Should The State Or Federal Government Put Laws?

Bullying has become a national epidemic. Although it was once considered a rite of passage; parents, and educators now see bullying as a behavior that is likely to produce emotional and social problems during the teen years and later in life for both the victim and the aggressor. Being a teenage bully can also be an indicator of future troubles. Bullying is a violation of human rights and is criminal, especially in cases when suicide is a result. State lawmakers are willing to criminalize bullying behavior. However, I believe that throwing bullies in jail might not be the best remedy. In doing so may not be effective in controlling the behavior of students or improve the school atmosphere. I believe both the bully's and the victim's parents

The main argument of this paper is that federal and state legislation are not rigorous enough to address the burgeoning demand to address the issue of anti-bullying in the school systems. This paper will delve into the legislation and national experiences as they relate to bullying in the school systems. The issue will be explored using the five lenses of the Blau and Abramovits (2014) policy model to take a look at the issues, debates, policies, and legislations that surround bullying in the schools. These five lenses are: the economic, political, ideological, historical, and social movement.

Bullying at school is a big problem that is found in all the schools in the United States and across the world. Since the late 1990s there have been several fatal school shootings committed by victims of bullying that have brought bullying major media attention. This has resulted in an increase of awareness about the harmful effects on the kids being bullied as well as the bullies themselves. This has brought a large amount of local, state, and nationwide programs designed to try to prevent bullying or to at least try to contain the problem. “In an effort to adequately address the problem, many schools are taking a proactive approach through prevention and intervention, but how do we know if and when such intervention is effective? First and foremost, we must have an accurate understanding of the dynamic and complex phenomenon of bullying across development and as it spans the multiple levels of the social ecology” (Casper, Meter, & Card, 2015, par 2). Many psychologists, sociologists, and school administrators have been publishing research on school bullying. Bullying is a significant threat to many children because it causes psychological problems not only for those who get bullied but also those who do the bullying. Even though bullying is a significant problem the are few solutions that can help prevent or significantly reducing bullying like reporting bullying, know the characteristics, and passing laws.

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

The state of New Jersey passed Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights Act in 2011 to reduce school bullying. The Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights Act, which is Chapter 122, is “an Act concerning harassment, intimidation, and bullying in school settings, amending various parts of the statutory law and supplementing”. After learned the current situation of bullying in the United States, and compared the rates of bullying to New Jersey, realized the benefits of anti-bullying regulations have on youths, parents, teachers, school stuffs, and so on, and the history of successfully implemented public school anti-bullying statutes in 2002, legislators in New Jersey saw the needs and being confident of enacting the Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights Act (C.18A: 37-13.1).

I believe bullying laws should be strict throughout every state in the United States of America however that is not the case for every state today. Depending on the state of which one resides, school officials can address bullying on their own terms. However, this can be an issue if there are no solid laws within that state to protect students from being bullied. Without proper state policies, schools fail to initiate prevention programs or simply lack the knowledge to create, interpret, and enforce anti-bullying programs. State policies of Ohio and Pennsylvania will be compared to show the discrepancies in prevention of bullying and how state laws protect students who fall victim of being bullied.

The final article that I have chosen in discussing the topic of bullying in American Schools speaks on preventing bullying through positive behavioral interventions. The article addresses how bullying continues to be a growing public health concern in schools across the United States. It addresses how there are considerable gaps in the American understanding of effective approaches for addressing this seemingly intractable issue. It is important that we do not ignore the fact that bullying is a dangerous act that affects young individuals on a daily basis and there needs to be some form of action towards helping others that are experiencing any form of bullying. Through this article, it applies a public health approach to addressing bullying through the multitiered positive behavioral interventions and supports framework.

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.

The legislation is intended to protect victims of bullying; however, consequences for bullying may be too severe. (Garby, 2013) postulates students who are considered bullies are not criminals, but rather copying learned behaviors (p. 449). (Teisl, Rogosch, Oshri, & Cicchetti, 2012) studied 470 kids growing up in high-risk neighborhoods and approximately half of those kids were exposed to maltreatment. It was more likely that these kids were identified as bullies. Not only is legislation affecting children, but workplace bullying is also being addressed. (Greenwald, 2010) interviews Eric A. Tate who asks the questions, “Do you really want to be the subject of being sued if you lose your temper? If you're on a deadline and somebody screws up royally, how do you discipline people?” The problem is how do we punish a bully? The goal of the bullying problem is to eliminate bullying, but sending someone to jail for assault may not be in the best interest to correct the bullying problem. Consideration needs to be paid attention to those who may have grown up exposed to aggressive behavior ultimately learning that behavior as an acceptable way to deal with

Relational bullying prevents a child from being involved or accepted by their peers (Kasier & Raminsky, 2012). This type of bullying occurs among both boys and girls; however it is more common amongst girls. The goal of Whole School Approach or No Blame Approach is to take the focus off the bullying by getting everyone involved and focus more on creating a positive environment (Kasier & Raminsky, 2012). This requires the school to take on the challenge of anti-bullying policy. Setting up clear expectations or rules for children about respecting individual rights these rules should include bystanders and

According to O’Neil, Kellner, Green, & Elias, bullying has lasting effects on students along with the school. Therefore, both “proactive and reactive strategies” should be implemented when dealing with bullying (O’Neil, Kellner, Green, & Elias, 2012). According to the authors, every school should have a group of “administrators and pupil service personnel” who are trained to deal with incidents of this nature. To properly deal with the problem of bullying in schools, certain measures should be taken. First, according to the US Department of Education Office of Civil Rights, an official investigation must be conducted. Next, the injured party and their parents, along with staff members, should meet to discuss

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

I concur with Brackett and Divecha's claim that public school anti-bullying programs in the United States are unable to support students who are physically and emotionally bullied. Two reasons why I agree with their claim is that these programs don’t always do as intended and can put children in a greater face of harm and that the anti-bullying programs could be vastly improved to be more effective. My first reason has two parts to it, the first part is that these programs are ineffective towards solving the bullying problems and the second part is that these programs put children at a greater risk of becoming a victim. There are many vocal opinions over the fact that these programs are ineffective. Some claim that these programs are ineffective

The presence of bullying is presented like a disease and is growing. It has reached a point that to prevent it from becoming worse, school systems need to intervene or establish stricter policies towards anti-bullying so that students have the ability to learn in a healthy environment. In the United States, forty-eight states have established anti-bullying laws. As this is portrayed as a law, schools and other facilities need to ensure that it is continuously enforced.

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.