School Bullying

To begin this essay, it is essential to define some key terms. The Nature-Nurture debate argues whether our behaviour is as a result of our biology (such as our genes or neurochemistry), or if our behaviour arises from learning from others. For the purpose of this essay, a bully is defined as “a person who uses their strength or power to hurt or frighten people who are weaker” (Oxford Student’s dictionary, 2007). It is essential to investigate why bullying occurs and how to prevent it as bullies as well as their victims are likely to develop mental health problems. Children and adolescents who bully often develop increased levels of negative mental health outcomes in adulthood, as shown in Copeland, Wolk & Angold et al’s (2013) study; 9.4%

As more and more children go to school, the rates of bullying go up as time goes by. there are many times at which students suffer all the bullying that occurs within their lives. As more schools become aware of the magnitude of the bullying occurring right under their noses, there are rules created to aid the victim. There are various types of bullying and these are created to do one thing, instill superiority among the “stronger” and place a feeling of inferiority. Bullies are the ones who are detrimental to a child’s development.

Police, teachers, principals, state senators, and many others claim it’s not bullying that causes these mind numbing numbers of suicides and school shootings. They truly believe it is mental illness, depression, anger, and PTSD that causes the overwhelming number of suicides and shootings. What they fail to comprehend is that those are side effects as a result of being bullied.

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)

The concept of bullying in the school system has been linked to many homicides and

Bullying has always been a very common issue in schools, but not easily recognized or taken care of. It was not until the increased number of s hootings in the 1900's and suicides that attention was brought into bullying in schools or “schoo l-bullying” (“School Bullying” 1). Today bullying impacts up to thirty percent of middle- to high-schoo l students (“School Bullying” 1). Whether or not bullying is more dominant in one’s life i s dependent on the age group: bulling general starts in early preteen years, but subsid es before adulthood.

In the article Big Bad Bully, the author, Hara Estroff Marano describes that “the one most hurt by bullying is the bully himself” even if at first it is not obvious. Marano claims that the aggression of a bully starts at an early age. The aggression can be physical such as hitting, kicking, and punching or the aggression can be verbal such as name calling, threats, and insults. As Marano writes, “Bullying causes a great deal of misery to others, and its effect on victims last for decades, perhaps even a lifetime.”

In the article PERSONAL HEALTH; A Bully’s Future From Hard Life to Hard Tim it states “ children who bullied their victims were most likely to engage in violent behaviors then those who had never been involved in bullying. With this it proves how that if they had a punishment that they took serious and was talked to and knew people worried and cared about them they wouldn't be engaged in violent behaviors and would be able to deal with their emotions without violent behaviors.

Bullying in schools in America is extremely common. Most experts attribute this to children having been exposed to violence in society. Being a victim of bullying has serious long-term consequences. Introvert and recluse children who are victims of bullying are apt to be immersed in depression and poor self-esteem. Some of these victims are more likely to either

Along with mental illnesses, there have also been several cases where bullying was the cause for a child to act out in a violent way, or the bullying itself was taken to extreme levels. Bullying is becoming a widely spread epidemic, with students handling it in very different ways. Children have done everything from commit suicide as an escape from bullying to killing entire classrooms of people to get back at the bullies. According to the National Institute of Health, “both childhood bullies and their victims are more likely to engage in more serious violent behavior, like frequent fighting and carrying weapons” (Longley). Bullying is a serious thing that should not be taken lightly and, like any other issue, parents should be

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

May lose interest in school work and experience a decline in academic performance. It is important to note there are often severe affects of bullying. In Why Kids Kill: Exploring the Causes and Possible Solutions, Sylvia Rimm, a clinical professor of psychiatry and pediatrics at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, identifies a common trait among the violent children she's worked with: "There was always a history of problems in peer relationships," Rimm said. "All of them [children who expressed anger violently] had been teased by others more than what is typical."

Olweus, D. (1991) Bully/victim problems among schoolchildren: basic facts and effects of a school-based Intervention programme. In D. Pepler & K. Rubin, (Eds.) The Development and Treatment of Childhood Aggression.Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

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.

This section will be review the testing the credibility of several studies as they relate to bullying and school based shootings. One study will depict how bullying persists in groups and another will demonstrate the frequency of bullying, whether it occurs more in the home or in a school related setting. It is through evidence we will examine the presence of bullying and the impact it has on the student body.