The Article, By Signe Whitson

The terms bully and the act of bullying are defined in many ways. From a blustering quarrelsome, overbearing person who habitually badgers and intimidates smaller or weaker people to “instances when a child is exposed, repeatedly and over time, to negative actions on the part of one or more other students” to being later fully defined as including the intention to cause harm as well as a power differential in which the less powerful person is being attacked. The most recent definition of bullying is, “as an aggressive behavior or intentional harm doing that is carried out repeatedly and over time in an interpersonal relationship characterized by an actual or perceived imbalance of power or strength”. Since bullying has such a wide array of definitions it is often handled differently for each situation.

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)

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 is a problem that is on the rise in society; however, many individuals have a distorted view of what bullying entails. Usually when someone thinks of bullying, they assume that it is a standard part of a child’s life. This view, on the contrary, is erroneous. Bullying is actually abnormal behavior, many times, leaving victims with a dismantled self identity. Since some people do not understand the consequences of bullying, the actions of the bully often go unnoticed and are perceived as “kids being kids”. The issue of bullying goes deeper than that nevertheless. Despite the erroneous views that many individuals hold towards bullying, it is still a distortion of normal behavior in children.

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)

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 article looks at the different groups that are involved in bullying and how they affect the situation. Some are knowingly involved and participating in the act of bullying while others participate without even realizing it. The article shows a good understanding of the issue of bullying and informs the reader of what to look for and how to prevent it. The author helps us to understand the bully and what causes a person to bully, it also shows why some kids get bullied and how bystanders can contribute or prevent it. I think this article gives good incite and ideas on how to combat or prevent bullying. I will add this article to my tool box and will use it in the classroom to create an open and honest conversation about bullying. We will create peer responsibility through peer intervention and will build a classroom culture that encourages team work and group support. Using this article the students will understand the implications of their actions and will know how to change the path of the bullied. They will understand how being a bystander also contributes to the situation. They will know what actions to take in the prevention of bullying in their lives and those around

One of every five students is bullied each year (Bullying Basics,2017). Knowing that the problem of bullying is a large possibility in their classrooms, administrators’ and teachers’ main goal must be to offer a safe classroom and a positive, supportive learning environment to their students. If they work together to reach this goal, bullying can be

Abstract:Educators and parents need to be aware of the issues facing children that were not prominent when most of us were children. The changes to how we communicate, and access information has changed rapidly, providing great opportunities to reach people like never before. Many children are unaware of the dangers of online bullying and the real damage that can be caused by putting careless words on social media. It is pertinent that educators and parents commit to building safe school and community environments by teaching children at a very young age what is appropriate and what they should do if they someone else is being targeted by bullying. Search Strategy:I chose to search using wide terms, such as cyberbullying and elementary.

The act of bullying in the school setting has been a recurring theme in American History, as it is still ubiquitous despite efforts from mediators, programs, speakers wanting to fix this situation. Though many people may consider such efforts futile, bullying is a real-life situation and it is important for students to understand that it is unacceptable for their peers to feel undermined from it. Bullying is something that is common, as it has persisted in different forms such as racism, misogynism, cyber-bullying, or simply old-fashioned bullying. Even in worse-case scenarios, bullying may cause pressured individuals to think

Bullying is the repeated victimization of an individual by intentional physical or verbal abuse, exploitation and exclusion, within a context in which there is an imbalance of power (Hoffnung, 2015). Olweus (1995), a bullying phenomenon researcher, estimates that 10% of children and adolescents between the ages of 7 to 16 years’ experience bullying. Subsequently, Hoffnung (2015) highlights that bullying is a feature of the developmental progression of childhood to adolescence which commonly occurs within a schooling context. Additionally, Australian research shows an overall

Unfortunately, bullying and cyber bullying have become crises in society today. In the book, 8 Keys to end bullying: Strategies for parents & schools, by Signe Whitson, parents and educators are given direction and empowerment to help children overcome the bullying crisis (2014). Whitson combined up to date research along with practical skills to present a manual on the 8 steps to help children and their loved one when in bullying crisis. (2014).

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.

It is only in the recent years that attention has turned toward the widespread problem of bullying, especially in schools, and that bullying is identified as a serious problem that merits intervention and research (Coy). Therefore, relatively little effort has been made to overcome or address the problem, which still remains a widespread social vice. This paper purports to illustrate how, despite efforts made to rectify the situation, bullying still remains rampant, and is getting worse.

By better understanding the complex nature of bullying, we can improve the school environment by decreasing or eliminating the action of bullying and create a safe and successful atmosphere for the entire school. The more that is known about the issues associated with bullying, the more educators can do to prevent it and develop better understandings of how to treat bullies and victims. This paper will examine the different types of bullying, negative effects, and motivators behind the action. In addition, it will also discuss some profiles of bullies and victims. The goal is to further help educators understand bullying, so they can build more effective anti-bullying programs. Furthermore, the information gathered can potentially be useful in raising awareness on this topic and for creating new policies on bullying.