Violence in School UK - Research Paper Example

Executive Summary Violence should not happen to anybody, ever. Yet, it does, and when it does, there is facilitate. Some pupils have lived with everyday abuse due to bullying, to some it happened just once. Whoever they are, this article can show you where to get facilitate and how you can stop bullying. Introduction The tendency of the introduction is straight forward; what causes bullying and how to prevent it. Methodology: The basis of my project on Violence in School is so that students, parents, and teachers take in concern about the magnitude of bullying and how injurious it is. Research Methods that I used were books, internet, articles and interviews. Bibliography/Sources: Violence By Neil L. Whitehead Bullying at school By Dan Olweus Bullying in Schools By Banks, R. (1997, April). ERIC Digest. Bullying, peer harassment By E lias, M. J., & Zins, J. E. (Eds.). (2004). Bullying By Elaine Slavens, Brooke Kerrigan, Juvenile Nonfiction Bullying in schools By Delwyn P. Tattum, David A. Lane Violence By Hannah Arendt BULLYING AT SCHOOL: WHAT WE KNOW AND WHAT WE CAN DO. Olweus, D. (1993). Daily Mail Reporter. (16th March 2009). Innocent teenager set for law degree was shot dead in case of mistaken identity Available : http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1162383/Innocent-teenager-set-law-degree-shot-dead-case-mistaken-identity.html Retrieved on June 5, 2009 Definition of Qualitative Research Method IAR, Instructional Assessment Resources [Last updated Dec 19 2007], The University of Texas at Austin Available : http://www.utexas.edu/academic/diia/assessment/iar/glossary.php Retrieved on June 5, 2009 Pupil’s Survey Results. (n.d.) Bullying UK. Available http://www.bullying.co.uk/young_people/National_Bullying_Survey_2006/Pupils.aspx Retrieved July 5, 2009 Reuters. (2008). Police called to 7,000 violent incidents in schools Available http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/police-called-to-7000-violent-incidents-in-schools-1209075.html Retrieved July 5, 2009 Smith, P. Definition, Types And Prevalence Of School Bullying And Violence Available: http://74.125.153.132/search?q=cache:GKrBL_vlragJ:www.oecd.org/dataoecd/27/47/33866548.ppt+violence+definition&cd=8&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=in Retrieved on June 5, 2009 Tackling school bullying (Last updated May 15, 2008). Available: http://www.teachernet.gov.uk/wholeschool/behaviour/tacklingbullying/ Retrieved July 5, 2009 Weinberg, D. (2002). Qualitative research methods Wiley-Blackwell Banks, R. (1997, April). Bullying in Schools. ERIC Digest. . Retrieved July 19, 2009, from ERIC Digest : http://www.ericdigests.org/1997-4/bullying.htm Bullying in schools. (n.d.). Retrieved July 21, 2009, from bullyonline.org: http://www.bullyonline.org/schoolbully/school.htm Child bullying school bullying bullycide. (n.d.). Retrieved July 20, 2009, from bullyonline.org: http://www.bullyonline.org/schoolbully/cases.htm#UK Elias, M. J., & Zins, J. E. (Eds.). (2004). Bullying, peer harassment, and victimization in the schools. Haworth Press. Juvonen, J., & Graham, S. (2001). Peer Harassment in School. The Guilford Press. Lipsett, A. (2008, February 29). UK schools worst in Europe for bullying. Retrieved July 20, 2009, from Guardian.co.uk: http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2008/feb/29/schools.uk4 Olweus, D. (1993). BULLYING AT SCHOOL: WHAT WE KNOW AND WHAT WE CAN DO. Cambridge: MA: Blackwell. Schools - Parents. (n.d.). Retrieved July 21, 2009, from bbc.co.uk: http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/parents/life/health_happiness/problems/bullying.shtml Smith, P. K. (2002). Violence in Schools: The Responce in Europe. UK: Taylor & Francis Ltd. Tattum, D. P., & Lane, D. A. (1994). Bullying in schools. Trentham Books. Teachernet. (2007, September 21). Retrieved July 22, 2009, from teachernet.gov.uk: http://www.teachernet.gov.uk/wholeschool/behaviour/tacklingbullying/safetolearn/introduction BBC. January, 2004. Review of school violence figures. [Online]. Available at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/3433501.stm [Accessed on January 06, 2010]. Guardian.co.uk. 2010. Classroom violence. [Online]. Available at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/classroomviolence [Accessed on January 06, 2010]. WHO. 2010. Definition and typology of violence. [Online]. Available at: http://www.who.int/violenceprevention/approach/definition/en/index.html [Accessed on January 06, 2010]. Also, http://www.essayforum.com/essay-writing-feedback-3/introduction-paragraph-bullying-5665/ http://www.bullyonline.org/workbully/issues.htm http://www.nypost.com/p/news/regional/item_43xSAT5q6DekFKkk7aEgJJ;jsessionid=72CABFCECC339577E4ADAC2AD5CEDFDA http://www.psych.ucla.edu/faculty/faculty_page?id=60&area=4 http://www.enotes.com/child-abuse-article http://www.free-essays.us/dbase/d5/mrh58.shtml http://www.dailymail.co.u/news/article-1162383/innocent-teenager-set-law-degree-shot-dead-case-mistaken-indentity.html Bullying in school is a challenge to the society Introduction Bullying is common to see amongst children. Bullying occurs at all ages but is most prevalent during the middle school years. However, bullying is a major problem.  Not just in our school, but everywhere.  Nevertheless, when 70% of the children at our school have been bullied, that is not a problem, but an pandemic that calls for drastic procedures. We all know that bullying goes on in every school but it is the technique that must be dealt with, which makes the difference between life being tolerable and a misery. By age 24, 60% of bullies have an illicit testimony. Bullying has not only tarnished the lives of sufferers, but the bullies themselves also. Individuals all over the world were orally and physically assaulted every day. Bullies break their victim’s self-esteem to pieces while keeping theirs eminent. Bullying is not impossible to defeat and unquestionably, it can be overturned. This is feasible if parents and teachers get involved, students are taught to classify and prevent bullying, and if public arise to sustain the victims. These numerous elucidation will most definitely bring bullying to its termination. Blustering, petulant, overbearing person who habitually harasses and intimidates smaller or weaker people. An individual who bullies can be best defined as: Has been always denying the harm he does to others. take pleasure in the reimbursement of living in the adult world Abandons and denies responsibility for their performance and the results. Also constantly remains in a state of denial is unable and not willing to distinguish the result of their behaviour on others Is unwilling to understand that behaviour could be better and more socially acceptable. What precisely is ‘bullying’? "Persistent, offensive, abusive, intimidating or insulting behaviour, abuse of power or unfair penal sanctions which makes the recipient feel upset, threatened, humiliated or vulnerable, which undermines their self-confidence and which may cause them to suffer stress" (Amicus MSF Union, 1994) Bullying is unrelenting unwelcoming performance, typically using unnecessary or invalid criticism, nit picking, segregation, faultfinding, prohibiting, neglected and being left out. Also being treated in a different manner from others and being an object of assault and screams. In schools, bullying usually focuses on imprecise or falsified accusations of underperformance. The word "abuse" is literally means physical harm. However, psychological harm is also a part of it and equally damaging. Types of violence: (Smith n.d) Violence is in different forms. This includes not only the harm that is visible to the eyes, but also the harm caused to the emotional and mental peace of a person. Those who are brutal by nature can harm others not only by weapons or armaments but also by using abusive words and actions intending psychological and emotional trauma. 1. Direct Physical attack: This is the type of attack where a person or a group of people attack other people with an intention of causing physical harm or even death. 2. Indirect Physical Attack: This is the type of attack where a person or a group of people attack others belongings, valuables, or property with the intention of destroying it to cause emotional and psychological disturbance to the owner. 3. Direct Verbal Attack this is where a person or a group of people send threatening messages through letters, emails, text messages, or verbally to cause emotional distress and fright to the victim. 4. Indirect Verbal Attack: This is the type of attack where a person or group of people spread out malicious rumors about a person or a group of people with the intention of tarnishing the image of that person of gathering. 5. Social segregation from an ordinary group of activities: Excluding a person or a group of people coming from a certain ethnical environment, background, or people who are physically and mentally challenged is also a form of violence. This sort of violence makes people lose hope and confidence in themselves and they start to feel lonely and frightened. 6. Pressure bullying: This is the type the mental frustrations of individuals cause them to bully others. It is when the bully wants targets unwanted behavior to deteriorate and bully may also scream or swear at his/her surroundings. In fact, more often many of us do this from time to time. However, after the tension settles down and person is calm, he adopts normal behavior and understands how wrong he had been and the hurt they might have caused to others, he/she makes amends and may apologize, and - crucially - learns from the incident. These are a few types of violence. Violence Violence has penetrated the pavements of educated atmosphere such as schools. According to a testimony, more than 7000 attempted actual violent incidents in school that were later handled by the police. (Reuters 2008). These aggressive confrontation in the school of U.K. and many other consigns in the world have awakened people to the fact that broods are now making violence as an alternative option over inconsequential situations like verbal insult, misapprehending amongst friends or take vengeance of the battle. Conversely, these occurrences are not the minority but several in the apprehension for the schools, parents and municipal as a whole. The causes to these reactions are not only in the school however also in the personal lives of the broods; domestic violence. In my opinion, domestic violence affects everyone and not only pupils. Violence not only means the physical destruction to individuals but also contains, as mentioned above, acts such as verbal abuse, excluding those from certain racial background or those who are physically or mentally challenged from the group and causing psychological disturbance by spreading rumours about a person. No one should have to go through the hurt, painful situations, impractical struggling, or suicide due to any of the motives mentioned. No one must live in those conditions mentally, verbally, physically, or emotionally. There are many explanations for the act of violence. However, looking at the different phases of violence, the most complete definitions are specified by the ‘World Health Organization’. According to WHO, ‘violence’ is the intentional use of physical and psychological force, threatened against oneself, another person, or against a group of people that either grades in or has a elevated likelihood of resulting in injury, death, psychological harm, mal-development, or dispossession. The main point that needs to be taken actions towards is that violence is not only harmful to human beings but also detrimental to people’s properties, belongings, vehicles and valuables. (Smith n.d) London had witnessed murders of twenty-eight teenagers last year. This year, an 18-year-old boy named Abdulkarim Boudaif was killed by a single gunshot on the neck in Tottenham. He was one of the fifth teenagers killed in London in one year. (Daily Mail Reporter 2009) Looking at the statistics of the crimes by teenagers, one can understand the consequence of instantaneous and imperative actions to be taken to not only stop the assassinations but also to prevent it from the derivation. To eradicate the violent tendencies the derivation, we must comprehend the rationales behind the mentality of teenagers who use missiles to decipher their predicaments rather than using serene methods. According to survey conducted in 2006, 50% of the bully preys suffered physical injuries due to attacks and 3% of the attacks had involved the weapons. These incidents took place in schools. For example, On February 20, 2006, a Sergeant High School freshman was suspended for bringing a pellet-shooting toy gun into school, and shooting a female student in the leg. The daily growing dilemma of schools violence is a severe concern for the parents. They are not only apprehensive about their children being injured but are also worried about them being influenced by peers who are violent by nature. The complexity and the importance of this matter made me select this subject matter of school violent behaviour for my assignment. Violence is not an unsystematic activity. It is not something that happens spontaneously or without a reason. Generally, violence is an outcome of pent up emotions and suppressed expressions. For my project, I have used quantitative research. Quantitative research is used to calculate how several people feel, think or act in a particular way. There are various traditions used for collecting quantitative information but the most common are on-street or telephone interviews. These surveys tend to include large samples anything from 50 to any number of interviews. Structured questionnaires are usually used incorporating generally closed questions - questions with set responses. For my consultations, I selected pupils who were from different racial backgrounds such as Bangladeshi, Pakistani, Indian, Turkish, Arabic and Somalia. Racist bullying is one of the major concerns in schools. According to a survey, 43% of victims of bullying based on their ethnic backgrounds have suffered physical injuries. The reason of my interviews with students was not only to find out how bad they had experienced violence in school but also to also know whether they were sincere and sensitive enough to their rights and duties as far as the issue of violence was concerned. In addition, it was necessary for me to know if people are willing to take responsibility to sustain the ones who have been victimized. Based upon these aims, I have premeditated a set of questions for the conference. I chose the conversation as a way of collecting data as the body language, and the voice of my interviewee. This tells me a lot more about him than just the words. (Weinberg 2002 p.76) The person that I had interviewed, a disconsolate mother of a 12-year-old girl who the police say hung herself in her closet because bullies from school anguished her. Maria Herrera, student of sixth grader, had also once told a guidance counsellor in October 2006 that she wanted to kill herself. "One of the students cut my daughters hair," she said. "They used to call her names. She would come home crying." Maria, who was often made fun of her looks, was rushed to Brook dale Hospital in October 2007, bleeding and distended after one pupil threw a ball and hurting her face. Maria was laid in a white dress, delimited by butterfly and angel figurines and flowers after she had hung herself. Violence is a substance of life and death. Just introducing the subject matter in schools is not going to prevent it from happening nor will it resolve the problem. Even though violent activities are tolerated in nature, and look random, they are not. The questions I asked were because violence has its derivation in the social, emotional, psychological adjustments in the personal life. If one has to prevent violence, one has to find the underlying cause of it and completely understand the emotional and psychological pattern of a child. Literature review Violence in schools. A UK perspective. It is a commotion that, as Delwyn Tattum rightly phrases it, ‘’the most malicious and malevolent form of the deviant behaviour” (Tattum & Lane, 1994). Worst still is the fact that it fails to accomplish significant awareness from the school establishment. One significant contributor of schools being led off track from its regular method of functioning is the widespread, yet unnoticed or often ignored trend of bullying. It is known that the executors are originated in all schools including the nursery junior and high schools and such conducts only prepares an unhealthy climate and atmosphere for the pupils to live in. The psychological, physical and emotional effects to the adversity in the victims are numerous. As I have said above, bully in its act contains behaviours such as teasing, hitting, taunting, threatening, and stealing that is proliferated by one or more students against a victim in a school Apart from these direct physical attacks bullying in its strict sense can also contain methods such as ‘’causing a student to socially isolate through the intentional exclusion’’ (Banks, 1997). This can also be done by subtle indirect methods such as spreading rumours and enforcing social isolation actions of which are carried out mostly by girls than boys. The motive of bullying is to create physical and psychological intimidation so that through repeated action of it the perpetrator succeeds in harassing and abusing the victim (Banks, 1997). The target or bullying can also be a single individual or by a group, although in the context of the school bullying; the target has usually been a single student. (Olweus, 1993). The issue of peer harassment has been unobserved to such an extent in schools that it has noticed strange happenings such as the fact that those who fight back are headed for especially poor outcomes and both peers and teachers see many bullies as popular and admirable. (Elias & Zins, 2004). Estimated 15% of pupils are either the victims or the initiators of the bullying behaviour. (Olweus, 1993). The occurrence of such behaviours is seen more in the middle or junior school rather than high school. Physical assault does not seem to be as perpetually witnessed as verbal abuse. However, the victims of bully are found to be physically weak or those who show no sign of repellence or the resistance against the bully. It has also been noticed, “School size, racial compositions and school setting do not seem to be distinguishing factors in predicting the occurrence of the bullying” (Banks, 1997). If we consider with a more rapid look at this ominous undertaking in the schools of the United Kingdom alone, a British Council survey confirms that in comparison to the rest of Europe, bullying in secondary school is worst here. (Lipsett, 2008). The information claims that nearly half the students (46%) in UK secondary school thing that bullying is a problem in their school while the rest (48%) are considering the trend problematic. England seems to be further more effected. Pupil who said that bullying is a problem in school varied in Scotland and Wales with the differences of 43% and 32% respectively. The same study in the rest of the Europe such as Italy, Germany and Spain bore the result as 33%, 29% and 22% respectively, which was evaluated as substantially lower than the UK. Language difficulties, skin color, racial difference and religious affiliations were found to be some of the reasons that attract the perpetrators of bullying especially in the UK while a total of 41% and 44% of the students are also said to have attributed to clothing style and differences in appearance respectively to be the causes (Lipsett, 2008). The present decade has witnessed a large numbers of bullycides (suicides as a result of being bullied) in the UK. It is quite unnerving to learn even about a few of them: 23 June 2001: Nicola Rapheal, 15, died after taking an overdose of painkillers at her home in Kirkintilloch, Dunbartonshire, Scotland. She had been the target of bullying for some time. 13 April 2002: 13-year-old Laura Kilibarda was found hanged in her home at Lisvane, near Cardiff, after complaining about being bullied at school. 17 April 2003: 15-year-old Sarah Harrison from Mapperley in Nottinghamshire, England, hanged herself at a Nottingham childrens home after enduring months of bullying. 31 May 2004: 12-year-old Aaron Armstrong, who was a first-year pupil at Cambridge House Grammar in Ballymena, was found hanged in a hayshed at the family farm at Broughshane April 2005: 12-year-old Nathan Jones hangs himself after being tormented by bullies at King’s Wood School, in Harold Hill, Rumford, and Essex. The occurrence of bully is unpredictable and to take for granted that one’s child cannot be bullied or cannot be a bully is an erroneous stance. It is not quite easy for any parent, teacher or a student to behold the fact, taking this matter in parlance of the UK alone, that every eight out of ten students here are victims of bullying (Schools - Parents). Although it is generally taken for granted that if one’s child is being bullied in the school, it will come immediately to notice of the parents, it has also been noticed that children who are the victims of bully do not always tell their parents or teachers about its happening. Parents must therefore try to understand their child’s problem by understanding the various symptoms that s/he inadvertently displays. If the child complains about being too unwell to go to schools even if his health seems to be quite alright, or gets upset even at the thought of going to school, or if the child shows unusual behaviors such as becoming quite or resentful or if unexpected cuts and bruises are seen in the child (Schools - Parents), it has to be understood that the child is victimized for bully in the school. In another study, it has been found out that “12.2% of pupils experience being bullied two or three times a month or more” and that younger pupils were more likely to be bullied although gender bias were not significantly witnessed in the UK (Smith, 2002).The facts about bullying, known or unknown, necessitates, especially for the parents to play an important role in understanding whether or not one’s child is a victim or a perpetrator. If the child is found to be a bully instead of the victim, the situation is still worse. However, it is essential in the part of the parents not to show exaggerative shock over the discovery and rather calmly try to find out what led to such happening. A child bullies for a number of reason and it can be possible that he was bullied himself. The effects of his actions and its unacceptability must be clearly made understood. Talking to the child’s teacher for appropriate actions and making sure that the child is not forced or influenced by other pupils can help (Schools - Parents). While analyzing the ‘why’ factor for a student turning out to be someone as malevolent as a bully, various reasons have been pointed out. A mostly ignored reason of ‘frustration’ is also responsible in making a bully. A teenager can turn out to be indignant because of some tribulations he faces such as deafness, dyslexia, allergy or any learning difficulty, which is likely to make the child, frustrated (Bullying in schools). The child is most likely to show aggressive behaviors as a reaction against being abused or bullied at home or when neglected. If the child has no role model at home from whom to learn about behavior skills, he can turn out to be a bully. It can also be possible that the child has fallen into the influence of wrong company in the school. Since the children are still in their formative stage in terms of aggression and since they have not learnt much about such behaviors, it is considerably easier to bring them back to normal track unlike the serious psychopaths who are suffering from serious conduct. There many reason why bullies annoy or tease other children. However, most of these remain similar. Believing the targets to be weak is the most dominant of these reasons. Generally, bullying occurs time and again because the reasons for bully do not change and thus the behavior is consistent, therefore this section also answers the questions "Why do I keep getting bullied" and "Why do bullies continue to bully me?" Jaana Juvonen (Faculty Affiliate) and Sundra Graham (Mezzo-soprano, Jun 1955) claim that “personal, peer-relational, and family-relational factors all affect the probability of children’s habitual abuse by peers” ( 2001). Physical attributes such as obesity, wearing glasses, speech problems or other physical disability are seen to have given bullies advantages. Behavioral attributes such as inability of the victim to defend themselves against the attacks also intensify the happening. If the victim responds to attacks with anger and aggression, this is also found to be a factor for the bully to be further provoked. A student from the very start of his schooling must be informed about the demerits of bully. It is often seen that lack of proper ethos being installed in pupils appropriately in schools results in practice of bully. This prevention act includes processes such as mentoring; support and supervision while making the child understand that the act is unacceptable. In the face of the extent to which the problem is prevalent in today’s time, it is unwise on our part to blame any individual to be responsible for the escalation of bullying and its consequences. It is a collective problem and non-but the collective must strive for a solution for the problem. Bullying, as we know is due to a number of factors, and our responsibility is to explore and eradicate them all. To provide a happy and safe environment for the students, the government of UK, to the relief of many students, has made clear that all forms of bully must not be tolerated and will invite a disciplinary action against any such undertakings and have stated, “no one should suffer the pain and indignity that bullying can cause (Teachernet, 2007). Yet as far as the implementation is concerned, much is to be done. The law of UK propels a good deal of legalities about what schools and local authorities should and can do about bullying but unless there is initiatives form the general public, effective measures cannot be found. One way of meeting our end is by creating and implementing a whole-school anti-bullying policy (Teachernet, 2007). This comes in handy especially in the UK, in accordance with the principles set out in the Bullying – Charter for Action document. This charter demands the school to make sure that the students who are bullied are heard, taught how to deal with bullying and made feel safe and helped to rebuild confidence in them. And for those who engage in bully, programs are demanded to be held in school to make them face the harm they have created, to make them learn behavior that would not replicate the same trend in the future and also to make them repair the harm they have caused. In an over-all outlook, government wants the school to promote climate where bullying and violence are not tolerated and cannot flourish. All that these laws are in need of in the present scenario is serious consideration and deep realization of its necessity. The act of bullying which can conclusively and simply be understood as an instance of a student being “exposed, repeatedly and over time, to negative actions on the part of one or more other students” (Elias & Zins, 2004) is in a state that entails serious attention in today’s world. In UK, several violent incidents in schools have increased to a threatening level. Recent statistics have shown that violence have soared high during couple of years. In 2003, the number of such incidents was around 7000 (BBC, 2004). Teachers are saying that parents are somehow responsible for such violent behaviors of the students. As per them students who are, exposed to domestic violence or play violent games at home are more prone to do violent activities at schools. They think sometimes parents make their children accustomed to get whatever they want; so while in school they do not get whatever they want, the conflict rises. Therefore, it seemed negligence as well as excessive care both could be adverse for a child’s behavioral characteristics. On the other hand, parents have an idea that teachers spend the most of time with their children, so it is their responsibility to shape up the character of the children. Even teachers are very much in consent with them. They feel that sometimes peer pressure or getting into a wrong crowd can make some students to get involved in violent activities; but they do not feel that negligence in schools can make any student to do unfavorable activities. As per them, they provide enough and proper care to students. Students too feel that the violent behaviors come mainly from the feelings of insecurity. They feel empathetic for their friends who have been victimized but are not sure about their responsibilities for the same. Anti- bullying rules are there in place but not tightened enough to prevent students to be in violent deeds. So now, it is time when parents and teachers should work in tandem. Parents should take care that their children are not exposed to any domestic violence at homes; they should be given proper care. Teachers need to be given proper training to handle such kind of incidents as well as to handle students who are exposed to physical or mental harassments. The anti-bullying rules need to be strict enough to prevent students from getting into any violent act. Campaigns and workshops can be conducted to inform the students about the laws and rules which are in place against the perpetrators. Teachers can conduct some role-plays to let the students think empathetically for the victims. Such ways can prevent violent activities to take place. The underlying aim must be taking away the unpleasant characteristics from a child’s behavior thus removal of violent activities. The unenthusiastic form of bully causes tribulations for our surrounding. An individual’s life can be destroyed and devastated because of bullying. Hence, bullying always has negative implications. It has, in fact, changed and tarnished lives of many people. There are psychological problems that many children go through due to the bullying that they suffer in school mostly. Further more, physical damage is also possible if extreme methods of bullying are adopted. Bullying is a result of various factors. These can vary from television violence, poor families and learning to be violent from other sources just as other grownups. Even if it takes a very long period of time. bullying must be stopped and controlled at any cost. This physically and mentally harms people, sometimes to the level of extreme damage from where cure may be very difficult. Behavior can be molded very easily. People, specifically children, learn from what they see. Specially boys adopt aggressive behaviours very quickly. Therefore, it is immensely important to keep a check on television, peer group, photos and other sources from which a child may learn such behavior. Shows such as wrestling and movies which involve fighting are generally a favorite of boys. Even the cartoons these days involve aggressive behavior. These shows are always available and anyone of any age can purchase them. Specially websites such as youtube.com offers a huge record of such videos for free. It is also very important for parents to be helpful and teach their children how to behave. In many cases it the parents and the family who teach their kids to fight back. In fact, many cultures believe that men should never cry and always be ready to fight. This social norm is inbuilt in kids from childhood and makes them fight or bully other kids who are less powerful. Many children think bullying is just fun, and never understand the hurt another child goes through. However, when the damage occurs, they get shocked and the bully too has psychological problems sometimes for hurting someone so much. It may lead these bullies to become suicidal and harm themselves for punishment. In other cases, bullies may become professional at it and bully others, immune to the pain others feel. While those bullied may try to harm other kids or bully them severely to feel superior and important. For all these reasons, bullying must be stopped. To exemplify an incident of bully, the case of Killarney Secondary School can be taken which took place several weeks ago. A student came to the refectory with knife in his hand and was finding someone. Many students have been murdered as many children were bullied like this. Majority of such cases demonstrate that students find it cool and fun to be bullies. Negative incidents that occur do to peer pressure caused a large amount of chaos and suffering to most parties involved. Though it is in fact one of the main reasons why bullying takes place. There are several underlying causes for bullying, the problem at times can start within an individual’s family; being bullied themselves, negative moods and attitudes, failure to learn right and wrong etc can all be linked to bullying. This is one of the worst kinds of abuse where the victim may lose this confidence, motivation in life, self-esteem and trust in himself and the world around him. In order to beat the bully it often seen that the victim becomes a bully himself. The entire things will keep looping itself and spreading its detrimental effects which is why it needs to be curbed. There are no positive effects of bullying and those who are committing these acts do not realize the extent of the damage they are inflicting on another human being. In many instances victims may take to their homes, become antisocial, and adopt a generally unhealthy behavior towards the outside world. It is also a fact that bullying can cause many psychological disorders which can also manifest themselves physically. If people are not made aware of the extremely harmful effects of bullying they will never realize that they are literally ruining a life and several others attached to it i.e. friends and family who have to watch their loved ones suffer. I believe that parents who allow their children to watch television unsupervised contribute to the problem. This is one medium that exaggerates crime and violence in our society and children who are glued to the idiot box end up imitating what they see on TV. The government also needs to take an initiative and introduce some kind of corrective methods through regulations so that it does not harm people. The media needs to work within certain boundaries and try not to glamorize violence and chaos. By giving it so much importance, in a way the media perpetuates the problem because of its indirect encouragement. Those who have suffered under a bully are often small or weaker than other children. Regular abuse harms their self esteem and turns them into passive beings that are highly sensitive to negative criticism and can be seen as quiet loners most of the time. Their reactions to such advances are normally crying, retreating further or acting out. They can even get hurt if they try to fight back against the bully. This results in many bullied children developing an aversion to school itself and can leave them feeling insecure and worthless. This can result in them falling into deep depression or violence against the bully, and at times even themselves. Most children feel embarrassment and humiliation at being bullied; the reason they feel cornered is because they do not reach out for help either because of the embarrassment or fear of the bully hurting them further. Parents need to look for signs that their children are being bullied. Everyday two people below 24 years of age kill themselves. In 1997 alone over 1757 boys committed suicide, whereas 412 girls killed themselves. Many of the boys were seen to commit suicide by hanging or shooting themselves while others tried to off themselves by jumping in front of a moving vehicle. As many as 200 people kill themselves each year by jumping in front of moving trains. Around 50 kill themselves in the London underground. Statistics for the United Kingdom show that the most popular method of suicide is through road accident in males aged 18-24. there are also several other reported cases of suicides of young men in the UK. Over 16 kill themselves each year because of being bullied in school each year. In 1974 the rate of suicides for the 18-24 old males has increased from 58 deaths per million of the residents. The government also went onto confirm that the number of male suicides had doubled over the last ten years. With the sponsorship of associations such as the football association, the government began working on a curriculum that would help reduce the rate of suicides by over 25% in the next decade. One of the main problems that surfaced was the unwillingness of men to talk about their problems with others around them, even their peers (October 1999). The interior municipality area statistics show that more than 43 per cent of the youngsters have contemplated suicide. Many of these were caused by abuse, poverty, alcohol abuse, and most importantly bullying. A UK Mental Health Foundation looked into the effects of bullying and found that over half of the students showed signs of anxiety and more than 10 per cent were suffering from depression. Bullying, harassment and abuse can cause extreme problems that are not just physical but mental as well. Physical wounds heal overtime but psychological ones do not. Prolonged stress related problems can turn into a myriad of problems, the symptoms pile up over time and can often lead to post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). People who are extremely overworked have also been known to commit suicide. In Japan this phenomenon is known as karoshi. Just he year 2000 along saw over 33,000 deaths by suicide in Japan. Bullying is very upsetting, and if you are being bullied, or think that you are close to becoming someone’s target, consult with your parents, teachers or even doctors. Say NO to bully! Read More