Bullying Across the Nation Andrew Alvarez University of Texas at El Paso

English 1311

BULLYING ACROSS THE NATION

Bullying Across the Nation Bullying has been apart of our lives and apart of human nature and history for as long as we can remember. Everyone has been bullied or knows someone who has been bullied. Everyone has also seen someone get bullied and humiliated in public. Bullying has always been given the image as a rite of passage in high school. We have seen it on Television or in movies where the greaser picks on the nerd or the geek. When the jocks pick on the new kids and have them made to be outcasts and be alienated from possible friends. Bullying is much more than that nowadays. Technology and the change of the times period have taken bullying to a whole new level. Kids hurt each other physically and violently, and they put each other through a lot of traumatic emotional distress. Only throughout the recent years has bullying been getting attention since it has caused some severe consequences. Some consequences can be school shooting, which injure and even kill people or even possibly suicide. People only care about something once they realize how badly it affects them and their lives. Indeed, school violence has never ended. In fact, the consequences of bullying reached its peak when two teen boys shot and killed many of their classmates after allegedly being victims of bullying. In 1999, Columbine High School. (Koo, H. (2007). A Time Line of the Evolution of School Bullying in Differing Social Context. Asia Pacific Education Review, Vol. 8, No. 1, 107-116.

History of Bullying Bullying dates back for centuries, back in the 19th century the very first book in English literature too show bullying and harassment was Oliver Twist. Bullying in this era was seen as just childs mischief and passed off as something thats just harmless. Bullying for the longest time was seen as harmless in general it wasnt even seen as bullying, just as horseplay. Over the years bullying has slowly been getting more and more attention. Back in the 50s bullying was what the cool kids did and even in more recent times those kids seen as popular or cool bully the ones seen a less are weak. There is a growing problem in this nation and is slowly becoming worse and worse. Over four thousand suicides are committed a year due to bullying and the people doing it are teens. Suicide is a big deal especially since its being done by kids. Not only is it effecting families its also affecting other children and their education. Kids stop going to school on a daily basis. They stop going to school because of the fear they have of getting bullied. They see how other kids get pushed around, taunted, humiliated, and sometimes even beaten in front of the whole school; it just strikes up so much fear. Now in more recent days bullying causes way more problems and even more devastating results than ever. The victims of bullies actually retaliate. After years of being made fun of they decide that enough is enough and they go after the bully for revenge. Unfortunately most of the time they go after the bully and the rest of the school with such anger and violence that they end up hurting a lot of people, kids getting weapons and shooting their peers and teachers killing and injuring people just so they can get out all the anger and pain they have inside. More and more school shooting are happening more and more often. This was unheard of in the world and it was not something that happened. School shootings are very serious because every ones lives are in danger including the shooters. Bullying can lead to many types of revolts. A person can only take so much harassment and

abuse before they snap just like any human being. Bullies also can get a taste of their own medicine when a victim snaps and ends up beating them senseless. After a victim shows everyone they are not ones to be messed with they end up bullying other kids just so they dont end up the victim again.

Types of Bully Bullying has many different faces and many different ways to be done. Physical bullying consists of being hit and pushed around. Physical bullying is one of the most common forms of bullying. It has a huge effect on the victim in a way of it being very humiliating and very painful. Coming home with a black eye and trying to find a way to explain it to your parents without making a big deal about it is hard for a kid. Emotion bullying is a very devastating form of bullying. The bully hurts people emotionally and scars the victim by lowering their selfesteem and bringing up negative things that has happened in their life. Emotional bullying can lead to depression and anxiety and just an over all self image that isnt very healthy leaving a person very insecure and very self-conscious. Cyber bullying is slowly becoming the main form of bullying with technology growing rapidly and social networking becoming the main way of communicating with people. Bullies will harass their victims by constantly posting rude comments and embarrassing pictures and even very personal information just to humiliate them

in front of millions of people online. All forms of bullying can be very damaging especially to those individuals who are afraid of standing up for themselves. Bullying can even cause damage no one thought possible before. Bullying can actually cause psychological damage an even alter the formation of some ones brain. Bullying can actually affect how your brain grows and develops over time. Scientists doing research say that certain parts of the brain can fail to grow due to bullying which can lead to memory loss and other psychological problem in the future. The Solution Only in recent times has America or the world in general really pay attention to what damage bullying has caused and actually tried attempting to do anything about it. Campaigns and commercials arent enough to spread the word that bullying is bad. I believe that if we truly want bullying to come to an end we must take strong and affirmative action. We cannot let kids get away with bullying. I understand that friends mess around and are harsh with each other but if another child is constantly being put down and harassed the offender must be punished to the max. The offender must be made an example of to show how bullying can get you into trouble and will not be tolerated. Laws are being put into place and that will help but only if we enforce them to the fullest. Another way to stop bullying is by showing kids on television shows that bullies arent cool. They also need to show them that telling an adult or going to some one for help is perfectly ok. Too many shows or series in the media show that bullying is ok and just something kids go through while growing up and as true as that is its not ok. Kids will be bullied its inevitable but we can do something about it, we can save lives and we can put a stop this rapidly growing problem.

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2010/11/28/inside_the_bullied_brain/ http://www.pyrblu.com/blog/2013/05/the-history-definition-of-bullying/