School Bullying Problem - Research Paper Example

?Research Topic: School Bullying If there is a school issue that is so pervasive across cultures and geographical locations 2 around the world, it would be school bullying. In the latest and largest study about bullying in 3 the United States, the research found that 29.9 % of students had experienced moderate or 4 frequent involvement of bullying (Bauman 362). It meant that one out of three students in the 5 United States have experienced some sort of bullying. Bullying is defined as “a form of 6 aggression in which one or more students physically and/or psychologically (and more 7 recently, sexually) harass another student repeatedly over a period of time. Typically, the 8 action is unprovoked and the bully is perceived as stronger than the victim” (Batsche and 9 Knoff). Bullying can be done physically which involves pushing, shoving, hitting kicking and 10 punching or it can be done verbally through which involves name-calling, taunting, 11 threatening, ridiculing and insulting. In short, bullies do not only mean say things to the 12 victim but also say mean things about the victim (Marano 52). 13 Students who have experienced bullying cannot help but wonder why bullying exists in 14 school. Bullying makes life in school more difficult and it often constrict the movement of 15 students in fear that there will be bully who would annoy them if they go to uncertain quarters 16 in school. The fear that there is great likelihood of being bullied in an unknown area in the 17 school is real because it is outside of the student’s comfort zone and the uncertainty of the 18 area yields a probability of an existence of a bully. Bullying is the most prevalent form of 19 violence in the schools and the form that is likely to affect the greatest number of students 20 according Batsche, such it is not a remote possibility that bullies exist in places that has not 21 been zoned as “bully free area”. 22 It is almost the hope of everybody in school that child violence in the form of bullying in 23 school would end so that going to school would be more fun and without the anxiety of 24 bullies. If there would be no more bullies in school, students can focus more on their studies 25 and will not be discouraged to go to school in fear of bullies. Basically, everybody can just 26 be friends with anybody if bullying will become extinct. 27 Any attempt to remove or stop bullying in school requires understanding how come there 28 are bullies in school in the first place. Are they really part of school life that everybody has 29 to live with or the structure of the school just breed bullies? Are they freak of nature or are 30 they just part of life? Behavioural experts have an explanation why there are bullies. They 31 trace it to the childhood of bullies when they are still toddlers and preschoolers. 32 Behavioral experts and psychologists surmise that behaviours which includes bullying 33 can be be rooted in the early stages of childs development. The childs early disposition and 34 how he or she brought up in a given environment have a far-reaching conseques in their 35 adulthood functioning (Mallinckrodt 458). Equally important in the formation of the child’s 36 functioning and social competency in adulhood is the parents’ influence (Saami 1510). This 37 early disposition of a child, the environment and his or her parents influence will determine 38 the child’s social competency in the future and will determine the child’s interpersonal and 39 interactional skills and relationships in the child’s adult life. In short, bullies are a product of 40 their environment, parent’s upbringing and early emotional disposition. 41 From pre-school, children starts to have awareness and this awareness begins when the 42 child begun to grow awareness about emotions of himself or herself and begun to interact 43 with peers. From here, a child learns about emotional knowledge or the ability to assess the 44 emotions of others based on contextual and expressive cues. This is also the time that the 45 child learns how to regulate its emotion and how to express it in social contexts and situations 46 (Denham et al. 78). This emotional knowledge translates into adulthood as pro-social 47 behavior, social skills and academic competence (Denham et al 79). In a research by Miller 48 et al (1181), it was suggested that children who are knowledgeable about other people’s 49 emotions are able to create emotion elicited situations that is also favorable among peers that 50 facilitates positive outcomes and avoid conflict. This adaptive skill will later translate to the 51 child’s higher level of acceptance and positive outcome in its endeavors when adulthood 52 comes. In addition, children who demonstrated understanding about emotional expressions 53 are rated to respond better towards their peer and teacher overtures and are likely to show 54 empathy towards others in adulthood. In short, personalities and emotional stimuli begun and 55 formed back in a person’s childhood and majority of the children are able to learn to this and 56 become normal teenagers and young adults who would readily make friends to everybody. 57 Conversely, children who have difficulty regulating their emotions in a highly charged 58 situation tend to become more aggressive that could be carried later in life and they are the 59 ones who become bullies who enjoys inflicting pain to others. 60 Inferring to the studies made by the experts, bullies are not really strong individuals as 61 they project themselves to be but rather, they are emotionally inadequate individuals who 62 cannot regulate their emotion. They also lack the adaptive skills to be able to relate to others 63 and so they bully as a manner of their expression towards others. The apparent tough exterior 64 of a bully that overpowers and dominates the weak is not in fact strength, but rather an 65 expression of harrowing social inadequacy. Relating this to a classroom setting, if there are 66 students who are intellectually inferior, bullies are basically inferior in terms of social 67 competency and adaptive skills towards others so they resort to bullying as their front and 68 coping mechanism. They are not that big after all, but rather, bullies are “small” on the inside 69 that needs to feel big by causing distress towards others. 70 Bullies, being not that strong and big, can be therefore stopped from causing distress 71 towards others in school. Bullying therefore does not need to be a timeless aspect of growing 72 up that happens all the time in schools around the world as Viadero puts it. Students do not 73 have live with a bully. If every student in school understands this, they can actually 74 collectively stand up against bullies to put an end to bullying and make going to school a 75 more enjoyable experience. Bullies basically kill the fun aspect of school because they 76 impose themselves towards others and when these are removed, school can in fact be more 77 fun. 78 But students cannot do it just by themselves. There has to be a conscious and collective 79 action against it. If school administrators will just be sensitive to the plight of bullying, they 80 are in fact a potent tool against it. School administrators can adapt a zero tolerance policy 81 against bullying that student who bully would certainly be sanctioned. This will have a 82 preventive effect among the “would be bullies” especially when parents are involved. School 83 administrators can call on the parents of the bullies to discipline their own child. The school 84 administrators can also include in their orientation policies against bullying so as to prevent 85 bullying from ever occurring. 86 Students do not need to put up with bullies. They go to school to study and prepare 87 themselves for their future and not to be bullied. Works Cited Batsche, George M., Knoff, Howard M., Bullies and their victims: Understanding a pervasive problem in the schools. School Psychology Review, 02796015, 23.2 (1994). Bauman, Sheri. The Role of Elementary School Counselors in Reducing School Bullying.: Elementary School Journal, 108.5 (2008):362-375. Denham, S. A., J. Mitchell-Copeland, K. Strandberg, S. Auerbach, and K. Blair (1997). Parental contributions to preschoolers' emotional competence: Direct and indirect effects." Motivation and Emotion. 21: 65-86. Mallinckrodt, Brent (1992). Childhood Emotional Bonds With Parents, Development of Adult Social Competencies, and Availability of Social Support. Journal of Counseling Psychology. (39)4: 453-461 Miller, Alison L.; Fine, Sarah E.; Kiely Gouley, Kathleen; Seifer, Ronald; Dickstein, Susan; Shields, Ann. Cognition & Emotion, Dec2006, Vol. 20 Issue 8, p1170-1192 Marano, Hara. Big. Bad. Bully (cover story). Psychology Today, 28.5(October 199):50-80. Saami, C. (1984). An observational study of children’s attempts to monitor their expressive behavior. Child Development, 55, 1504-1513. Viadero, Debra. Beating the bullies. Teacher Magazine, 10466193, Vol. 9.1 (1997) Read More