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Mackenzie Marshall

3 February 2017

Ms. Sanchez

ERWC Period 4

Bullies Beware

Parents send their children off to school every day expecting them to learn, mature, make

friends, and most importantly, to be safe. However, it seems our government is cutting school

budgets every year which leads to larger class sizes and decreases a teachers ability to recognize

difficulties an individual student may be experiencing at school. As America integrates many

different cultures and nationalities into our school system, differences are leading to hatred,

violence, and bullying. It appears our school system has been late to recognize the damaging

effects of bullying and has thus far failed to eliminate it. Currently, our school system has opened

a dialogue about bullying and is airing commercials to recognize it, but these have thus far

proven unsuccessful.

To begin with, bullying can take many different forms. A student is being bullied or

victimized when he or she is exposed, repeatedly and over time, to negative actions on the part of

one or more other students (144 Olweus). Many people think bullying is only violence, but

words can damage a person just as bad. To put bullying in perspective, over eighty percent of

children between the ages of eleven and fifteen admitted to being the victim of some type of

bullying while at school (162 Coloroso). This statistic means that most of the students in our

class today have been bullied at some point during school hours. In 2010, after realizing the

dangers of bullying, administrators suspended more than 3.3 million students and expelled over

100,000 for bullying (Suski). Punishment for bullying needs to become more severe considering
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bullying can lead to decreased academic performance, increased school dropout rates, increased

depression and even suicide in some extreme cases (Suski). Educators need to become better

equipped to recognize all types of bullying and be given the power to severely discipline the

perpetrators.

To continue, the technology that allows society to communicate more readily with one

another has just intensified the prevalence of bullies. In fact, since the early 1980s to the present,

bullying victims have increased nearly fifty percent (145 Olweus). This escalation is alarming

considering the consequences of being bullied, which include drug use, cutting, and even suicide.

To add insult to injury, many parents view bullying as part of normal life and sometimes even

blame the victim (162 Coloroso). With the growth of the internet, nudity has become more

ubiquitous leading to more sexual deviance. This has caused a dramatic increase in girls cutting

class or ditching school to avoid sexual harassment at school. (163 Coloroso). Sexual

harassment is not limited to girls, but can also affect many boys especially those that are gay.

Boys and girls reported experiencing sexual harassment in the hallway, in the classroom, on the

school ground, and in the cafeteria emphasizing the lack of safe areas in our schools (164

Coloroso). Considering the growth of the bully population and the ease and varied ways at which

they can hurt another child, schools need to make prevention a much higher priority today more

than ever before.

Going forward, administrators, teachers, parents, and students all need to play more

active roles in bully prevention programs and securing a safe social environment at school (148

Olweus). For too long, people have turned a blind eye to bullying and just concluded that kids

will be kids. This primitive mindset needs to end now. If schools were to focus on effective

early intervention for bullies instead of waiting to punish bullying behavior after the fact, it is
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likely they would see a decrease in bullying and suspensions and expulsions (Suski). Bullies

can also become future victims, by getting expelled from schools and not receiving an education.

This can lead them into a life of crime and imprisonment. The U.S. Department of Justices

office of Juvenile Justice and delinquency Prevention have finally recognized the importance of

funding programs to help deter bullying and its negative impact on society (149 Olweus).

Hopefully, with the proper funding and education, teachers will be better equipped to identify at

risk and problem students. This could lead to early parent/teacher conferences to stop problems

before they get worse (Rigby).

To conclude, through opening a dialogue and infomercials on television our schools are

in the infancy stages of recognizing and preventing bullying. This is evident by the dramatic

increase in bullying in the last 30 years and the fact that over eighty percent of children have

experienced some type of bullying in their life. Technology has made bullying much easier and

can enable some bullies to remain anonymous if they desire. The outcome of bullying is

extremely detrimental and costly to all of society. The victim can suffer severe psychological

trauma that can lead to suicide. Also, an uneducated young bully can ruin their own future by

getting expelled, not receiving an education, and being a product of the criminal justice system.

Thus, teachers, parents, administrators, law enforcement, and especially students need to all

work together to ensure that bullying ends and that all our children are safe to attend school.

Works Cited

Coloroso, Barbara. "Excerpts from The Bully, the Bullied, and the Bystander." (n.d.): 162-64.

Web. 30 Jan. 2017.

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Olweus, Dan. "A Profile of Bullying at School." (n.d.): 144-51. Web. 30 Jan. 2017.

Rigby "Parent Perspectives on How Schools Handle Bullying." NCAB. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Jan.

2017.

Suski, Emily. Assistant Clinical Professor of Law, Georgia State University. "Simply Punishing

Students for Bullying Will Not Address the Problem." The Conversation. N.p., 24 Jan.

2017. Web. 31 Jan. 2017.