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Camille Barlow

Ms. Gardner

English 10H/Period 4

9 May 2017

Are Schools Determined to End Bullying?

Over 3.2 million students are victims of bullying each year; over 67% of students

believe that schools respond poorly to bullying, with a high percentage of students believing that

adult help is infrequent and ineffective (Hinduja 1). Bullying is the act of taking advantage of

someone in order to portray a superior strength or demean another's, and it is a rising issue for

students in elementary schools through universities. Bullying has negatively impacted students

so immensely that suicide and self harm has become a rising issue. Important aspects of life such

as family relationships and education have become strained because the student will oftentimes

force isolation upon themselves. Although numerous schools across the country claim they have

zero tolerance for bullying, students are left feeling hopeless and lost because of the lack of

effort from the schools administration towards their problem.

Initially, many would argue that schools follow the necessary precautions in order to aid

to the victim and the schools cannot take responsibility for the situations they are unaware about.

Along with multiple schools, Hillsboro School District in Oregon acknowledged the rise in

bullying in their area by starting a program where students help other students, for they had come

to the realization that the administration versus student tactic was not working. The resulting

campaign, "Re-think, Redefine, Where Do You Stand?," launched in October 2014 to coincide

with National Bullying Prevention Month (Maza 2). Additionally, Cloonan Middle School in
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Stamford, Connecticut performed a similar action against bullying: By mentoring each other,

students raise awareness of bullying and engage one another as part of the solution. Strategies

include anti-bullying pledges, anti-bullying poster contests, and bullying boxes where students

can anonymously report incidents (Dalton 9). Along with assigning the victims a new friend

to support in times of need, the Hillsboro School District is having students complete kind acts

and write them on a post-it note that sticks on a reserved wall. The plan was created to

emphasize the effect of kind actions towards those desperate for help and are too afraid to ask for

it. The Cloonan Middle School is raising awareness and caution around students being afraid to

receive support in fear of making their situations worse. Although this idea may seem effective,

it will not end or stop bullying, for there are many complicated issues that will not be solved by

these methods. The victims need real help and real advice; administrations efforts need to be

extremely high, for the students around the world are crumbling.

Admittedly, schools are not aware of every occurrence of bullying on or off campus;

therefore, they are unable to help when they are oblivious to the situations. Nevertheless,

schools need to take actions on the situations they are aware about. The grades of victims tend

to largely decrease because these students oftentimes become unmotivated and depressed.

Students who are bullied regularly do substantially worse in school, UCLA psychologists

report in a special issue of the Journal of Early Adolescence devoted to academic performance

and peer relationships. Students who get bullied run the risk of not coming to school, not liking

school, perceiving school more negatively and now based on this study doing less well

academically," said Juvonen, a professor in UCLA's developmental psychology program. This

research illuminates the educational expenses of bullying. Why would administration allow
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bullying to become such a large risk to victims grades? Ultimately, education is extremely

important to young individuals, and when being bullied is the reason for decrease in motivation

towards their grades, the next step towards civilness needs to be taken.

Although bullying affects the victim immensely, the bullys actions oftentimes leave

them with emotional consequences too; however, schools are failing to address why the bully is

behaving poorly. To illustrate, bullies themselves are negatively impacted by their own behavior;

Ashley Strickland, a National Academies of Science student, acknowledges the bullys

perspective: They are more likely to be depressed, are at great risk for poor psychological and

social outcomes, and are more likely to engage in high-risk activities such as vandalism and

theft. In addition, children who are bullied as well as those who bully others are more likely to

contemplate or attempt suicide (Strickland). Many bullies, states Michael Harmann, author of

Breaking the Bullying Culture, live in a black and white world. A bully generally feels like a

victim. The furthest thing from being the victim is to become the perpetrator. Bullying behavior

is an effort to cover up the bully's own vulnerability. It's a primitive mindset. The bully wants to

make the victims pay when they show vulnerability." This research provides evidence that

bullies are their own victim. They are unable to protect themselves or help themselves if they

have no resource. Therefore, their actions will continue hurting each person they torment. As a

result, this research illuminates the idea of eliminating the zero-tolerance policy, and instead,

further investigating why the bully is acting this way should take place. Bullies must be just as

hurt inside as the victim is; however, the bullys perspective is often ignored.

Ultimately, when one considers the effects and results of bullying on the victims health,

it is impossible to justify the bullys actions or the schools lack of effort. For instance, it has a
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major effect on their academic performance as well as their mental and physical health

(Strickland 2). Strickland continues her article by switching to the victims perspective: In

addition to causing depression and anxiety and leading to alcohol and drug abuse into adulthood,

the harmful effects of bullying manifest themselves physically in kids and teens by disrupting

their sleep, causing gastrointestinal issues and headaches. Youth who have experienced bullying

or cyberbullying have had more suicidal thoughts and are more likely to attempt suicide than

those who had not experienced such forms of peer aggression. The findings must be taken

seriously both at school and at home, and suggest that a suicide prevention program is essential

within comprehensive bullying response programs implemented in schools (Hinduja 2). Whether

its physical or mental health, young individuals need help when facing certain situations. These

results show that some students feel so incredibly lost, that they find comfort in drugs and

alcohol. Therefore, adults around the globe need to be notified of these alarming results, so the

next step to ending the bullying culture can be progressed. Why would society allow these kids

to feel so lost and helpless?

In conclusion, schools need to call this rising conflict to action and protect the students at

their school. Going through high school is difficult enough on its own, so the failure of school

administrations to put forth strong efforts towards making the journey slightly easier for some

students is affecting our society. Our society slowly breaks apart by students dividing themselves

from one another. Students need assistance with their problems, and they can no longer be

dismissed; with the pressure from students, teachers, and parents, schools will be forced to

pursue stronger actions to prevent bullying.

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Works Cited

Dalton, Rick, and Virginia Wilkins. "The Way to really Stop School Bullying: Student Mentors."

Christian Science Monitor, 28 Oct, 2011, SIRS Issues Researcher, https://sks.sirs.com.

Harmann, Michael. The Bully's Perspective & Why it Matters | Helping the Bullied by Helping

the Bully, Stop Bullying,

www.naturalchoice.net/blogs/Blog0912_Bully_Perspective_Stop_Bullying.html.

Hinduja, Sameer. Bullying, Cyberbullying, and Suicide. Archives of Suicide Research, 22 July

2010, www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13811118.2010.494133.

Maza, Cristina. "Bullying Prevention: Can Students make Kindness Cool?" Christian Science

Monitor, 13 Feb, 2015, SIRS Issues Researcher, https://sks.sirs.com.

Strickland, Ashley. "Bullying is a 'Serious Public Health Problem,' Report Says." CNN Wire

Service, 10 May, 2016, SIRS Issues Researcher, https://sks.sirs.com.

Wolpert, Stuart. Victims of bullying suffer academically as well, UCLA psychologists report.

UCLA Newsroom, 19 Aug. 2010,

newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/victims-of-bullying-suffer-academically-168220.