Introduction
It’s another day of school, eight hours of your day. It’s time to transition to
your next class, you have to make a left, and what do you see? A random
individual who individually starts physically and verbally abusing you! The next
day it happens again, then keeps going for months, and possibly the whole year!
This description is known as bullying. Bullying is “when an individual or a
group of people with more power, repeatedly and intentionally cause hurt or
harm to another person or group of people who feel helpless to respond”
(Definition Of Bullying). Bullying is a serious epidemic due to the fact that
it has been leading to suicide bin recent years. Bullying victims are between two to nine times
more likely to consider suicide than non-victims (Bullying and suicide).
Although bullying has been catastrophic in the past years, we can come together
and fight to stop this horrific epidemic in the 21st century.
History
The worldwide epidemic
of bullying has grown horrifically in many centuries. Bullying “In earlier
times, according to descriptions in old documents from the 18th to early 20th
centuries, bullying was generally described as physical harassment that usually
related to a death, strong isolation, or extortion in school children” (Koo
107). While in the 21st century “bullying in modern contexts
includes more psychological and verbal threatening as well. Moreover, the
meaning and forms of bullying has been expanded and developed as including mean
gestures and
facial expression, gossiping, and spreading
rumors” (1). “Although for victims of bullying, external characteristics
could be a part of the reasons for being bullied, there could be many other
reasons as well (e.g. personality)” (1).
For the last 20 years,
bullying has evolved tremendously. At first, bullying was explained as “a
dyadic relationship between a bully and a victim and the bullying happened
face-to-face”, for example a bigger kid picking on the smaller kid at the
playground (The Evolution of Bullying). Approximately 10 years ago, bullying
started becoming a group duo (1). The group made it more terrorizing to the
victim, due to not one person bullying them, but now the victim has more than
two bullies tormenting him. In modern times, bullying has expanded to not only
at school, but evolved to continuous harassment “online, via text message, IM,
pictures, and social media” (1). Horrifically, the continuous tormenting
behavior on a victim has resulted in the victim committing suicide. The history
of bullying has evolved to a point where it not only makes the victim’s life
miserable, but it makes the victim believe that he/she no use to the world
anymore.
Social Effects
Bullying doesn’t only affect the victims, it affects others in society.
“Bullying is a severe and widespread problem”, and it is constantly growing
today (Arguello, Sid). Bullying
happens nationally and internationally, bullying is all around us, and most
victims are taking their own lives because of how much abuse and hatred they’ve
had from the bully.
The effects bullying has on victims internationally is experiencing “negative
physical, school, and mental health issues” (Effects of Bullying). The issues
include “Depression and anxiety, increased feelings of sadness and loneliness,
changes in sleep and eating patterns, and loss of interest in activities they
used to enjoy” (1). Since the victim is getting bullied constantly, they can’t
think of anything positive due to the constant abuse they’ve been receiving
from the bully. Another issue of the victim is health complaints (1). Lastly,
the bullying can result in the victims having a “Decreased academic
achievement—GPA and standardized test scores—and school participation” (1).
Bullies tend to become a distraction to the victims education, resulting in the
victims academic achievements to plummet. They (the victims) are more likely to
miss, skip, or drop out of school (1). Bullying has been a conflict in our
world for many years now, and their needs to be a solution now and fast.
Bullying doesn’t only affect the victim; it can affect the bystanders who
witness the abuse (Eyes on Bullying). There can be harmful and helpful
bystanders; a harmful bystander is when the bystander instigates, encourages, or
joins in on the bullying. Mostly bystanders tend to accept the bullying taking
place and do nothing about the situation taking place (1). Meanwhile, helpful
bystanders can help by defending the victim (1). Although bystanders aren’t
specifically involved in bullying itself, they can make an impact on the
outcome. If they intervene and take a stand against the bully, it can form a
rally around bullying. It can be seen that bullying has made an impact in
the world, but not many come in to take a stand.
Examples
Bullying is more serious than others think. “A vigil was planned Friday night at Mesa View
Middle School in Calimesa, where the parents of a 13-year-old girl say she was
bullied so badly, she eventually took her own life” (McMillan, Rob). This is an
example of how severe the bullying epidemic is in. Students are supposed to
feel safe in schools, not afraid. When the student is constantly pressured with
abuse, they don’t know how to deal with it, resulting in the student committing
suicide.
Over recent years, our country has had a dramatic increase in advanced
technology. However, some bullies are using technology as an advantage. Another
example of bullying is cyberbullying. “Cyberbullying is bullying that takes place
over digital devices like cell phones, computers, and tablets” (What is
Cyberbullying). Cyberbullying includes “sending, posting, or sharing negative,
harmful, false, or mean content about someone else. It can include sharing
personal or private information about someone else causing embarrassment or
humiliation” (1). Bullying has taken a higher standpoint than previous
years, due to the not only physically and verbally abusing a victim, however
there has also been the use of social media for bullying! If we want to put a
stop to bullying, we’ll have to find solutions before it escalates.
Solutions
Although bullying is major epidemic around the
world, there are ways to solve the epidemic. A simple and easy solution towards
bullying is “Assessments—such as surveys—can help schools determine the
frequency and locations of bullying behavior. They can also gauge the
effectiveness of current prevention and intervention efforts. Knowing what’s
going on can help school staff select appropriate prevention and response strategies”
(Assess Bullying). This solutions is purposeful, planned, and uses good
resource tools (1). Some explanations on how the assessments or surveys can
solve the epidemic is that the assessment can tell adults “what’s going on.
Adults underestimate the rates of bullying because kids rarely report it and it
often happens when adults aren’t around. Assessing bullying through anonymous
surveys can provide a clear picture of what is going on” (1). Another
explanation is that assessments can lead to assess of “Target efforts.
Understanding trends and types of bullying in your school can help you plan
bullying prevention and intervention efforts” (1). Assessments is not only a
question and answer for citizens, it can be way to reduce the bullying
epidemic.
Assessments and surveys are getting the
solution started. You can research and submit surveys, but that can’t be the
only to put a stop to it. Students can play a major role in stopping or
preventing bullying. Students are most likely the first bystander when it comes
to bullying. If a bully does come intact, what should that student do and not
do? What students shouldn’t do is ignore it, think kids can work it out without
adult help, immediately try to sort out the facts, force other kids to say
publicly what they saw, question the children involved in front of other kids,
talk to the kids involved together only separately, and make the kids involved
apologize or patch up relations on the spot (1). The student bystander should
intervene immediately. It is ok to get another adult to help, separate the kids
involved, make sure everyone is safe, meet any immediate medical or mental
health needs, stay calm, reassure the kids involved, including bystanders,
model respectful behavior when you intervene (1). Students currently are afraid
to stand up to bullies. If they do stand they won’t believe how big of a
difference they’ll be making.
What can schools do to solve the bullying
epidemic? Schools job is not only to educate the students the school also
enforces a safe environment for the students. So, the principal “should ensure
that all staff are aware of the procedures to follow when responding to
incidents of student bullying” (School Responses…). If bullying becomes more of
an issue, the school needs to prevent the conflict from escalating (1).
The “Students who have experienced an ineffective school responses to bullying
may be less likely to report future incidents” (1). The student who is a victim
of bullying should report it immediately to a staff member of the school. The
staff needs to; listen carefully and calmly, and document what the student
tells you, discuss a plan of action with the students, inform the student what
you intend to do, provide suggestions on what to do if the bullying occurs
again, set a date for follow up review/s record the incident/student contact in
the school's student data management system, notify appropriate school
personnel, contact the parent/guardian informing them of the incident and your
course of action, and make sure to follow up with students over the next
several weeks and months (1). Schools need to be more aware of bullying,
especially grade schools. Schools need to put more emphasis on the epidemic by
showing more respect and kindness. Even rewarding students for good behavior
can prevent students from bullying others.
An example of the emphasis is when the news
reported that the Florida State football team visited an elementary school for
a community service project. While at the school, one of the players noticed a autistic
student sitting alone. The football player saw it as a “spotlight” and went to
eat lunch with that student. During the interview the student’s mother
explained that he is a victim of bullying due to him being diagnosed with
autism. The next day at lunch, the autistic student wasn’t sitting alone; he
was with all his classmates! School is supposed to be a place where students
can feel safe, not afraid. These solutions may not stop bullying completely,
but it can help reduce the amount. Even though they can raise awareness,
unfortunately bullying is constantly spreading every day! Chris Colfer quoted “When people hurt you over and over, think of them
like sand paper; They may scratch and hurt you a bit, but in the end, you end
up polished and they end up useless.” (Chris Coffer…). Showing that even though
bullies try to be the individual with all the power, but when the abuse ends
they will be useless.
Camus and Absurdity
Camus is a French absurd fiction author. If Camus was to comprehend about the
bullying epidemic, he would probably think that bullying is unnecessary. He
would most likely ask “What’s the meaning of bullying?”, and Camus will most
likely answer “Bullying has no meaning in life!” Bullying has resulted in
suicide of the victims, and since Camus strongly disagrees with physical
suicide, he’ll possibly find bullying absurd to the world. Camus quoted “Life
is the sum of all your choices.” (A Quote By…). Explaining that think before
your actions, because you never know if bullying will then lead to a
catastrophe.
Conclusion
Bullying is one of the main epidemics currently happening in the world. It has
resulted to be important to find a solution because the victims either won’t
continue their education or commit suicide. Bullying isn’t only physically or
verbally abusing another human being, it is a catastrophic issue due to all the
deaths resulting from bullying. If citizens don’t come together to put a stop
to bullying, we’ll have a higher risk of the bullying epidemic rising to a peak
that’ll be unstoppable!
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