Bullying

America has a past marked with violence. We are an aggressive country that has always fought to get what it wants. The American people battled for independence and have always looked towards the spirit of competition. Our society values action sports and entertainment that often contain elements of violence. Our heroes have always been the tales of legends. Americans have grown up hearing about cowboys and Indians and gunfighters and outlaws. These elements seem to be passed to our youth through the media and pop culture. Is it any wonder that violence is now cropping up in our schools? Our biggest question used to be why Johnny can’t read? Now we question, why does Johnny shoot? Ask any veteran teacher and they will tell you that classroom discipline is a lot harder these days.

School violence is any behavior that violates a school’s educational mission or climate of respect or jeopardizes the intent of the school to be free of aggression against persons or property, drugs, weapons, disruptions, and disorder. (CPSV, 2002). This definition takes into account that violence can take many forms and not be confined only to school shootings. Violence can include put-downs, insults, threats, trash talk, bullying, cliques, and pushing. Students begin with these kinds of behaviors and if left unchallenged will advance to increased levels of violence such as fighting, sexual harassment, stealing, drinking, drug use, weapons, vandalism, and gangs. Some may even take the level one step further to murder and suicide. (CPSV, 2002). All seem to agree that violence on any level does not belong in the school, but do not agree on how to stop it. Also society questions why is this happening now? Why are we seeing increased violence among our youth when our biggest problems in school used to be getting caught smoking in the bathroom? Regardless of who or what is to blame, schools must have programs in place to stop the spread of school violence.

Bullying is the biggest way that violence shows itself in the school setting. Webster’s Dictionary defines bullying as the act of intimidating a weaker person to make them do something and persistent aggressive behavior directed towards a particular victim, particularly children at school, who cannot retaliate effectively.( Merriam-Webster Online, 2005).

Bullies, like teenage drama and pimples, have been with us through adolescence and have always been considered just part of growing up, but we hear more about bullies these days, because the incidents are more violent and the consequences more terrifying. No more is it just a bloodied nose or black eye at recess. Now we hear of guns, knives, murders and suicides. Something about the bullying we hear about these days feels different. It’s not always the mean big kid beating up the scared little kid. It’s often six, seven kids beating up one scared little kid. Or we hear about children extorting lunch money or stealing jackets from others. Today’s tales of bullying could be as extreme as six or seven girls swarming and beating the girl who doesn’t fit in. Bullying can be a group behavior. It could be a group of girls shunning one girl. Bullying can be a look, a word, or a tone of voice. Girls use friendship as the currency of bullying, saying, “You can’t sit with us today.” The victim is left wondering was it her hair, her outfit, or did she forget to put deodorant on? With boys, bullying could be spreading rumors that they are gay or attacking their manhood in some way.