Introduction to Bullying

Melissa's Post


Hi, I'm Melissa! I am interested in bullying because it is something that has become a serious issue in our country. Although bullying has always been around, it seems as if it has become much more intense and torturous than it used to be. Bullying has become something that now has criminal charges, and some bullies are even facing jail time. I became interested in bullying when the story of Phoebe Prince hit the media like wildfire. She was a freshman at South Hadley High School in South Hadley, Massachusetts who was tormented so badly by a group of classmates that she took her own life. The part of this story that intrigued me the most was the fact that many staff members and teachers at Phoebe's school knew what was going on and did nothing about it. Some of the attacks on Phoebe were done in front of staff members. They could have saved Phoebe's life. There are hundreds of lives that could have been saved from bullying if someone would speak up. I feel passionately about bullying and I hope that someday I can help young students realize that speaking up about bullying is the right thing to do.


The link that we chose for this post was for the Stop Bullying website. We thought that this link would be great for our initial post because it is a reference that everyone can use. It is broken down for anyone who would want to check out the website: young kids, teenagers, young adults, parents and even educators. It provides advice for people being bullied and even for bullies. There is a great section on recent news involving bullying.
http://www.stopbullying.gov/


I am Melissa and I believe that there should be laws in all 50 states for bullying. It should absolutely not be tolerated and there should be serious repercussions for people who disobey the laws. I think that the consequences for bullying should range depending on the seriousness of the situation. I think that bullying has been pushed under the rug as something not important for far too long and it is time to change that. By exposing the ugly truths of bullying people will see the seriousness of this issue and realize that it is time to take a stand.

Alanna's Post

 Hi, I am Alanna and I researched the federal policies for anti-bullying in the United States. I was surprised to find that there are no federal laws for anti-bullying. However, each state has the right to its own legislation. There are forty six that have anti-bullying laws. Thirty Six have a provisions dedicated towards cyber bullying.


In a press release from the Department Of Education in December of 2011 analyzing each states policy and laws on bullying, "The report shows the prevalence of state efforts to combat bullying over the last several years. From 1999 to 2010, more than 120 bills were enacted by state legislatures from across the country to either introduce or amend statutes that address bullying and related behaviors in schools. Twenty-one new bills were enacted in 2010 and eight additional bills were signed into law through April 30, 2011." This study done by the D.O.E basically takes each states policy and gives out criteria on how to combat bullying.


Like I said, I was surprised to find that there was no federal legislation for anti-bullying. Also, more amazing is the fact that there was not any laws anywhere before 1999. It wasn't until Columbine that states decided to act to bullying. Bullying is a terrible act to commit and no one should be subjected to any instance of bullying. Hopefully with new laws being formed, there will be less bullying. As a teacher, I want to promote respect and cooperation in class. As a younger teacher I am aware of the new form of bullying, cyber bullying. I hope that each state can put together new laws stopping such acts. As the world turns towards technology the chances for children to be bullied continues to increase alarmingly.

Jenn’s Post

Hi, I’m Jenn. I am interested in bullying because over the past couple of years, bullying has become a bigger issues within elementary, middle, and even high schools. When I was in elementary school, I vaguely remember bullying taking place as often as it does today. It occurred on various occasions, but not consistently. The way students bully other students today is horrifying. I can remember my classmates making fun of someone because of the way they dressed, or making fun of someone for wearing glasses, but nothing was ever done about it. In elementary schools today, bullying has been taken to a whole new level. Students are more afraid than ever to go to school because they fear their classmates. Within the past few years, there has been more suicide attempts because of bullying.

In 2010, The Department of Education issued guidance to support educators to attempt to demolish bullying in schools by clarifying when student bullying violates federal education anti-discrimination laws. School officials were warned that if bullying was to occur at their school, they must report it to their supervisors who then take it to the next level if appropriate. If they fail to do so, they could violate civil rights violations and lose their jobs as educators. As I previously stated, the Federal Branch is the current branch of government working with this issue. There is involvement with the Obama Administration to help with this issue, but current information shows that bullying is currently in the hands of the Federal Government.

In my opinion, bullying is the number one problem within school systems today. Up until recently, bullying was not taken seriously and unfortunately, lives were taken or close to be taken because of this. They way which students feel they can harass and abuse other students physically and emotional is baffling. Hopefully, we as future teachers can change this, abolish bullying in our school systems, and help dozens of students.