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Essay on Why Is Bullying a Social Issue?

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Why is playground bullying a social issue? There are many social issues that need to be addressed, but playground bullying in one way or another has affected everybody. Bullying is classified as “aggressive behaviour where a dominant individual or group abuses their greater power by threatening a less dominant individual” (Maher, 2008). Bullying usually has a large impact on how a person perceives and presents themselves in society. The majority of bullying happens on the playground when there is minimal supervision and surveillance which not only means that there is more bullying but the bullying is much worse, it is more likely to be physical, vicious and continuous. The main issues associated with bullying are self-harm, poor mental …show more content…

Instead the victims turn their hostile attention towards another child who is more vulnerable than themselves. The victim then finds themselves in further trouble in school, not only with bullies but also teachers. Not surprisingly this leads to a student avoiding school all together. A child’s aversion to going to school and meeting the bullies is sometimes so strong that the parents are virtually forced to try another school to get a ‘new start’. Playground bullying also causes isolation among students. Many children say they would not be friends with a ‘wimp’ (Rigby, 1996); therefore children who are frequently bullied tend to have few friends. It is sometimes difficult to separate cause from effect. Children may be bullied because they have no friends, for it makes them easy targets. It may also seem to some that their isolation is evidence of their suitability for bullying. But once the bullying has occurred, the isolation deepens, and the victim may feel so depressed as to make little or no effort to make friends. There are also several reactions to be noticed among bystanders who live in a community in which individuals are being continually abused or harassed by their peers. Some are amused; some are sad and anxious, feeling that it may be their turn next. Some are angry; some feel ashamed or guilty for doing nothing, some simply

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