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Bullying The development of the human mind has led individuals to analyze problems that may not have been considered to be grave issues previously. Bullying is one such problem that exists in our society today which has become a common occurrence in today’s world in 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 were provided for these issues. Bullying can be defined as acts of aggression that tend to humiliate the victim through every possible means. 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 Cement was a bright and intelligent boy who enrolled new in his university. Cement 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 with 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 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 the creation of bodies to tackle the issue of bullying (Eckholm and Zezima 2010).
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 notice 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 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.
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