Nydia Gonzalez (FGCU) Bullying

Bullying used to be framed by the media as just what kids did and that it was normal. If a child was bullied they were often told to toughen up and “stick and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me.” But in reality words hurt people sometimes even more than physical brutality would. Everyone is affected by bullying all ages, genders, and races. There are many reasons to why people bully such as poor relationships with their parents. Whether it is inconsistent discipline, physical punishment or even lack of attention. A few other reasons why people bully include school failure and peer rejection.

                A newer form of bullying is cyberbullying. With networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace becoming more popular every day, many people abuse the sites. Such as the case in Missouri where a mother bullied her daughter’s friend over MySpace and the girl committed suicide over it. The woman wasn’t convicted on any charges. This only shows other kids that cyberbullying is ok an even promotes it. Or even in Miami last year a girl wrote posts about her teacher on Facebook. The two months later was suspended for her post because it was taken as a non verbal assault.

                There are a handful of programs to help stop bullying. One of the programs is called Silence Hurts. Silence Hurts was made to encourage students to report any bullying they see or experience. They can tell a teacher or adult they feel they can trust. There is even a hotline that is anonymous that students can call to report bullying.  Silence Hurts was created to help prevent tragedies such as Columbine. For every country there are many websites with resources on how to deal with bullies.

                I feel like even though bullying has recently been recognized as unacceptable behavior school and communities should implement programs for children to learn at a young age what bullying is and how it really does hurt people. Schools should create annual projects for each class, and have student create rules about bullying. Also in the household parent should create an environment where their kids feel safe and comfortable. The idea that being bullied isn’t the victims fault is imperative for children to know.

This entry was posted on 28. April 2009 at 23:15 and is filed under Social Problems. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.