Elementary School Bullying - Research Paper Example

In order to tackle the issue of bullying in elementary school, an understanding of who a bully is becomes paramount given that they ate the instigators of the vice. A bully is someone, especially fellow student, who takes advantage of any weakness of students by exposing it to everyone with the aim of humiliating the student. At this stage of a child’ educational development, bullying behaviour includes tattling to get a child in trouble, pushing, name-calling, ignoring a child, giggling and making faces when another student is talking.

In addition, it could include excluding a child from a game, using a child’s name as an insult, other students ensuring they do not sit or line up near a certain student, writing negative messages on the internet. In most cases, bullies operate in groups to minimize the risk of any harm falling to them. Not only is directly tormenting a student considered as bullying, the bullies also identify some students they do not like to prevent them joining some groups. These activities create an unhealthy environment for the student at the elementary school level (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, 2013).

Given that 14% of elementary school students who have not yet taken part in bullying or being bullied are afraid of being bullied, indicates the omnipresence of bullying and its effect to most students even when they are not directly involved in it (Limber, Olweus and Luxenberg, 2013). This fear of bullying might be because of the perceived consequences that it has in the life of the student, which in most cases will last up to the later stages of development. The consequence of bullying can be assessed based on its effects on mental health development of both the bully and the victim where children who are bullied in elementary school have an increased risk of developing depression, sleep problems, anxiety issues, low self-esteem in addition to having thoughts of harming themselves and being suicidal.

Students who have been bullied at one point in their elementary school years report low self-esteem and a lack of self-confidence that may progress. These mental health effects of bullying do not only affect the victims but also the bullies themselves (Nauert, 2007). Bullying affects the child’s academic performance since the student lack proper concentration in class. In a study into the effects of bullying in the academic outcomes of the victims, bullies and observers of the incident done by Glew, et al (2005), victims were reported as having higher chances of getting low academic achievement than the bullies and those who observe an incident of bullying.

Children who are frequent victims of bullying might develop a phobia for school due to the psychological association of school with bullying which consequently results to poor grades. Elementary schools students who are victims of bullying have higher chances of receive school detention or suspension in addition to missing or dropping out of school. Smokowski and Kopasz (2005) note anxiety and depression experienced by students who have been bullied among the main factors that strains student’s ability to do well in school.

The poor performance according to the researchers can be