Bullying in Schools - Essay Example

?Running head: Bullying in Schools Bullying in Schools Bullying in Schools What is bullying? Bullying is an undesirable behavior but is seen in schools a lot. Around 15% and 30% of students are bullies or victims (Cohn & Canter, 2003). It can be, at least, reduced to a great extent, if not completely gotten rid of. And that depends on the rules and policies of the school though parents also play a part in it. The first step in reducing bullying is to understand the behavior and what causes it. Although there is no universal definition of bullying it is widely thought to be a negative behavior which reflects aggressiveness through which the person intends to harm and hurt the victim. Farrington (1993), an English criminologist, defined bullying as: “Repeated oppression, psychological or physical, of a less powerful person by a more powerful person.” This, however, is the definition of when the bully is an individual although it is very often seen that bullying is also done in groups. Thus, for that purpose a more fitted and revised definition could be: Bullying is repeated oppression, psychological or physical, of a less powerful person by a more powerful or group of persons (Rigby, 2007, p. 15). The bully keeps on acting that way and the victim is helpless in that that he cannot defend himself from the bully (Olweus, 1999). Concisely, bullying can be referred to as the “systematic abuse of power”. And here power does not necessarily refer to physical strength, but it could also be emotional or mental. For instance, a bully may have a more powerful personality, might be mentally tougher, have ambition and be insensitive. Bullying may happen in several contexts, such as childhood as well as adulthood. Nevertheless, bullying has been, and still is, most associated with schools. Bullying could be conducted by a group or by one person alone. Normally it is supposed that bullying occurs between students; however, it is possible for there to be a teacher-pupil and pupil-teacher bullying too. The general idea of bullying is also that it involves beating and physical violence – the larger and older child hurting the weaker one – but again, there also exists verbal bullying, wherein the bully teases and hurls verbal abuses at his victim; indirect bullying in which the bully socially manipulates the victim and uses him for attacks within the class; and relational bullying which refers to disrupting peace between peers and harming their relationship. This could be done by talking bad about others, spreading rumors, and socially excluding people. A more recent form has been cyberbullying – bullying others over the internet (Smith, 2013). It is about time that bullying is addressed and reduced. It is an intolerable behavior due to the way the powerless victim is physically, verbally or psychologically oppressed by the bully and for no rhyme or reason. Bullying among adults is not tolerated – we also raise voice against domestic abuse between a husband and his wife, and between the parents and their children. However, school bullying has not been addressed to the same extent (Rigby, 2007). How children become bullies “When you really take a close look at bullying, it's happening with kids who feel the need to be aggressive after being treated in an aggressive manner themselves… They're the kids who may be suffering from abuse or from just not having their needs met at school or at home” - Paul Quinlan (Hopson, 2002). According to Quinlan 2-16% of the below-18 age group bullies each other. Here a very important factor to probe into is how a child becomes a bully. That is the root cause of the problem and therefore it needs to be understood in order to solve the issue. More often than not, children dealing with difficult situations at home end up bullying others to regain the lost self-esteem and feel important and worthy. Such situations could be fights between their parents, financial problems, a drunkard parent who abuses them, and so on. Many times the bully may not even be meaning to hurt another person and just be wanting to look “cool” and important, not realizing that they are jeopardizing the victim’s personality and life. If the bullying does not stop at an early stage, it may become severe and more frequent, leading the bully to commit anti-social acts later on in life, such as stealing. It is the duty of the school and the parents to together find the reason behind the bullying behavior of a child. Another view is that the bullies do not actually have low self-esteem, as has been stated above. According to this research, which claims to be more recent, the bullies have the average, or even above average, self-esteem, and they are only spreading violence because that is what they have been seeing in their everyday lives; for instance, their father hitting their mother and other such acts (Radwan). It makes them feel that it is okay to pick on the weaker people and bullying can solve their problem. They see their parents and/or siblings exhibiting such an attitude and develop such behaviors themselves as well. Or they are physically punished at home and abused due to which they get negative self-concepts and thus bully others before anyone else bullies them. Usually bullies belong to those families wherein there is no empathy or supervision; that is the reason for the growing of aggression in the child till the extent that he starts showing it through his bullying behavior. Another common theory behind bullies is that such kids do not get attention at school and therefore they turn to bullying to attract attention and to look cool. They want to be popular and picking on others makes them look powerful and awed upon. Yet others become bullies when they themselves have been bullied and abused. They want to get back their sense of control, and also the lost self-esteem, for which they turn to bullying others who are even weaker. A person may have enough self-esteem but still have feelings of shame. Such feelings arise when he thinks that although he is capable and skillful, he is not loved – which is possible due to the violent/abusive behavior he might have to face at his home. He, thus, bullies others to get rid of such feelings and to get back the psychological balance. Another reason for his shame could be the weaknesses he might have that he is too embarrassed to talk about and prefers to bury them down, and use bullying to cover them up. Sometimes bullies are exhibiting such a behavior only in order to fit in. In reality they might not approve of such a behavior but since they belong to a group that promotes and supports bullying they have to go along with it too. They know it is wrong and they are uncomfortable with it, but they do not feel that they have a choice (Cohn & Canter, 2003). Consequences of bullying Although most people do recognize that bullying in schools leads to negative consequences, there are still those who consider it trivial. This could be because they think it is not a very common problem, or because they think that the consequences of bullying do not last long. In fact, there are people who consider bullying good because according to their thinking it makes a victim tough thus allowing him to learn how to deal with people in the real world out there. Powerful students do attempt to bully their other weaker colleagues a lot; in fact it has been noted that “at least 50 per cent of students each year, in a mild or more serious way, experience bullying personally” (Rigby, 2007, p. 49). Most of the students find it to be a transient experience, though; they may receive negative and unwanted attention from someone who makes them feel uncomfortable, and this may happen for just a day or two but that is it. The victim might have learnt to stand up for himself or have complained about him, or the bully possibly moved on to another weaker student or stopped this behavior. Such victims do not face a lot of problems, and the consequences for the more severely and frequently bullied students are much more drastic. However, another thing to consider here is the vulnerability and resistance level of the victim; some may be resilient enough to not let the bully affect them a lot and the experience may not scathe them as much as it might the others, whether physically or psychologically. Another factor to consider is that the victims may not also tell the truth when asked about their experience – they might avoid telling how hurt they were and instead say they weren’t bothered, when in fact this might not have been the case, especially in the boys’ scenario. This is because their “status depends more on a show of toughness and stoicism” (Rigby, 2007, p. 49). Nevertheless, this does not nullify the fact that some students are really resilient and not affected by the bullies. Among those who do admit to being hurt from the bullying experience, most of the boys say to have the feelings of anger rather than sadness, and the opposite is true of the girls. This means that depression could be a problem for girls who are a victim of continuous and severe bullying. Another common consequence of being bullied, among both genders, is lowered self-esteem. It is obvious that when a person is taunted and mocked at, or even hit, it is expected that he would stand up for himself and stop the negative attitude toward him. Failure to do just that can make him think that he cannot resolve conflicts and cannot help himself. A victim of bullying may feel that way, and this is what lowers his self-esteem. And even more so because he may not get the needed respect from others because he is a “wimp”. Such is more the case with younger students because they are not mature enough and have not had the time to develop the skills and interest which could improve their competence level, and thus for self-esteem they depend on their relationships and the treatment they get from their colleagues. Isolation is yet another consequence of bullying. The victim, more often than not, prefers to stay alone or have very few friends. Again, this is because the other students do not want to befriend those who have been bullied, because they look down upon them. However, isolation could be a reason that the bullying against them started at the first place, and it becomes a cycle. Bullying does lead to further isolation though and the victim would prefer to not trust anyone and not make friends. When bullying gets really serious the victim may also stop attending school and find excuses to do so. They would rather not meet the bully and stay away from whatever may bring them together. In fact, this may become so serious that ultimately the parents may have to change the child’s institute and let him start over a new school life. Then there is the domino effect. A victim of bullying may not be able to stand up for himself against the bully. He may not be resilient enough and have to take it all upon himself quietly. He may get angry and/or sad but not have the courage to say anything. Such children may take out their anger on someone else. They have their angry emotions repressed within themselves and to lessen their frustration they need to expel them. What can be done to stop bullying Previously schools did not really do anything about bullying besides turning a blind eye to the issue. Times are changing, however, and the school administration is getting more involved with it, trying to reduce and eventually eliminate the problem. According to researchers it is helpful if there are school-wide prevention programs which support a positive school environment. Such programs are really helpful and it said that they can actually get down the level of bullying; in fact, according to National Association of School Psychologists (Cohn & Canter, 2003), one program reduced bullying by 50%. For these kinds of programs to happen and succeed the students, parents and teachers, all are required to commit and participate in it. Researchers recommend that the issue of bullying needs to be addressed as early as possible in a child’s life – by the elementary or middle school, or even preschool if possible and feasible. The children should be taught to work in groups and their social skills should be built along with providing counseling for those who display violent behavior as well as those who are unable to stand up for themselves (and could end up being the victim in their later life). Systematic aggression interventions need to be prepared for such students. There are school psychologists and such other people with complete training who can help with such programs. It is not only the duty of the school to intervene in a child’s bullying/victim behavior; parents are equally responsible for same. Parents need to support their children when they are displaying positive behavior and interact nicely with them. Here, too, school psychologists can assist the parents and help them identify if their child might turn out to be a bully or a victim and take necessary actions. Another idea is not to physically punish a child for something he might have done wrong. This will only make him violent. An alternative could be to ground him, or remove the privileges he is given till he corrects his behavior. Since children spend a great deal of their day at school, teachers also have a great role to play in identifying potential bullies and victims, and acting accordingly. Again, they can be trained and helped by psychologist personnel. The teachers can help with a positive environment and encourage such behavior while at the same time intervening in those displaying an unfavorable attitude. Teacher training modules can also be designed. The society also plays a part in defining a bully. People often say that “kids will be kids”. However, this statement, and no other, justifies the act of bullying. People need to stop defending bullies and instead take steps to get rid of this problem. The behavior will not go away if ignored – it needs to be addressed and corrected, and in the right manner to avoid further complications. A positive school climate also determines how much of bullying takes place at an institute. There are schools where the management and administration does not really care about the students and the rules are not imposed and/or followed. Such an environment encourages bullying behavior and other violent acts. A school with a positive environment reduces bullying; such a school is where there are rules and students are required to obey them, discipline is maintained and students are given the due attention. Such an environment is healthy for the students and since the children know that any violent act will not be tolerated there, they stay away from such behavior. References Cohn, A., & Canter, A. (2003, October 07). Bullying: Facts for Schools and Parents. Retrieved December 05, 2013, from NASP Resources: http://www.nasponline.org/resources/factsheets/bullying_fs.aspx Hopson, K. (2002, January 07). Why do some kids become bullies? . Retrieved December 05, 2013, from University of Michigan Health System: http://www.med.umich.edu/opm/newspage/bullies.htm Olweus, D. (1999). Sweden. In P. Smith, Y. Morita, J. Junger-Tas, D. Olweus, R.Catalano, & P. Slee, The Nature of School Bullying. A Cross-National Perspective (pp. 7-27). London & New York: Routledge. Radwan, M. (n.d.). What makes a child become a bully. Retrieved December 05, 2013, from 2 know myself: http://www.2knowmyself.com/what_makes_a_child_become_a_bully Rigby, K. (2007). Bullying in Schools and What to Do about It: Revised and Updated. Aust Council for Ed Research. Smith, P. K. (2013, Jan/Apr). School bullying. Sociologia(71). Read More