Suicides Linked to Bullied Victims - Research Paper Example

Suicides Linked to Bullied Victims The development of the human mind has led the individuals toanalyze problems that may not have been considered to be grave issues previously. Bullying is one such problem which exists in our society today which has become a common occurrence in today’s world in the schools and colleges. Bullying is a very serious issue that needs to be tackled and efficient solutions need to be formulated to solve this problem as it is associated with serious consequences. Bullying tends to leave scars on the lives of the victims of bullying who may find it difficult to overcome their humiliation for their entire life. Many innocent lives have been lost owing to this problem of bullying and these precious lives could have been saved if proper intervention and help was provided for these issues. Bullying can be defined as acts of aggression which tend to humiliate the victim through every possible mean. According to Olweus, ‘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’ (Olweus 2001 p 5-6). Thus, bullying is basically a means of degrading a person to an extent that he may lose his confidence and morale and tend to consider options like suicide as the only solution. Different incidents have marked the severity of this act of bullying. Innocent young teenagers have died due to being the victims of humiliation. The examples of Tylor Cementi who was an 18 year old boy and Phoebe Prince who was a 15 year old girl serve as eye openers to highlight the issue of bullying. Tylor Cementi was a bright and intelligent boy who enrolled new in his university. Cementi was a homosexual and his sexual orientation was used as a point to bully him. His colleagues plotted against him and made a video of his private encounter with his homosexual partner. They then posted it on the internet which served to publicize a private encounter of Clementi. The young boy could not face this humiliation and he found it easier to submit him to death rather than face this embarrassment. He jumped off a bridge and committed suicide. The suicide of Tylor Clementi was a tragic incident and it was an example of cyberspace bullying. It left a great impact (Schwartz 2011). Phoebe Prince enrolled new in her school, South Hadley High School after she moved from Ireland to the United States with her family. She became the target of the bullies and had to undergo severe pressure and mental exertion. She was bullied for three months in her school by different means which include calling her with names as well as physical harassment by the bullies. They used to give her disgracing names to humiliate her. The social networking sites served as another way to further bully Phoebe and to further publicly humiliate her. She finally could not face the pressure and gave up her race of life and committed suicide. Her death came as a shock and it served a great effect owing to the fact her suicide had just shortly followed the suicide of another young boy of 11 years in a school located in close vicinity to South Hadley High School. Serious notice of the incident was taken by the governing body in the state of Massachusetts which started formulating plans for the passage of laws to check into matters of bullying. The school also started to consider the issue seriously and started working towards creation of bodies to tackle the issue of bullying (Eckholm and Zezima 2010). Strong correlations and links between suicide and bullying have been reported. There has been an alarming rise in the suicide rate throughout the world. It is analyzed that amongst youth suicide ranks as the third reason of death. The CDC reports that 4400 deaths can attributed to suicide annually. Students who are enrolled in high school show very high levels of suicide and it has been analyzed that 7 percent of these students have actually tried to commit suicide. A research conducted by the Yale University highlighted the fact that people who are subjected to bullying have a 2 to 9 time greater tendency of committing suicide as compared to other people. A research conducted in Britain further upheld this fact and revealed that fifty percent of the suicides amongst youth resulted due to their subjection to bullying and girls between the age group of 10 to 14 years form the most vulnerable groups. Furthermore, the ABC News highlighted the facts that out of 30 percent of the people who are studying are either bullies or they are subjected to acts of bullying. Another very important aspect that was explained was that children avoid going to their educational institutions owing to the fear that they might be bullied and 160,000 children fall in this category (Bullying Statistics 2009). The environment of the educational institutions becomes greatly altered due to the ongoing bullying within the institutions. It affects the students as well as alters the healthy atmosphere of the schools. The victims of bullying as well as the bullies themselves lose concentration in studies and they do not achieve grades up to the mark in their schools. This is because it is a distraction for both of the groups as the bully is engaged in humiliating the victim and the victims suffer emotionally. Thus this upsets the normal routine of both of them. The teachers also lose their interest due to the lack of obedience and attention of the students in the class. The people who see the bullying incidents regularly lose confidence in authority and hence they may also become scared .The reputation of the school also suffers due to this (Stop Bullying). Despite of all this, the major sufferers are the victims of bullying and they need to be carefully watched so as to avoid them from resorting to severe means like suicide. The victims may become depressed and their willingness to attend school decreases. They develop anti-social attitudes and do not like to engage in extracurricular activities. Their grades in school are affected on a very high level. The sleeping habits of the victims also become altered and their sleeping may increase or decrease than the normal sleeping times. The eating habits also become altered. The victims may also become very sad and down and may present with anxiousness as well (Ryan’s Story 2010). Support from the friends as well as the family of the victims is extremely essential to help the bullied victims so that they do not consider suicide as a solution to their problems. The family of the child should observe the child and if he presents with depression he should be taken for medical support. The child should be given emotional help and his problems should be understood by the parents and they should try their best to always be there whenever the child needs help. Parents should resort for other supportive measures as well and keep themselves updated with aspects of bullying so that they know the best possible way of handling it. The friends of the bullied victims should also assist them in the best possible manner and should take other adults and the parents of the victim in confidence. They should emotionally help the victims and promote their confidence (Ryan’s Story 2010). Bullying is a serious issue and the issue has received widespread attention from the government as well. The government started investing a huge sum of money into the educational department to avoid the bullying activities owing to the negative effects. After the killings in the Columbine High School due to bullying, 42 states acted immediately and formulated laws to tackle this problem. President Obama analyzed the fact that the bullying activities still prevail in schools and hence, he increased the funds for the anti-bullying programs by 12 percent. The government has started intervening in these problems and has called for keeping strong checks on such activities in school (Cloud 2010). Bullying is hence a very deep rooted issue which alters the educational environment and it can serve as a blow on the educational sector. It should be looked upon seriously and awareness with regard to this serious problem should be spread so that everyone has knowledge about this issue. Counseling for the bullies should be done so that they become aware of the severe effects that their activities result in. The school authorities should take strong notices of the acts of bullying the bullies should be punished so that they realize their fault. The victims should also be supported in the best possible manner to avoid negative outcomes and so that they do not lose their morale and confidence. The combined action of the government, school authorities as well as parents is important to prevent the acts of bullying as well as to lower the suicide rates amongst the youths. The integrity of the educational sector is extremely essential for the progress and the development of the youth. Thus control of bullying activities is important to maintain its integrity and functioning. Works Cited Bullying Statistics. “Bullying and Suicide.” 2009. Web 27 Apr. 2011. Eckholm, E. and Zezima, K. “6 Teenagers Are Charged After Classmate’s Suicide.” The New York Times. 29 March, 2010. Web 27 Apr. 2011. Cloud, John. “When Bullying Turns Deadly: Can It Be Stopped?”. Time Magazine. 2010. Web 27 Apr. 2011. Top of Form Olweus, Dan. Bullying at School: What We Know and What We Can Do. Oxford, UK: Blackwell, 1993. Print. Ryan’s Story. “Suicide Prevention” 2010. Web 27 Apr. 2011. Bottom of Form Schwartz, John. “Bullying, Suicide, Punishment.” The New York Times. 2 Oct. 2010. Web 27 Apr. 2011. Stop Bullying. “Respond to Bullying.” 2011. Web 27 Apr. 2011. Read More