The Anti-Bullying Project
Spreading Awareness About Bullying...
Bullying has been an exceeding issue over the years and it is time to put it to a stop! Bullying affects everyone, not just the victims of bullying but, the bullies and everyone surrounding them. The number of kids that are starting to become victims as well as bullies are increasing. Bullying is a major problem that we haven’t been able to stop, every year more and more people become bullied at school and online. If we as people take a stand against bullying and not encouraged it we can put an end to it! Bullying has gone viral and people have been bullying over the internet on social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and so much more. As well as social networking sites, people have also used technology of instant texting to harass people. Bullying has always been wrong. Some people support it which makes them wrong, yet people let people get away with bullying everyday. Bystanders need to stand up because if you don’t, it could lead to risky situatuions and so much more.
Facts About Bullying
- Over 3.2 million students are victims of bullying each year.
- Approximately 160,000 teens skip school every day because of bullying.
- 17% of American students report being bullied 2 to 3 times a month or more within a school semester.
- 1 in 4 teachers see nothing wrong with bullying and will only intervene 4% of the time.
- By age 14 less than 30% of boys and 40% of girls will talk to their peers about bullying.
- 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.
- 71% of students report incidents of bullying as a problem at their school.
- 90% of 4th through 8th graders report being victims of bullying.
- 1 in 10 students drop out of school because of repeated bullying.
- As boys age they are less and less likely to feel sympathy for victims of bullying. In fact they are more likely to add to the problem than solve it.
- Physical bullying increases in elementary school, peaks in middle school and declines in high school. Verbal abuse, on the other hand, remains constant.
Ways to Stop Bullying
- Stand up for people who are bullied. Bullies often want an audience and approval
- Take an anti-bullying pledge.
- Take action by talking to other kids, teachers, your principal, or even your parents or guardians.
- Always remember to SPEAK & WRITE UP!!
- If you see something say something!
Stand Up For Others
- Talk to a parent, teacher, or another adult you trust. Adults need to know when bad things happen so they can help.
- Be kind to the kid being bullied.
- Show them that you care by trying to include them.
- Sit with them at lunch or on the bus, talk to them at school, or invite them to do something.
Taaliyah's Story & Personal Interview...
My Story....
In my 18 years of living I’ve been through a lot that nobody even knew about. My life isn’t perfect but I still manage to take everything as a learning experience. I learned that things in life happen for you, not to you and that everything helps you for a reason. One of the many things I been through in my years growing up was getting bullied. The bullying started in 6th grade and moved on to 8th. Although, two years may not seem like a long time,it really is. When I was going through this dramatic time I started to soon doubt myself. I thought nobody cared for me and at the time I felt as if I had no one to talk to, and no one to be there for me. I was very young and for a person to take in something this tragic was so unusual and strange. When I first started getting bullied I didn’t realize I was getting bullied until I started to see movies, commercials, and shows about kids my age and older getting bullied. I also started to see anti-bullying adds and it always made me wonder what was “bullying”. I never knew anything about it and I just wanted to know more about it. Soon enough when I entered 7th grade I started to take my first year of health. One of the many things that struck with me was when my peers and I watched a movie about bullying. It was about a boy who liked people outside his gender and people he knew in town didn’t like it. If they seen him in school they would call him names and pick on him calling him a fag which is a rude, mean, and very cruel thing to be called. Throughout watching the whole entire movie I started to see that some of the actions that this boy was going through I was to. Even though me and the guy from the movie had two different type of situations, the whole bullying situation was still the same. Soon enough when I was in 7th grade I begin to think that I was ugly, nobody liked me and was always alone. The bullying soon started to get to me when people in my school called me names like ugly, a monkey, and many other hurtful things. After going to school and hearing all of that then to coming home acting like nothing was said to me was really hard. Every time my parents asked me how my day was I would always reply “Fine why wont you just leave me alone!” I could never focus in school because I would always think about the mean and hurtful things that were said to me. I soon just gave up in school and didn’t want to do anything or not even try anymore. My teachers also started to worry about me because they knew that I was always a good kid because I have wonderful parents and been in the school ever since kindergarten. My teachers would ask me questions like “Are you okay China?” and “This isn’t you, is something going on at home that you would like to talk about?” Sometimes I would just reply “No, im fine but thank you”. When my teachers started to see the change in me I knew this wasn’t going to be the last I would hear from them. One night when I was on my laptop I logged into Facebook. I had many notifications and was wondering what the heck was going on. I asked myself “What could this be?” As soon as I clicked on all of the notifications my heart dropped, and I could feel my heart beating in my stomach as if I just swallowed a big pill. When I opened it there was a collage of me, an ape, and a gorilla. The photo hurt me, but not as much as my “friends” commenting all over the photo writing “Lol, Lml & this is So True”. I couldn’t believe it. I shut the computer so fast I didn’t wanted to read anything anymore. I sat in my room and began to burst into tears. I cried dramatically. As soon as I heard my mother come into the house I immediately wiped my tears and continued to watched the TV. She came into my room to see what I was doing and asked what was up, and I just replied “Hey mom, and nothing just chilling”. The thought of my friends commenting on the photo making fun of me just constantly replayed over and over again in my head. Soon enough I just cried myself to sleep, because I didn’t know what else to do. When I arrived at school the next day I seen everyone whispering to their friends as they laughed at me. At the point I was hopeless and gave up completely on everyone and everything. I never wanted to go out to recess or anything. Every time I was in class I always asked my teacher to sit me in the back of the class and I would just put my head down. The bullying had gotten to a point where I started to think about committing suicide. I was really young and I never thought about death, but I had came to a point in my life where I just thought nobody cares so it wouldn’t matter if I was here or not. Sooner or later the bullying did continue through 8th grade. I couldn’t stand the thought of being hurt, and not having anyone to talk to at all. I remembered waking up one day and I was in a good mood. I didn’t know what had gotten into me, but I soon decided that it was time to tell someone about the problem that was going on. When I arrived at school I asked my teacher if I can go talk to the guidance counselor and soon enough she let me go. After that, I told my counselor what I was going through and she was very glad I came to her before I did anything I would have regretted. I was glad that I had finally talk to someone and for the first time ever I felt like someone in my life had actually care for me. Later that day, I ended up telling my parents would happen and they were surprised that I didn’t tell them what happen because I always used to talk to them, but they were glad that I finally came out and told them what happen. Although I spent a long time talking about what I went through this story basically says how I am the person I am today. I’m glad that I went through this because this made me a strong person and I’m glad I went through what I did because I am now wise and I feel as if I can be open with whatever I feel like being open with.