Bullying
Bullying is unwanted, aggressive behavior among school aged
children that involves a real or perceived power imbalance. The
behavior is repeated, or has the potential to be repeated, over
time.
Both
kids
who
are
bullied
and
who
bully
others
bullying,
the
behavior
may
have serious, lasting problems.
In
order
to
be
considered
must
be
aggressive and include.
An Imbalance of Power. Kids who bully use their powersuch
as
physical
strength,
access
to
embarrassing
information,
or
popularityto control or harm others. Power imbalances can change
over time and in different situations, even if they involve the
same people
Bullying
behaviors
happen
more
than
once
or
have
the
potential to happen more than once.
Bullying includes actions such as making threats, spreading
rumors, attacking someone physically or verbally, and excluding
someone from a group on purpose.
Besag(2001)stated that a bully is defined as a person who
uses superior strength to influence or intimidate another person
or to force him or her to do what they want.
In Zimmermans
article on Homophobia hurts straight men, too,
it talks about
college
student
who
committed
suicide
videotaped him and another boy having sex.
after
his
roommate
Bullying can be found
almost everywhere in homes, on the internet, and especially in
schools. Bullying has a lot of repercussions that affect people
in many ways. Recently, bullying has been blamed for the rising
number of teenage suicides all over the country. No one is born
to be a bully, it is a taught skill (Kropar). A victim of
bullying doesnt ask to be hurt; its a product of ignorance from
todays society. State agencies like the Department of Education
could
start
implementing
stricter
rules
to
protect
students.
Bullying has become a problem that needs to be addressed as soon
as possible to protect victims everywhere.
Carey, T.A. (2003) observed that children who are raised by a
family that has no structure or morals are at higher risk of
becoming
bullies.
substance
abuse
physically
and
For
home
example,
usually
verbally
child
gets
especially
that
grows
abused
by
when
those
their
up
in
parents
parents
are
tweaking for the next high. As a result they tend to express
their feelings by inflicting
pain on others because they cant
take out
parents for fear of getting abused
their pain on their
more. Another reason could be due to parents getting a divorce
leaving this child to feel alone , blaming themselves for their
separation leading them to rebel and act out towards others by
hurting them physically or verbally. Sibling abuse is also common
in homes when, children are placed in a position where parents
show more attention and affection towards one over
the other.
Some parents dont realize that they start this process amongst
their children by making them compete against each other. These
children tend to take out their frustration on their sibling
hitting or teasing them. By making parents more aware of this
problem, they have a better
understanding of how serious this
issue is and what needs to be done to help prevent bullying .
According
to
L.
M.&Levinson,
E.
M.
(2004,
Fall)
todays
technology it is easy for anyone to take an embarrassing picture
or video of someone else and post it on the internet for the
whole world to see. An article recently published in the Daily
Mail, reported a story that took place thousands of miles away in
the United States on a small island of Hawaii about a group of
high school cheerleaders that were accused of bullying via the
internet. The school shut down the cheerleading squad until an
investigation is completed. Incredibly this story has gone so far
that it has gone half away across the globe. Because bullying has
become
world-
wide
epidemic
plaguing
communities
like
an
infectious disease everyone is getting involved in exposing such
a hateful act that causes so much pain to the victims involved.
An alarming number of suicides are being reported by children due
to bullying all around the world (a British newspaper).
Journalof Counseling & DevelopmentRoss, P. N. (2006) observed
that there have been incidents that involved school shootings due
this problem. Where even kids are taking revenge by taking guns
and shooting their peers and teachers because of embarrassment
and humiliation that they have endured continuously. For example,
the news aired a story about a boy who went to school with a gun
and shot several students and a math teacher at an elementary
school in Nevada just last month because of bullying. Another
example, was the
first public school massacre that killed a lot
of
two
people,
when
boys
went
in
heavily
armed
and
started
shooting at everyone. In a recent article posted in Civil Beat,
on how Hawaii schools are still struggling to help tormented
kids addresses an issue of safety for students. Despite numerous
attempts by lawmakers to get a precise answer from the Department
of Education on their plans with identifying and dealing with
bullies in the educational system they could not give a direct
response but only given a response that there was already
a rule
in place which was the Chapter 19 law. It still doesnt
define the response that lawmakers were looking for ( Eagles ).
School shootings have been more popular on the news than a decade
ago. There werent
any cell phones, digital cameras or tablets
available back then and computers werent as savvy as it is now.
People were more friendly and respected each others
feelings.
Now, most of them dont care as much and rather hurt others
instead of being nice.
School officials and lawmakers need to
combine their efforts in combating this problem and agree to
identify and set rules and regulations to those accused in order
to protect the safety of students everywhere.
Recently, the
district has launched a million dollar campaign against bullying
making it publicly known to communities all over that this is a
serious ongoing issue that we all need to address .
Federation.Juvonen (2003)Stated that In a five year period 29
deaths by suicide has been reported ( Hawaii state review ).
There were numerous reasons behind these tragedies that claimed
the
lives
of
dysfunctional
so
many
families,
youngsters.
Some
reasons
were
could
be
there
are
parents
due
who
to
are
divorced or have a substance abuse problem causing hurt and harm
to these children who sees no alternative but to take their pain
away
by
taking
their
own
lives.
boyfriend
or
girlfriend
argument that may lead them to kill themselves to show that their
life is nothing without the other. The highest of all which is 61
percent
is
due
to
unknown
reasons,
meaning
there
was
no
explanation or evidence to show why their lives ended so early.
Everyone is affected by these tragedies including family members
of the deceased. When a child takes their lives, there is an
unbarring feeling that a parent goes through along with questions
like, why?. Why did he/she do this? Who is to blame for this?
What could I have done to stop this?
and so on. Sometimes
its
hard to see the signs of destruction a child is going through
inside but, it helps to have an open relationship with an adult
or someone to talk to before committing this unthinkable act.
These are just a few statistics that was done in Hawaii years
ago not counting those from other states. These numbers are
alarming to know especially when they are broken down into ethnic
groups, age, sex and reasons of suicides. Bullying comes in many
forms of abuse, whether it be physical, verbal or psychological
it still affects a person. Due to those reasons alone there have
been
many
attempts
of
threats,
cutting
themselves
and
even
success of ending their lives. It is a sad situation that some of
these victims had to endure to get to that point where they felt
that it was the only way out. Hotlines and assemblies at schools
could be a way of communication for some of these kids that they
could look for help before turning to suicide. Before it becomes
a
statistic,
everyone
should
pitch
in
to
do
their
part
in
stopping abuse now.
If by being taught to become a bully than it is easy to say that
it could also be taught to be a better person. By education and
awareness may people come to understand the importance of change.
It might be hard because bullying is publicly educated through
television
shows,
radio
stations
video
games
basically
everywhere you look violence and bullying are being promoted.
Children at an early age is a great example to start from
because their minds are like sponges and can absorb the goodness
that later structures them into kind hearted and open minded
individuals that know by hurting people is not right. Bullying is
an ignorant disease that can be contagious only if it is spread
by those infected. But it could also be cured by antidotes of
education and awareness of being Pono.
According
to
Magazines,
Mean
kids,
mothers
tell
their
wounded young, behave that way because they have unhappy home
lives,
or
feel
inadequate,
or
dont
have
enough
friends
or
because they somehow lack empathy. But a new study suggests some
mean kids actually behave that way simply because they can.
Contrary
to
accepted
ruffian-scholarship,
the
more
popular
middle- or high-school kid becomes, the more central to the
social network of the school, the more aggressive the behavior he
or she engages in. At least, that was the case in North Carolina,
where students from 19 middle and high schools were studied for
4.5 years by researchers at the University of California-Davis.
Authors Robert Faris and Diane Felmlee interviewed publicschool kids seven times over the course of their study, starting
when the students were in grades 6, 7 and 8. They asked the
students
to
name
their
friends
and
used
the
data
to
create
friendship maps. They then asked the kids who was unkind to them
and
whom
they
picked
on,
and
mapped
out
the
pathways
of
aggression.
Pawlowski, Merry M. (2001) declared that
almost no gender
differences were found among traditional victims, Study I showed
that girls were more likely than boys to be cybervictims. Boys
were more likely than girls to be traditional bullies, while
girls were equally as likely as boys to be cyberbullies. Study
II showed that psychosomatic problems were associated with being
a victim, a bully or a bully-victim. Cyberbullying showed no
stronger association with psychosomatic problems than traditional
bullying. Study III:Three main categories emerged from school
health staffs experience: 1) Anti-bullying team; 2) Working
style; and 3) Perspectives on bullying. The last two each
comprised two sub-categories: Team member/Single worker; and
Contextual perspective/Individual-oriented perspective.Study
IV showed that, regardless of gender and grade, students with a
disability
were
more
likely
to
be
bully-victims
and,
more
particularly, bully-victims involved in both traditional bullying
and cyberbullying. No differences between disabled adolescents
and others were found with respect to the association between
bullying and psychosomatic health.
The results show that some adolescents are more likely to
experience higher levels of psychosomatic health problems than
others. They also show that some adolescents are more likely to
be involved in bullying, either as victims, bullies or bullyvictims. This thesis also discusses contextual and individual
approaches adopted by schools in preventing bullying.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
104Besag,
V.
E.
(2001)
Bullies
and
Victims
in
Schools.
MiltonKeynes, England: Open University PressOlweus, D.,Olweus.org
Carey,
T.A.
bullyingintervention
(2003)Improving
programs:
the
tool
success
for
of
matching
antiprograms
withpurposes. International Journal of Reality Therapy,Crothers,
L. M. & Levinson, E. M. (2004, Fall). Assessmentof Bullying: A
review of methods and instruments.
Journalof Counseling & DevelopmentRoss, P. N. (2006). Arresting
violence: A resource guidefor schools and their communities. Toronto:
Ontario PublicSchool Teachers'
Federation.Juvonen
(2003)Bullying
Among
Young
Adolescents:
TheStrong, the Weak and the Troubledin Pediatrics, December2003,"The
benefits
of
bullying".
2004.
Retrieved
2011-09-03.Bullies
are
healthiest pupils". CNN News.
263Pawlowski, Merry M. (2001)Virginia Woolf and fascism:resisting
the dictators' seductionp.104Besag, V. E. (1989) Bullies and Victims in
Schools. MiltonKeynes, England: Open University PressOlweus,
University of Cagayan Valley
(Tuguegarao City)
CONCEPT PAPER: Bullying
Submitted to:
Mr. Larry Villanueva
(Instructor)
Submitted by:
Justin Earl Corea
Cedie Paul Ordillo
Merlito Valencia
