Cindy Bringhurst English 1010 Marcia Smith May 1, 2014

Issue Exploration Essay Bullying, Cyberbullying and Suicide As a cub-scout leader to 8 year old boys in my neighborhood in 2003, I worked with several boys and was concerned for one boy in particular. I knew he struggled with being bullied, didnt have many friends and had some anger issues. I tried on several occasions to have the other boys include him in our activities with some success but not always. Unsure how to handle this situation, I had a conversation with his parents during which they made me feel that it was none of my business, I also spoke with other leaders about this problem. I felt as though my hands were tied. It would take more than just me to solve an issue like this. Years went by and I watched this boy from afar and found out not much had changed in his world of being bullied and the anger issues got worse and when he was 15 years old, he took his own life. I can see why kids and young adults could get to the point of contemplating suicide because of the extreme peer pressure and stresses they have to deal with in todays society, but kids need to know there are always other solutions to their problems. Though what happened to this young boy is very sad, it is something that is happening to many young people as a result of being bullied. What are some ways we can prevent it? We are losing too many of our young people to suicide. It needs to stop! Schools have implemented programs and policies to help in their efforts to stop bullying. Laws have been put in place for the workplace bully and I have my own opinions for the prevention of bullying.

StopBullying.gov, a federal governmental website managed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services located in Washington, D.C., provides information from various government agencies on different kinds of bullying and cyberbullying. Bullying is defined by Stopbullying.gov as an unwanted, aggressive behavior among school aged children that involves a real or perceived power imbalance. The behavior is repeated, or has the potential to be repeated, over time. Bullying includes actions such as making threats, spreading rumors, attacking someone physically or verbally, and excluding someone from a group on purpose. There are many forms of bullying, one of them is cyberbullying. Cyberbullying is bullying that takes place on electronics; such as cell phones, computers, tablets, Ipods, etc. instead of in person. Cyberbullying also happens on social media and web sites and is becoming a big problem. Kids who are cyberbullied are more likely to use alcohol and/or drugs, skip school, receive poor grades, have a low self-esteem, and have possible health problems. Helping children to understand bullying, say the experts at StopBullying.gov, is the surest way to prevent it. A report issued by the National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Dept. of Education in 2008-2009 on school bullying and cyberbullying states that 7,066 out of 25,217 students were bullied. Of those 7,066 students, 4,735 students were made fun of, called names or insulted and 3708 students were threatened with harm, pushed, shoved, tripped or spit on. Statistics on this report for cyberbullying include 1,521 cyberbullied which included hurtful information on the internet, unwanted contact with instant messaging, texting and online gaming. Note: Report includes bullying among students ages 12-18 taking place in the school building, on school property, on a school bus, or going to and from school and cyberbullying anywhere during the school year.

Due to the history of bullying, we tend to think of young school aged kids that have problems with bullying, or being bullied, but in one article found in the Los Angeles Times, three Miami Dolphins football players (Richie Incognito, John Jerry & Mike Pouncey) have been accused of bullying a new member, Jonathan Martin, to the team because he announced that he is gay. Richie Incognito, a white, 319 pound, 30 year old man was suspended for his actions towards Martin. Incognito has a history of dirty play, verbal abuse, repeated fines & several suspensions. Incognito has reported that he himself was bullied as a kid because of his weight. Todd Wells, an independent investigator, reported on this incident. "It may seem odd to some that Martin, a professional football player with imposing physical stature, could be described as a victim of bullying or harassment, Wells wrote, but even big, strong athletes are not immune from vulnerability to abusive behavior." (Farmer, pg A.1.) I've been in some bad locker rooms, but they weren't dysfunctional in that they were demeaning to people," said former NFL lineman Ed Cunningham, who played for Arizona and Seattle in the 1990s. "We had fights, but they were based on something that was done dirty on the playing field, or because someone thought they were going to get cut. . . . To hear about that type of [Dolphins] locker room behavior was shocking to me." (Farmer, pg A.1.) Floridas House Bill 149 (2013) Safe Work Environment Act provides legal relief and incentives for employees who have been bullied in any form in the workplace. If the defendant has been found guilty by the courts, the courts can have the employer take any action deemed necessary for the relief of the complainants work
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environment and the defendant may be required to pay any costs that have come from the actions. An employee has one year to file such a complaint. Another incident found in People Magazine is the story of a 14 year old girl who is accused of bullying another girl before her suicide death on September 10, 2013. The stepmom of the girl accused of bullying was arrested for a video placed on Facebook showing her beating up two young children. The article goes on to say that the mother of the teen that died is wondering now how she could have saved her daughter and is finding ways to fight against bullying, and to make other parents aware of the lurking dangers. (Westfall) The two previous paragraphs show that adults are the ones doing the bullying. If we cant count on adults to be role models in the fight against bullying, then who can we count on? Adults play such a huge role for kids to show them that you shouldnt bully. Shiloh Bent had been bullied at school for a while and he finally knew he had to do something about it so he told his dad, Matthew. Matthew got upset and found a way to send a message to everyone. He had a picture taken of himself standing behind his son with a sign that read: I stand behind my son in the fight against bullying. Please like and share to send a message loud and clear that bullying needs to stop now. Tell school districts that protecting bullies by turning a blind eye is wrong. Shame on Kaukauna area schools for protecting a bully in their school (Bent). After posting this on Facebook, the response was phenomenal and the Today show aired their story. We need more people like Matthew Bent to stand up for bullying. Several members of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) took on an assignment from the president of the association (William G. Tierney) to research 11 different aspects of bullying. According to their research they came up with several ways to prevent
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bullying within schools. 1) Improve school climate by school staff, administrators and parents working together more and having assistance from programs like No Child Left Behind to promote better learning and academic achievement and to reward students for their achievements no matter how small. 2) Change the way students perceive school safety by having a disciplinary plan in writing put in place for all involved to see, so the students know that if something happens they can go report it without the fear of being beat up if the other student(s) find out. 3) Have school staff, administrators and parents all be on the same page about rules and what needs to happen after bullying occurs so bullies will think twice about bullying again. 4) Encourage students to take part in programs (especially any training of how to handle bullying situations on the spot) that come from a school wide assessment of both students and adults that are offered by the schools to prevent bullying and finally to make sure students know that their school is a safe and supportive school. Another way to prevent bullying is to limit or even not allow young children to watch violent movies or play violent video games that are in abundance and easily accessible in our society today. A study was done and posted in a BioMed Central Journal, indicating that children between the ages of 2-5 that watched excessive amounts of television or played a lot of video games were more likely to bully at an older age. Having anger issues always present in the home is not a good situation either. It creates a hostile environment for kids to learn anger issues and can result in bullying with their peers at school and other places. In my opinion, most of the problem comes from what is happening in the home while a child is being raised. Parents and/or care givers should teach their children that bullying is not
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acceptable behavior. If more time and effort was used in school to teach children at a young age why bullying is dangerous and inappropriate, then maybe there wouldnt be as many young adults and adults doing it. There needs to be strong punishments for adults that are committing the harassments also. Every year thousands of (mostly young) people face bullying in some form or another. There is tons of research being done, and you can find a lot of information on bullying, cyberbullying, and suicide. There are a lot of stories of people falling victim to bullying, cyberbullying, and suicide and the impact it has had in their lives. So why is bullying still happening and what can be done to stop it? There have been measureable strides in the prevention of bullying/cyberbullying but no one has come up with a way of stopping it and to be honest I am not sure anyone will ever find a solution. I am glad more is being done these days, with programs like D.A.R.E., guest speakers (someone who has dealt with bullying first hand), law enforcement guest speakers, etc. in elementary, middle and high schools, to educate kids on what bullying is and what dangers come with it. I feel there needs to be more time spent in school on this topic. It takes people of all ages to get involved and to be more open and talk about it and not brush it off as kids are just being kids. Many parents dont find out that their kids are having issues with depression or bullying until its too late. We need to teach our children that it is ok to talk with a responsible adult and not have a fear that they will get beat up if they say anything about what is happening at school or even outside of the school, and resorting to suicide is not the answer. Bullying is not good for anyone. Lets get involved in any way possible to end it!

Works Cited: Aera.net. American Educational Research Association. 30 April 2013. Prevention of bullying in schools, colleges, and universities: Research report and recommendations. Washington, DC: American Educational Research Association. pg. 37-44. Print. Web. 29 April 2014 Campbell, Daphne. Myfloridahouse.gov. HB 149 Safe Work Environment 14 January 2013. Web. 30 April 2014 Farmer, Sam, NFL Report Cites Intolerance Culture Los Angeles Times Newspaper Article p.A.1, 15 February 2014. Web. Print. 4 April 2014 Marina Verlinden, Henning Tiemeier, Ren Veenstra, Cathelijne L Mieloo, Wilma Jansen, Vincent WV Jaddoe, Hein Raat, Albert Hofman, Frank C Verhulst, and Pauline W Jansen Television viewing through ages 2-5 years and bullying involvement in early elementary school. BioMed Central Journals 14.157 (2014): pg 4-19. Print. Web. 6 April 2014 Stopbullying.gov. (n.d.), Web. 4 April 2014. Stump, Scott. Dad stunned as anti-bullying Facebook plea reaches 900K. The Today Show. Today. New York. 1952. 15 April 2013. Television. Web. 12 April 2014. Westfall, Sandra Sobieraj, Helling, Steve. A Mothers Anguish. People Magazine 4 November 2013. Web. 5 April 2014