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Taylor Sanders
Professor Hammett
February 16, 2016
Bullying in Schools
Gay, chunky, or different are just some of the reasons
that children are getting bullied these days. Bullying has spiraled out of
control, leading to low self-esteem, aggression, and in extreme cases, suicide.
This epidemic causes around 160,000 children to stay home from school in fear
of being made fun of. (Salmon 1.) These once fun- loving kids turn into an
isolated, dark person nobody ever saw coming. Many cases of bullying often go
unnoticed until they beg for attention through lashing out at others or even
their wrists.
Bullying is the result of children picking on other
children for not fitting in or not being just like everyone else. When a kid is
a little different or weird, they are more likely to become a victim of
bullying. Bullying is directly connected to children interaction, ever since
kids have come in contact with other kids bullying has been a problem (Smith,
Peter K., and Sonia Sharp). Bullying is a common theme in many books about
adolescent that date back to the 19th century from authors like Charles
Dickens, J.K Rowling, and S.E Hinton. Although bullying has been around for
ages, the increase in the number of kids committing suicide, going on shooting rampages
and being harassed on social media has increased awareness on the bullying
epidemic ("Common Causes of Bullying”). It was children that had been
bullied or harassed that caused the many shootings that plagued the U.S. in the
1990’s.
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In 2002, the U.S. Secret Service sent out a report that
came to the conclusion that bullying played a major role in many recent school
shootings and that efforts must be made in order to eliminate the violent
bullying behavior ("The Origins of Bullying."). Between the many suicides
and mass shootings, it is apparent that bullying is taking a violent toll on
the youth in America ("The Origins of Bullying."). Bullying has
rapidly involved into something we no longer have control over. If we do not
take action soon many more kids will be wiped out by the bullying epidemic.
Many new websites have been formed through the local and even federal levels to
help stop these problems. There are websites on how to take control, phone
numbers of people who are there to listen, and the Peer Assisted Leadership
(PAL) program which helps raise awareness.
One in
six American school children report being bullied verbally, physically and
online, as often as two to three times a month (Carroll). Bullying has been the
most common form of violence; I believe it has come to the point where children
skip school due to the fear of being made fun of or mocked. When the PALs make
their way to the elementary schools they visit daily, they are faced with many cases of
bullying. One day, one of the PALs was placed in a class room, as soon as she
walked in she could tell one of the children was getting stressed out by all
the noise and chatter in the classroom. She walked over to him as all the kids
were scooting away from him because “they do not like him.” He sat crying at
his desk due to the children isolating him from their fun activities. He almost
broke his glasses due to all the anger he had built up inside of him. The PAL
tried to calm the child down, but it was already too late. He had been a victim
of bullying. It would take a lot more than just a hug to make him the happy
little kid he once was.
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The
projects and groups working towards better relationships between the people in
schools and places of work have not only created support groups, but have also
found many celebrities that have similar stories to those of the children being
bullied which gives them motivation to stand up for themselves and stop the
bullying. The celebrities like Taylor
Lautner, Channing Tatum, Emma Stone, and Miley Cyrus who are prime examples to
show the victims that life can get better and you can grow from your
experiences. Their childhood bullying gave them the motivation to do something
they loved and run with it. Many were bullied, because they were in drama class,
video production, or choir, but look at where they are now. “Never be bullied
into silence. Never allow yourself to be a victim. Accept no one’s definition
of your life, but define yourself,” said Tim Fields, meaning do not let your
peers bring you down, because they think you are stupid or ugly; if you are
happy with yourself, that is the only thing that matters.
The
bullying epidemic has spread all of the world with many cases leading to
suicide, shootings, and death threats. There are now many organizations trying
to help this cause and stop it for good with awareness campaigns, guest
speakers, and community outreach events. Everyone deserves to find happiness in
their life, not to live in fear or being judged or harassed every day.
In
high schools they have a program called PALs, which stands for Peer Assisted
Leadership, the kids apart of the program attend many different schools in the
district to help mentor and keep kids on the right track. Many of the kids they
work with are living in unstable homes, being bullied in school, and need a
push to get back on the right path.
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The PALs work together
to teach the kids on how to cope with being bullied and different strategies on
how to stand up to the problem for not only themselves, but other bullied peers
as well.
The
Humanity Project is another anti-bullying associations that brings kids
together to create innovative arts-based programs that help youth solve
pressing social problems through collaborative efforts that emphasize the value
of each individual ("The Humanity Project."). Together the program
creates and implements all-original programs that reduce problems like
bullying, teen driver safety, and teenage social isolation issues
while strengthening respect for the individual and promoting self-value, they
call their unique approach "shared value" ("The Humanity
Project."). The Humanity Project believes in teaching important lessons
through the arts, like music videos and crafts, helps make their main message
more memorable for kids. Art forces an emotional connection that helps the
information to stick with the kids. With this project it not only brings the
kids together to fight against bullying, but adults as well; the more people we
have standing against the big, bad bullies in the schools, workplace, and on
the play grounds the better.
Recently,
many people who are signed up to participate in the many projects
DoSomething.org create received an email about a notion to reduce bullying. The
email stated, “Be yourself. Everyone else is taken,” meaning you should be
whoever you want to be and everyone is different in their own way. The email
also informed the readers that students with disabilities are up to three times
more likely to be bullied versus their nondisabled peers. They included ways
for the readers to have a part in the campaign by being a part of the
organization and help reduce the bullying count.
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Due to the amount of
people that may have no interest in helping out they included a celebrity to say
they’ve been through it all and still made it, which would encourage more
people to help out.
The
cure to an inevitable epidemic is none, the most we can do is reduce the amount
of bullying cases but I do not believe it can ever be fully subtracted from our
society. Many of the anti-bullying projects have only minimized the amount of
hatred that many have against one another and of them acting out on their
feelings for their peers.
The
solutions that have been created to stop bullying like programs in schools, support
groups, and many other projects that have done an amazing job spreading the
awareness of the bullying epidemic and how it has taken a toll on the current
generation of kids and they have also diminished the amount of children that
are being bullied.
In the novel, The Plague, Camus displays many examples of
absurdity in the people of Oran’s everyday life. This can be displayed in
everyone’s life, the word absurd can be defined as lack of purpose or you are
constantly going through meaningless actions that make you feel as if your life
has no purpose or goal. During an epidemic many feel as if it is impossible to
stop or even make a dent in the number of cases, because it is “out of their
hands”. So the society goes along with their daily routine, never impacted by
the problems arising because they are blinded by their meaningless events. And
when that one, brave person stands up and says enough is enough, many will
follow behind, leaving their own purposeless lives behind to strive for a
better life for everyone.
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I
believe many people stick to their meaningless lifestyles, because they are too
afraid to face their fears. When sticking to their normal daily routines they
are able to block out the many things going on around them in the society. The
people in The Plague continued to walk through the streets of Oran while moans
and screams came from the victims of the plague dying inside the homes, much
like the people do to many serious problems, they just close their eyes, act as
if everything is normal, and maybe one day it will just disappear.
Camus, after looking over the facts and solutions of the
bullying epidemic, would believe the people in our society live very absurd
lives to ignore the problems going around them so that it does not really
affect them. He would think this social epidemic lessens the amount of
absurdity, just like in a plague or another epidemic, forces a change to
people’s daily routine and makes them think about how their lives are so bland
without any excitement or change.
Bullying has been around ever since people have
been on the planet. To many, it seems almost as a rite of passage to be bullied
in their childhood. It has become a normal problem, but today’s bullies are not
the same as they used to be. Indeed, it is not uncommon for people to regard
bullying as a natural process, part of the inevitable and turbulent process of
growing up ("Bullying in Schools."). In the previous
generations, much of the bullying happened on the playground, on the walk home
from school, or in the park. As a bullied child today, they are generally
bullied everywhere except the playground, including inside the classroom, at
the lunch table, at home in their own bedroom, and on social media. There
is no limit to where or how often someone can bully you because they no longer
have to be standing in front of you in order to harm you ("Why Is
Bullying Such a Big Deal?").
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People are
bullied because they are different; different in race, age, hair color, or
relationship choice. Bullying is described as aggressive behavior normally
characterized by repetition and imbalance of power (Smith). The bullies
are usually the popular kids in school that have lots of friends, which only
increases the power and confidence they have to hurt others. Children
nowadays will pick on anyone who is slightly different from what they are used
to. We all need to do our part to raise awareness that bullying is happening
and don’t let it be ignored. In time, hopefully, we’ll be able to recreate the
cultural norm where once again, bullies aren’t celebrated, but called out for
their violent, harmful behavior.
Taylor
Sanders
Works
Cited
"DoSomething.org |
Volunteer for Social Change." DoSomething.org | Volunteer for Social
Change.
Web. 27 Apr. 2016. <https://www.dosomething.org/us>.
Kaltiala-Heino, R., M.
Rimpela, M. Marttunen, A. Rimpela, and P. Rantanen. "Bullying,
Depression,
and Suicidal Ideation in Finnish Adolescents: School Survey." Bmj 319.7206
(1999): 348-51. Web.
O'moore, Mona.
"Bullying in Schools." Western European Education 22.1 (1990):
92-117. Web.
< http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.2753/EUE1056-4934220192>
Salmon, G., A. James,
and D. M. Smith. "Bullying in Schools: Self Reported Anxiety,
Depression,
and Self Esteem in Secondary School Children." Bmj 317.7163
(1998):
924-25. Web.
Smith, Peter K., and
Paul Brain. "Bullying in Schools: Lessons from Two Decades of
Research."
Aggr.
Behav. Aggressive Behavior 26.1 (2000): 1-9. Web.
<https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Peter_Smith34/publication/246881849_Bullying_in_school_Lessons_from_two_decades_of_research/links/550054a50cf2de950a6d5dfa.pdf>.
"The Humanity
Project." The Humanity Project RSS. Web. 26 Apr.
2016.
<http://thehumanityproject.com/>.
"Why Is Bullying
Such a Big Deal?" Teen Counseling Phoenix Arizona Doorways. 2012. Web.
27
Apr. 2016. <http://www.doorwaysarizona.com/why-is-bullying-such-a-big-deal/>.
"Prevention at
School." Home. Web. 03 May 2016.
<http://www.stopbullying.gov/prevention/at-
school/index.html>.
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