Bullying

According to the Office of Juvenile Justice, bullying is frequently misunderstood by adults as an unavoidable part of growing up and, as a result, often occurs in the presence of adults who fail to do anything about it. The focus of this unit is to inform you about bullying at school and what can be done about it. Bullying has a negative effect on the social environment of a school and creates an atmosphere of fear among students. Bullying also reduces students’ abilities to learn. Bullying is a problem that affects millions of students of all races and classes. 1 out of 4 kids is bullied and 42% of kids have been bullied while online. A child who bullies is also more likely to engage in other negative behavior (such as stealing and taking drugs). More than 16 percent of U.S. school children said that they had been bullied by other students during a school term, according to a study by Ericson (2001). The survey, funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, included 15,686 students in grades six through ten in public, parochial, and private schools throughout the United States. The researchers found that bullying occurred most frequently in sixth through eighth grades, with little variation between urban, suburban, town, and rural areas. Males were both more likely to bully others and more likely to be victims of bullying than were females. In addition, males were more likely to say they had been bullied physically (being hit, slapped, or pushed), while females more frequently said they were bullied verbally and psychologically (through sexual comments or rumors). Bullying is a common feature of everyday life. We see it in the workplace, in the home, in the club and the sports field, but most commonly of all at school, where children learn as much about how to behave towards others as they do about their lessons in class. Unfortunately, some children learn only too well how to dominate others by foul means rather than by fair, and sadly begin to enjoy doing so, setting a pattern for how they will behave as adults. Meanwhile other children, more easily dominated, suffer miserably, often in silence, and develop a victim mentality that they may be unable to shake off. Child and teen Bullying and Cyber bullying are at an all-time high. Some kids are so tormented that suicide has become an alternative for them. It has everyone worried. Not just the kids on its receiving end, but the parents, teachers and others who may not understand how extreme bullying can get. Modern educationalists are saying that it doesn't have to be like that. Hence we now have a substantial body of information, much of it based upon rigorous research, detailing how schools can devise policies and procedures to reduce bullying and how victimized children can be helped to cope more effectively.