Position: No
By CLAIRE JOHNSON
Staff Editor
- Akgül, H. (2020). The Effect of Accepting Diversity Psychoeducation Program on Teasing of Children. Educational Policy Analysis and Strategic Research,15(2), 335-350. doi:10.29329/epasr.2020.251.19
There are many misconceptions about what is considered to be bullying and what is not considered to be bullying. The authors in this article explain how even teasing, which can be anything from saying small tiny comments about someone’s actions or appearance to making a rude or insulting joke at another’s expense, can most definitely impact children negatively. Often not seen as overt bullying, teasing is commonplace. The researchers note that bullying takes place in many different forms, but teasing is by far one of the most misunderstood. Teasing happens in schools, on the internet, and especially at home. While the person making a comment or repeated comments may think what they’re saying is fun or funny, the victim’s perception might be totally different. The words can be harmful to self-esteem. Adults often don’t witness teasing, or if they do, they don’t see the full scope of the situation. Even though lectures about being kind, giving rules, and forming consequences, teasing will still make its way around. If teasing can’t be stopped then bullying cannot be stopped.
Teasing is all around us. It happens at home, among friends, at work, and in so many places. Children who use this “softer” form of bullying typically experience negative aspects during school already. They try to make others laugh for their own pleasure or to deflect from their own discomfort or insecurities. Teasing is often an opportunity to use others’ emotions in order to cope with your own stress. There is no way to catch every time someone is getting teased. Making fun of someone else and getting a good reaction from peers allows this action to repeat over and over again. While a joke might be funny once or twice, it can cause serious issues as time goes on for the child being teased. Since it is so hard to prevent and even understand when teasing is causing issues, there is no way to end this form of bullying.
Another reason why bullying can’t be stopped is because what is seen as bullying varies from person to person. Many adults may see teasing as something children should be able to simply just brush off or even laugh at. The author states that“teasing is a type of bullying which is seen in children at very early ages and considered devastating for the victim.” This act of bullying is dangerous because it is misunderstood and brushed off when reported. Teachers, adults, co-workers, and babysitters often find this form of teasing as cute or funny. They do not really question that there is something wrong with a kid teasing another. Many do not understand the harm a simple comment can do. One little phrase can stick in a child’s head for days or weeks. If people do not agree that teasing, all teasing, is harmful and should be stopped, then bullying cannot be prevented. because no one will ever agree on whether teasing is harmful or not.
According to the researchers, it was determined that there was a big decrease in disturbance scores of children who participated in a psychoeducation program compared to those who didn’t participate. This program helped kids who were in need of some extra help. This study proved that many children were very uncomfortable due to teasing. These stats showed that teasing has a great effect on all children and that it is hard to avoid. Studies like this prove that even when people are aware of teasing, they cannot fully stop the teasing from occurring. That is exactly why bullying cannot be eliminated altogether.
Teasing is harmful. Researchers say it can lead to children thinking they aren’t worthy enough. It can lead to them feeling passive and weak. Being in a household or friend group where one is constantly teased is draining and unhealthy. This form of bullying allows children to become intimidated by others and that leads to more negative aspects later on in their lives. Children struggle to cope with this especially when friends and peers laugh it off. No one wants to be made fun of and then put into an awkward situation when trying to say stop. According to the article, coping with teasing is extremely stressful and is the most “destructive emotion psychologically for the victim.” The child getting bullied might not even understand that they are getting bullied, let alone the child who is bullying someone may not even be aware that they are harming someone. Teasing is one of the most harmful forms of bullying because it is so misunderstood. Although some bullies know exactly the harm they cause, some teasing bullies may not even be aware of the harm they are causing. There is no way to stop bullying when one of the most common forms, teasing, is so hard to define, see, control or stop.
- Atkins, G., Demster, S., Dota, K., Walker, E., Martin, D., & Martin, M. (2020). Prevalence of Bullying and Cyberbullying Among Urban Middle School Students. The European Journal of Educational Sciences,07(02). doi:10.19044/ejes.v7no2a6
Bullies are everywhere. In this article, the authors explain how there is a wide range of people involved in bullying, both bullies and victims. In this study, they examined bullying and cyberbullying among 185 middle school students in 4 urban middle schools in Ohio. They determined that bullying happens in a variety of locations, even with the prevalence of prevention programs. Despite efforts from schools, bullying continues both in-person and online. Even with some education help programs and support programs, there is no way to completely avoid bullying from taking place.
Bullying is an unfortunate part of everyday life. The article states that “On average, female students reported more bullying in their school than males.” The article suggests that boys are more involved in physical bullying and verbal bullying while girls are more prone to relational bullying. Relational bullying is when someone tries to slowly ruin your social status. Girls may try to bring others down and tease them or constantly judge their looks, while boys may physically hurt one another. Although programs and education are helpful in reducing instances of bullying, there will always be girls who make fun of other girls, spread gossip, and form exclusive cliques and there will always be boys who pick on other boys. There is no way around that reality which is why bullying cannot be stopped.
Another issue, especially now, is cyberbullying. “Caucasian students reported the highest rate of cyberbullying.” According to the writer’s research, caucasian students are most likely the kids online to be cyberbullying one another. Cyberbullying is one of the most difficult types of bullying to control as it is often out of sight of adults. Oftentimes, parents aren’t even aware that their children are cyberbullying or being bullied online. They might not even be aware of the fact that their kids even have social media platforms. In the modern era, cyberbullying is so easy to do because social media is used by almost everyone who owns a phone. As sad as it is, there would never be a way to eliminate this type of bullying completely. Schools have no authority over what happens behind a screen outside of school so those many education programs aren’t particularly helpful. It comes down to families and how parents teach their kids to talk to and treat others. There is simply no control over this kind of bullying which leads to bullying never being able to be stopped.
Research has proven that “Approximately 44% of 6th-grade students felt terrible about themselves due to bullying, and 62% of all female students believed other students had spread false rumors about them.” The lack of self-esteem that has already been made in a school environment allows these kids to lash out at one another. Being surrounded by children who aren’t confident allows bullies to take their sadness out on others. This obviously isn’t okay, however, it is found to be the current reality these days. The authors describe that it is difficult to come across children without any anxiety or lacking of self-confidence. A classroom full of self-consciousness is the perfect setting for bullying to take place. There won’t ever be a way to avoid negativity towards others even with suggestions of kindness. Students will face one another and either choose to be kind or not. Adults do not have control over what children believe is right or wrong.
Based on their findings, the authors discussed the issues surrounding bullying in urban schools and gave suggestions regarding approaches that can help students better cope with bullying. Some of these solutions are encouraging wider diversity in schools, addressing negative behaviors, and providing extra support for struggling students. But even with these techniques, bullying can’t be prevented altogether. Through today’s expansiveness of social media, cyberbullying cannot be stopped. Although there are some proven ways to reduce and prevent some forms of bullying, there will never be a way to stop all forms of bullying from happening for good.
- Gage, Nicholas A. C. A. (n.d.). When Prevention is Not Enough: Students’ Perception of Bullying and School-Wide Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports – Nicholas A. Gage, Chad A. Rose, Dennis A. Kramer, 2019. Retrieved from https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0198742918810761
In this article, When Prevention is Not Enough: Students’ Perception of Bullying and School-Wide Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports, the author Nicholas A. Gage explains that bullying continues to be a major concern in U.S. schools. We have already established that bullying is impossible to end completely, but many people have hope for it to come to an end. The main focus of the article is on the prevention of bullying along with realization and intervention efforts. Unfortunately, the number of students bullied in schools has continued to grow, and, despite prevention programs, bullies continue to bully. Gage notes in his research that bullying rates have grown significantly even while education efforts have struggled to decrease bullying occurrences.
The article states that “Researchers have recently cited school-wide positive behavior interventions and supports (SWPBIS) as a prevention framework for reducing school-based bullying.” It is a program designed to help students improve behaviors while supporting the whole child. While this is a good step, it does not stop bullying. Gage describes a pattern over time of fluctuations in bullying instances. The author notes that when bullying suddenly seems to decrease, it usually rises back up again. There is no way to end bullying completely if stats cannot stay consistent and follow this pattern of fluctuations.
As we know, people are complex and will always go with their own morals in life. Many children follow what their parents taught them while others chose their own path. Children cannot avoid being around other students that deal with unstable or unsupported home lives and difficult behaviors. Schools cannot prevent or control bullying from happening since they cannot control so many crucial elements that lead to bullying. There is not a way to eliminate bullying completely.
The researchers studied over 76,248 students in 118 schools where SWPBIS was implemented. Although many students reported cases of bullying, they also reported the sense that not much has been done about bullying. If students who are victims of being bullied are reporting situations and nothing is being done, there is a huge issue going on. If schools aren’t taking bullying situations seriously, bullying will never come to an end. People must work together in order to fight for the prevention of bullying, however, this research shows not much is resolved in the long term. That is why bullying cannot be stopped.
Research has proven that “Random-effects regression models found no statistically significant difference between treatment groups on students’ self-report of bullying victimization.” This means that there has not been any information collected regarding treatment groups and self-reporting victims have no differences in stats. The same kids that are in groups trying to help them cope with being bullied are still going through the same amount of bullying that the kids who aren’t involved in those groups are going through. If bullying could be stopped, there wouldn’t be these types of comparable statistics. If bullying could be stopped, the children in support groups would not be showing the same levels of bullying statistics as those who aren’t in these groups. As sad as it is, even with these SWPBIS recommendations and limitations being discussed, bullying will continue to be a part of today’s society.
- Ladika, S. (2018, February 2). Bullying and Cyberbullying. Retrieved from http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/document.php?id=cqresrre2018020200
Ladika explains that bullies defy easy categorization; however, they tend to feel powerless in their lives. She describes the lack of empathy that they obtain which often sprouts from dysfunctional families. Bullies typically feel a big need to be in control since they don’t have much control in their own lives. The author explains that people who are bullying others will, more likely than not, have trouble regulating their emotions. Her research shows that cyberbullying has increased significantly over the years and not everyone has the same beliefs on bullying, proving the idea that there will never be an end to all bullying.
As many people know, cyberbullying has increased as more and more people at younger and younger ages are online. The article says that schools could try to prevent cyberbullying from taking place by enforcing school consequences for bullying that happens online, but they legally cannot do so. They are aware that by enforcing rules and spreading kindness through the internet kids could potentially stop harassing one another, but they can’t do so. If schools aren’t able to try and do more things in order to prevent bullying because they simply aren’t allowed to then children are going to continue to be sneaky and bully others. Schools cannot help that bullying happens off-campus and on online platforms. It isn’t their responsibility and that’s why bullying cannot be fully stopped. What happens out of school falls into the guardians of the children bullying others.
Even with cyberbullying on the rise, the author explains that bullies get more satisfaction when there is a person to person encounter. “Reports of in-person bullying on school grounds, meanwhile, are declining, even though experts say bullies are still much more likely to victimize their targets face to face than online.” The researcher notes that although bullying cases are decreasing, there is no way to stop bullying all together because kids enjoy teasing others in the school. She explains that cyberbullying may even lead bullies to harm their online victims in person at school. Since there isn’t a way for people to prevent online bullying, we cannot prevent bullying.
The author describes that every state has different laws around assault, harassment, and stalking. In many cases, these differ from state to state. Ladika describes a specific bullying case that took place in Texas where harassment charges were being filled, but never taken into court because it was “bullying.” In this case, it was argued, “If we’re not talking about physical bullying, we’re really talking about harassment and stalking, and that is a vague statute.” If bullying cannot be taken seriously in some states and clarified in the law, it will never be resolved. In order for it to be stopped or even reduced significantly, lawmakers and educators will have to come together to define bullying and realize the negative consequences including suicide. If court systems cannot take harassment seriously and punish bullies for their actions, society is a long way from stopping bullying completely.
Ladika states that “about 46 percent of bullying victims who met three criteria — they had gotten into fights at school, been threatened or injured at school and skipped school because they feared for their safety — also said they had brought a weapon to school.” The author proves that bullying is one of the most common issues in schools today. She makes it clear that there are some solutions to try and prevent bullying, but reminds us that it cannot be “cured” altogether. Knowing that there are so many things linked to bullying such as family issues, mental health issues, depression, and suicide, there is no eliminating this issue.
- Smokowski, P. R., & Kopasz, K. H. (2005). Bullying in School: An Overview of Types, Effects, Family Characteristics, and Intervention Strategies. Children & Schools,27(2), 101-110. doi:10.1093/cs/27.2.101
The purpose of the research conducted by Smokowski et al. was to highlight the prevalence of bullying that takes place in the United States today. The authors found that bullying is one of the most significant problems that schools face. The researchers voiced that one in three children are affected by bullying in one way or another. Bullying can lead to long-term negative effects on children including mental health issues such as anxiety, depression, extremely low self-esteem, and even substance use. The authors also explain that it is very common for children who get bullied to become bullies in order to cope with past harm from others.
The authors describe several popular bully intervention programs including The Olweus Bullying Prevention Program, The Bullying Project, and Bully Busters. The most effective programs involve families, schools, and communities working within the school environment with psychologists, social workers, and staff members who address a range of problems from academics, depression, and home life. With social skill training and conflict resolution at the heart of bullying reduction programs, the most successful ones do improve school climate and students’ well being. Although these and other intervention strategies prove that there are ways to prevent many bullying behaviors, this is only a bullying reduction. A reduction in the amount of bullying in school and society is amazing, however, it is not a full stop to bullying altogether.
According to researchers, bullies often have a difficult home life. Bullies are typically troubled kids and their parents are often “hostile, rejecting, and indifferent to their children.” The neglect and trauma experienced by bullies themselves cause them to take out their emotions on others. Physical and emotional neglect at home leads to “angry, emotional outburst” that is taken out on bully-victims. Aggression and behaviors that are demonstrated at home will be repeated at school and around others. The article notes that being in a hard environment at home is stressful and most often always uncontrollable at such a young age. Children don’t get to choose their parents’ parenting style. They do not get to decide on what kind of ways their parents cope with their own stresses. These uncontrollable factors are why bullying cannot be stopped, even with the best prevention programs.
Another reason why bullying cannot ever be stopped completely is that victims of bullying, like bullies, have home life factors that are out of their control. The authors explain that children who get bullied tend to have overprotective parents. These parents often realize early on that their children tend to be insecure or anxious. Often parents help these insecure children avoid a wide range of uncomfortable situations and conflict, which never allows them to develop strong coping mechanisms. This can make them more vulnerable and an easier target for bullying. Researchers believe “that the family’s tendency to shelter their child may serve as both the cause and consequence of bullying.” The authors are saying that allowing children to be too reliant on their parents can make them more vulnerable to bullies in school and, even when bullied, afraid to seek help from their parents. It may appear to be a good thing to be a helicopter mom or dad, however, it can lead to a lack of independence, lack of coping skills, and to becoming a victim of bullies.
Bullying prevention programs can teach new behaviors and attempt to explain that certain things are wrong, however, bullying can never be fully prevented. Schools do not get to control how their students are raised and they cannot change past traumas in their students’ lives. Yes, schools can attempt to change current situations, teach in trauma-informed ways, but they cannot fix all the emotional damage that has been repeatedly done. There is not currently a “cure” for bullying. There is no way to truly stop bullying completely. Many may try to help prevent bullying and find a lot of success in reducing harmful behaviors, but in all reality, there is no way to single-handedly end bullying.