low number of bully incidents here. I believe other schools may have to have a different policy because of the larger number of kids and people who need help because of bullying. Along with saying that we have such a small school that everyone knows everything and it is taken care of right when it starts most of the time and is very frowned upon. Also saying that our school does focus on other things that they think is more important to them and may slack a little on bullying.
Bullying is defined as the repeated use by one or more students or by a member of a
Back in the past many have focused on drug and alcohol use in school students along with students carrying weapons to schools, and it seemed as if no one was recognizing the significance of school bullying. For victims of bullying, they go to school every day facing harassment, taunting, and humiliation. Kids today come home and kill themselves or never want to go back to school because of BULLYING. “Studies show that 25-35% of teens encountered some type of bullying in their lifetime (Nansel et al,).” Bullying is a form of violent behavior that happens not only in the schools but everywhere. Kids everywhere have been exposed to bullying in school for generations and ages . Although bullying has always been a factor the consequences for
What if you were terrified to go to your school every day? 160,000 students miss school each day because they get bullied and are scared of what will happen (“Bullying Statistics”). Bullying has been a major problem in schools for far too long. Students should not be scared to go to a place that is supposed to be safe and where they can express themselves. Students that bully never get the punishment they deserve, which causes them to continue to act. When you go to school, you should know that if you are getting treated in a horrific way, the people who were treating you that way will get punished. Students who bully should be suspended from school.
About twenty-eight percent of student’s ages 12-18 reported being bullied at school during the school year according to the Indicators of School Crime and Safety report, by the Bureau of Justice statistics. Across thirty-nine states survey, 7.2 percent of students admit to not attending school because they do not feel safe. The importance of bullying can’t be undermined. Teachers and parents must understand the importance of looking and listening for signs and behaviors of bullying. This will help tackle the issue before it gets serious and someone gets hurt.