Bullying is a common and potentially damaging form of violence among students. Not only does bullying harm both its intended victims and the perpetrators, it also may affect the climate of schools and the ability of all students to learn to the best of their abilities. This inappropriate behavior is also linked to delinquent and criminal behavior in both the victim and the one doing the bullying as they grow into their teen-age years.
Bullying among students is recognized as repeated, negative acts committed by one or more students against another. These negative acts may be physical, psychological or verbal. Some examples are hitting, kicking, teasing, taunting, manipulating friendships, threats, theft, sexual and racial harassment, public humiliation, using technology and destruction of the victims property.
When bullying occurs, there are short and long term consequences for both the perpetrator and victim. Students who are victims of bullying experience more physical and psychological problems than do students not experiencing the onslaught of negative behavior. The victims of bullying also tend not to grow out of the role of victim. The victimized student shows a high incidence of depression, poor self-esteem and other mental health problems as they move into their adult years.
The bully is also at risk for short-and-long-term problems. Negative outcomes seem to follow the bully into adulthood. Some of these outcomes may include a higher dropout rate from school, antisocial acts of vandalism, fighting, theft, drunkenness and arrest records.
There are some thoughts and beliefs about bullying that needs to change in order to reduce the frequency of it happening. It is not uncommon to hear that bullying is just a “normal” part of childhood. It is mentioned that students who bully simply suffer from low self-esteem and that victims really ought to figure out how to stand up for themselves. Comments are also made that victims bring the bullying on themselves.
Research of bullying is relatively new, but does show that bullying occurs more frequently on school grounds than on the way to and from school. The extended time that students are together in school provides the bully the opportunity to aggressively pursue their victim.
Our teachers, paraprofessional personnel and principals in our school deal with individual cases of bullying as they come up. They watch for and address the early phases that take place in the bullying of students. Some of the early signs are put downs, insults, trash talk, threats, fighting and harassment of all kinds. The International Falls school personnel aggressively stop the negative behavior of bullying in the school setting before it gets to a point that may be very difficult to handle.
The International Falls School Board has also taken a very proactive approach in supporting the school personnel to stem the inappropriate behavior of bullying. The board has an extensive school policy in place related to bullying. The policy addresses the behaviors and consequences of bullying among students. The language in the policy will not only address the obvious bullying behavior that most of us recognize, but also state consequences for cyber bullying. Cyber bullying through technology such as emails, chat rooms and text messages is becoming a growing problem our modern society will need to deal with.
If you have any comments, questions or concerns about bullying, please give us a call at the school and let us know your thoughts on the topic.
Source: School Psychology International Educational Research- Center for the Study & Prevention of Violence.
