Haislip 1 Star Haislip English 3rd Block Mrs.

Knowles 15 March, 2013 In the Bystanders Face Do you ever get the feeling that you are cornered, like a hare cornered by a wolf? Well, I have had that feeling and if you have felt or feel this way you are not alone. Todays society has no idea how serious physical bullying, and it is the job of the bystanders to do something instead of just sitting there and acting like there is nothing wrong. There are students who go home crying because of something that has happened to them at school and there are some too afraid to admit it and to get help. Physical bullying is a big problem and should be stopped There are a lot of bystanders that just sit around and do nothing to stop bullying, but on some occasions I can understand I was a bystander until they started to bully my friend who in return for my help helped them make fun of me. According to the National Institutes of Health Public Access, The total number of people involved in bullying, in a 2009 survey, was 1,594 out of this number the male count is 978 and the female count is 607, (NIH Public Access) (Journal of Adolescent Health). For me this is a pretty substantial amount and I would have never guessed that there was that many in 2009. Also in the same survey, it included the count that were bullies, bully-victims, bystanders, and those who were no involved. The total number of, bullies is 601, bully-victims is 419, bystanders are 574, and the total number not

Haislip 2 involved were 5, 588, (NIH Public Access). That is a lot of bystanders for just one survey and I think it is one too many for bullying situations they need to help or at least report it. A survey of self-concept structures of adolescent girls and boys who were examined and related to their social behavior in situations of bullying. The participants were 281 8th grad adolescents, aged 14 to 15 years, and from 15 school classes. The measures used were the Participant Role Questionnaire and an applied version of the Piers-Harris Childrens SelfConcept Scale, (NIH Public Access). The ultimate solution consisted of 6 clusters, which differed significantly from each other in how much their members tended to bully others, assist the bully, reinforce the bully and withdraw from bullying situations. Adolescents who tended to bully others had high social and physical self-concept, although their view of themselves was rather negative on the other self-concept domains, the ones that assist or reinforce the bully either had a self-concept structure similar to that of the bullies, or they scored low on all self-concept domains, ones that withdrawing from bully situations was most typical of adolescents who had at least average scores on behavioral and family-related self- concept, although they did no perceive themselves as very competent in other areas, (NIH Public Access). For most people like me who were bullied they also have low self-confidence and dont like crowds. The opposing argument would most likely say that physical bullying does not exist and that cyber bullying is one of the biggest problems. For me I somewhat agree only because of the new technology it is easier to bully online and also because physical bullying is one of those that people are scared to tell their parents or the teachers about and you dont hear much about physical bullying sort of like it is a ninja never seen unless reported, but it still exist even though we dont hear about it.

Haislip 3 When you think of physical bullying sometimes you dont realize how bad it truly is, until you look at the facts that are presented by researchers, also most would not expect it to be in the elementary schools, but it was and it might still be. To stop bullying is up to the bystanders, but are you brave enough to take a stand, are you up to the task, are you ready to take the consequences that might come from helping those who are hurt by physical bullying. By helping it will fill like you are helping yourself and saving a life because if you did not help the thought of you not doing anything, when you were perfectly capable of helping the person being bullied will scar you for the rest of your life and would make you feel like it was your fault. Not helping would also make the person that was bullied more prone to kill their self or other people, and that would make you feel like it was your fault for that persons death and this might make you start drinking or doing drugs. Which one are you a bully, a bullying-victim or a bystander?