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Allison
Dylan Allison
Professor Padgett
English 102
February 2016
Why is bullying a big problem in the world?
Bullying is something that has grown for the worse in America. Many people face
the problem of bullying and there is nothing they can really do about it. I am interested in
this topic because I have seen first hand what bullying can do to someone and the way
they behave. Bullying disagrees with my values as a person because I dont think anyone
should make fun of another person. It is my firm belief that everyone is made to be who
he or she is and that they are not a mistake. Growing up bullied all through school until
hitting a growths pert and started high school. I have experienced times when people are
wondering what is wrong with me and why cant I just be normal? It was a hard thing to
go through, and I know the toll it can take on a person growing up. It leads them to think
that they will never amount to anything and one begins to wonder if they will ever fit in. I
think I am qualified to write about this because I have been through being bullied in my
life and have learned how to overcome the people that think it is cool to bully. It is
something that has made me who I am today and has taught me to be more humble and
respect others no matter their shape, personality, sexual life, or the way they dress.
My first source is about how kids cause/self-inflict harm due to bullying. This
source is one that talks primarily of injuries from being bullied, some fatal and some not.
Research has shown that somewhere between 6.9 and 9.2 million kids live with
symptoms like depression, insomnia, headaches, or stomachaches, which is directly

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linked to bullying. The bad thing is that all of these kids (being the bully or the victim)
say they usually intend to hurt someone or themselves. There are also several cases as to
where there has been homicide or suicide due to bullying in America. The values at stake
here are that peoples lives are being ruined and something needs to change. If you are
being so rude or cruel to someone that you cause them to inflict self-harm then there
needs to be something done. I believe that everyone should be treated well and you
should treat people the way you want to be treated. Reading these statistics about how
many kids harm others or themselves due to bullying is detrimental. With the authors of
this article I think they are credible to talk about this because they work for the Pan
America Journal of Public Health so I believe they can be trusted. This is because the Pan
American Journal of Public Health is a journal with headquarters in Washington DC and
they are devoted to the field of public health. They do not seem to be bias on this topic
because they all care about statistics and not personal opinions.
My second source talks about, what are the biggest targets for bullies? This article
talks about a lot of things but I am going to focus on one part in particular being, the
LGBT kids. They say that the people that fall under this category are more likely to be
bullied because they are not so called normal. They stick out and it makes them easy to
be picked on because they are not like your average person. They fill these kids life with
physical and mental harassment and as it might not bother some of them, others are hurt
extremely bad and it can cause big problems in their life. The major values at risk here
are how people of younger generations will see how the ones before them acted and
possibly even act the same way. I think with this topic the future of the LGBT group lies
in the hands of people that bully. Will it always be that way or will it change? I dont

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think you should make fun of someone because of his or her sexual interests. I think this
author is credible because he writes for Harvard. That is a highly prestigious college and
he has done a lot of research on the topic and I would say it is credible. I do not think he
is bias through this article.
Does gender have anything to do with it? This article actually shows that females
are at a higher bullied rate than males. It also talks of what students did because they felt
threatened. I learned that some students went as far as carrying a weapon to school. It
also goes in to depth about cyber bullying. I am actually surprised that more females are
bullied than males. The values at stake here are that now that we have cyber bullying we
need to stop bullying period. This is because you cant go anywhere without being
bullied. I think the author of this article is credible because she works for a US news
business. This is a company that reports on Big topics in the US and some global news
and are very trusted by People. I also believe that she might be a little bias on the female
side because she talks mostly about that.
I think my research topic is arguable because there are so many answers to that
question. It is not just a yes or no type of question. I mean you could think of many
different answers to why bullying is a problem. The perspectives of the resources doesnt
really affect my views because I do not like bullying at all and no matter what I read that
will not be changed. I could revise my research question by narrowing down my question
to maybe a specific region and not just the world. I do not know if that would change my
outcome of my research or if it would stay the same no matter the region.

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Sources

"News Reports of Bullying-related Fatal and Nonfatal Injuries in the Americas."

N.p., n.d. Web.
(http://eds.a.ebscohost.com.pallas2.tcl.sc.edu/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?
sid=e139e45a-99c8-494e-8f91-

a5d198e61960%40sessionmgr4005&vid=1&hid=4108)
Lee, Jason. "Too Cruel for School: LGBT Bullying, Noncognitive Skill

Development, and the Educational Rights of Students." N.p., n.d. Web.

Tidwell, Allie. "School Bullying, Cyberbullying Continue to Drop." US News.
U.S.News & World Report, n.d. Web. 08 Feb. 2016.