Causes and Effects of School Bullying - Essay Example

School Bullying Bullying, which is be defined as "conscious aggressive and violent behavior towards others" in the Journal of Instructional Psychology, referring particularly to children's and teenager's violence, is a widely spread problem all over the world. Every social group of children or teenagers has its own bullies, and statistics say that as many as 70% of students are bullied in school. This shows an excess of violence and aggressiveness in children, which finds its way out through harming other people mentally and physically. This is one of the most dangerous behaviors that a child can exhibit, because it has extremely serious social repercussions - both short-term and long-term. In the short-term, this behavior can lead to physical violence. Long-term bullying results in such things as mental and emotional trauma, serious enough to force a child into committing suicide or becoming violent himself/herself. The infamous school shootings are a very good example of what precisely such a behavior can lead to on the part of the bullied when the pressure on them is applied far enough. Nonetheless, this behavior is dangerous not only for the victim, but for the perpetrator, as well. While a victimized child can get psychological trauma from the bullying experience, a young bully will usually demonstrate a lack of such things as empathy, kindness, et cetera. Bullying is also commonly associated with children who have a lack of social skills. This may or may not be true, as this isn't a prerequisite for bullying. However, what is true is that statistics demonstrate that bullies generally fall behind in their respectful academic programs when compared to other children and even their own younger, non-bullying years. Sandrra Graham, PH.D., Professor of Psychological studies in education at the University of Californiaat Los Angeles, that is exploring victimization inside young minds being interviewed by Nancy K. Dess, notes bullying is a problem that is not always seen as a problem. In a society where competitiveness is the absolute norm and violence surrounds at every turn, a certain degree of "healthy opposition" is considered not only not harmful, but actually desirable. This gives bullies a covered field of operation, coveted from the interference of adults, which can not only usually not distinguish when bullying occurs - an infamous video tape study shows that only in 1 out of 25 incidents of school bullying do adults interfere in any sort of way - but in some of those cases actually ignore the problem, leaving it to resolve itself, which is certainly a foolish thing because of the dangers bullying brings. Thus we can see that bullying creates a no-win problem that, far from being a "simple and necessary phase of childhood", as one perception shows, can be a real and very serious threat to a child's health and, like all threats, has to be dealt with seriously and responsibly, and not by hiding one's head in the sand. But bullying is a very difficult problem to solve by outside interference, if for one simple reason - there will never be a possibility of total control over children, especially ones over twelve years of age. This means that the bully and the victim will always have a chance to meet alone, and, judging from the specific of bullying, likely will. There is only so much that adults can do, but any bullying situation, in the end, ends up in the hands of the children. However, adults can exercise a certain form of control from a distance, by working from two sides, teachers and parents together. The parents' task in combating bullying is dealing with the individual child, whether attacker or foe. It must be remembered that all children involved in a bullying situation are hurt in the long run, and thus must be helped out of the situation. When parenting a victim or someone not yet involved in bullying, steps must be taken to increase the child's self confidence, independence. This is the perfect situation to allow a child to attain their experience of dealing with fear and anxiety; however, a mere assertion that "You can beat 'em if you fight!" is extremely ineffective. Like a future martial artist is at first shown how to fight, so a parent, too, must demonstrate to a child ways of standing up to bullies, playing to the child's individual strengths and possibilities - it would be useless to teach an asthmatic to attempt to threaten the bully into submission. It is a very important to teach to recognize the situations where it is better to back away and call the authorities than to stand up against the bully. The most important and difficult part, however, is to recognize instances of bullying, as this is not always easily done - not all children show signs of being hurt, and a parent must be very attentive to recognize bullying. Sue Smith-Heavenrich in her article Kids hurting kids: bullies in the schoolyard, advises that when parenting a bully, the most important thing is to teach him to empathize. Many bullies, for whom attacking someone brings only joy, do not understand what they do. After walking a mil in a victim's shoes, this kind of bullying is usually stopped. While they are busy walking the mile, some introspection must be done - bullying usually begins at home, a model of the parents' behavior. Bullies are somewhat more difficult to cure than victims, because we are dealing with a strong extraverted deformation of the mind, likely married to stubbornness. The other side of tackling the problem is institution-wise. Any place that deals with children should keep a good watch for bullies, and deal with them swiftly and accordingly, giving no leeway. Implementing a "bully-proofing system", such as in the experimental McCormick Middle School in South California can reduce bullying drastically - as the experimental school shows, from 50% to 22%. The best such programs both prevent bullying, by not allowing situations of disrespect to occur - most physical violence begins with insults, as statistics show - and swift and timely intervention in the case something like this does happen, quickly taking the situation under control. It is very important that no personal sides are taken - the adult must act as a personification of Justice, punishing whoever would bully and standing up for whoever would be hurt. It is best, as practice shows, to work out a certain strict set of rules with well-defined possible incidents and consequences, and follow through with them, for this allows the child to see not an abstract "punishment", but concrete results. As it can be seen, though bullying is hard to deal with directly, measures can still be taken to reduce bullying. In the end, the situation still ends up in the hands of the children - total control is not only impossible, but also as harmful as a total lack of supervision - however, these can be children either taught to deal with bullying or left helpless before it. Which they are is usually up to the adults. Works Cited 1. Smith-Heavenrich, S. Kids hurting kids: bullies in the schoolyard. Mothering, May-June, 2001. 2. Bulach, C, Fulbright, J.P, Williams,R. Bullying behavior: what is the potential for violence at your school Journal of Instructional Psychology, June, 2003. 3. Nancy K. Dess. Saved by the bell Serious science brings hope to victims and bullies. Psychology Today, Nov-Dec, 2001. Read More