Bullying
A look at how often it happens and what can be done
Compelling and supporting questions
Supporting questions: What are ways to prevent bullying?
How often does bullying occur?
Some statistics
56% of students have personally witnessed some type of bullying at school.
15% of all school absenteeism is directly related to fears of being bullied at school.
71% of students report incidents of bullying as a problem at their school.
Those in the lower grades reported being in twice as many fights as those in the higher grades. However, there is a lower rate of serious violent crimes in the elementary level than in the middle or high schools.
According to bullying statistics, 1 out of every 10 students who drops out of school does so because of repeated bullying
Background
Types of bullying
Verbal- Vocal harassment (name-calling, insulting, etc.)
Indirect- Any negative way that does not directly make contact with the student (creating rumors, shunning, etc.)
Cyber- Using electronics to bully someone (texts, email, blogs, social media, etc.)
Significance
Bullying myths
2.Bullying always includes physical aggression: As mentioned earlier in this, there are four types of bullying and physical bullying is just one way that it can happen.
3.There's always one way to help limit bullying: There are so many different types of bullying that there is no one way to response to stop it from happening.
4.Parental attitudes have no effect on bullying: Parent actions influence student thinking. It can lead to their child bullying others.
5.Boys are more likely to be bullied: While it is true that physical bullying is more common among boys, verbal and indirect bullying causes girls and boys to be about equal in the likelihood to be bullied.
For more myths visit the link below.
Learned
- Different anti-bullying programs that are effective in reducing the amount of bullying that occurs in schools
- Statistics about bullying.
- How different two schools can be in regards to how they deal with bullying.
Recommendations
At a school in Illinois, there are multiple programs and activities in place to head off bullying before it happens. Teachers are yearly given anti-bullying seminars to help them know what to do to recognize the signs and prevent it from occurring. They monthly get together and act out different situations some of which involve cases of bullying. The teachers are well informed and actively work with both the bully and the victim to stop bullying before it stops.
They have multiple programs in place to limit bullying. Fathers are in classrooms on a daily basis. The teacher from this school I interviewed did not have a week go by without a student's father in the school. The parents act as a second pair of eyes and help those who are struggling throughout the day. Students are paired together and given ideas about what to do if they are bullied. There are a few more activities this school uses. This school has very few bullying incidents. Teachers and students rarely hear about someone being bullied, and when it does happen, it is normally mild and is stopped quickly. The school is very successful at limiting the amount of bullying that occurs on its campus.
Using anti-bullying programs is one way of dealing with bullying in schools. It is backed by research as shown in this article below. While it may be difficult to implement all of the programs in the other school, schools would benefit by adding some program or bringing awareness.
Consultation in Bullying Prevention: An Elementary School Case Study by Morrow, Michael T.; Hooker, Steven D.; Cate, Rebecca Lynne