Bullying

In academia
Main article: Bullying in academia

Bullying in academia is workplace bullying of scholars and staff in academia, especially places of higher education such as colleges and universities. It is believed to be common, although has not received as much attention from researchers as bullying in some other contexts.

Bullying Definition
Bullying is 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.
The latest research shows that one in three children is directly involved in bullying as a perpetrator, victim, or both. And many of those who are not directly involved witness others being bullied on a regular basis. No child is immune—kids of every race, gender, grade and socio-economic sector are impacted. But it doesn’t have to be this way. As parents we have the power to help reduce bullying. Here are Education.com’s top ten actions you can take to help address bullying:

1. Talk with and listen to your kids—everyday. Research shows that adults are often the last to know when children are bullied or bully others. You can encourage your children to buck that trend by engaging in frequent conversations about their social lives. Spend a few minutes every day asking open ended questions about who they spend time with at school and in the neighborhood, what they do in between classes and at recess, who they have lunch with, or what happens on the way to and from school. If your children feel comfortable talking to you about their peers before they’re involved in a bullying event, they’ll be much more likely to get you involve after.

2. Spend time at school and recess. Research shows that 67% of bullying happens when adults are not present. Schools don’t have the resources to do it all and need parents’ help in reducing bullying. Whether you can volunteer once a week or once a month, you can make a real difference just by being present and helping to organize games and activities that encourage kids to play with new friends. Be sure to coordinate your on-campus volunteer time with your child’s teacher and/or principal.

3. Be a good example of kindness and leadership. Your kids learn a lot about power relationships from watching you. When you get angry at a waiter, a sales clerk, another driver on the road, or even your child, you have a great opportunity to model effective communication techniques. Don’t blow it by blowing your top! Any time you speak to another person in a mean or abusive way, you’re teaching your child that bullying is OK.

4. Learn the signs. Most children don't tell anyone (especially adults) that they've been bullied. It is therefore important for parents and teachers to learn to recognize possible signs of being victimized, such as frequent loss of personal belongings, complaints of headaches or stomachaches, avoiding recess or school activities, and getting to school very late or very early. If you suspect that a child might be being bullied, talk with the child’s teacher or find ways to observe his peer interactions to determine whether or not your suspicions might be correct. Talk directly to your child about what is going on at school.

5. Create healthy anti-bullying habits early. Help develop anti-bullying and anti-victimization habits early in your children—as early as preschool and kindergarten. Coach your children on what not to do—hitting, pushing, teasing, "Saying na-na-na-na-na," or being mean to others. Help your child to focus on how such actions might feel to the child on the receiving end (e.g., “How do you think you would feel if that happened to you?”). Such strategies can enhance empathy for others. Equally if not more important, teach your children what to do—kindness, empathy, fair play, and turn-taking are critical skills for good peer relations. Children also need to learn how to say "no" firmly if they experience or witness bullying behavior. Coach your child about what to do if other kids are mean—get an adult right away, tell the child who is teasing or bullying to "stop," walk away, ignore the bully and find someone else to play with. It may help to role play what to do with your child. And repetition helps: go over these techniques periodically with your kindergarten and early elementary school aged children.

6. Help your child’s school address bullying effectively. Whether your children have been bullied or not, you should know what their school is doing to address bullying. Research shows that “zero-tolerance” policies aren’t effective. What works better are ongoing educational programs that help create a healthy social climate in the school. This means teaching kids at every grade level how to be inclusive leaders and how to be empathic towards others and teaching victims effective resistance techniques. If your school does not have effective bullying strategies and policies in place, talk to the principal and advocate for change.

7. Establish household rules about bullying. Your children need to hear from you explicitly that it’s not normal, OK, or tolerable for them to bully, to be bullied, or to stand by and just watch other kids be bullied. Make sure they know that if they are bullied physically, verbally, or socially (at school, by a sibling, in your neighborhood, or online) it’s safe and important for them to tell you about it—and that you will help. They also need to know just what bullying is (many children do not know that they are bullying others), and that such behavior is harmful to others and not acceptable. You can help your children find positive ways to exert their personal power, status, and leadership at school. Work with your child, their teachers, and their principal to implement a kindness plan at school.

8. Teach your child how to be a good witness or positive bystander. Research shows that kids who witness bullying feel powerless and seldom intervene. However, kids who take action can have a powerful and positive effect on the situation. Although it’s never a child’s responsibility to put him or herself in danger, kids can often effectively diffuse a bullying situation by yelling “Stop! You’re bullying” or “Hey, that’s not cool.” Kids can also help each other by providing support to the victim, not giving extra attention to the bully, and/or reporting what they witnessed to an adult. 9. Teach your child about cyber bullying. Children often do not realize what cyber bullying is. Cyber bullying includes sending mean, rude, vulgar, or threatening messages or images; posting sensitive, private information about another person; pretending to be someone else in order to make that person look bad; and intentionally excluding someone from an online group. These acts are as harmful as physical violence and must not be tolerated. We know from research that the more time a teen spends online, the more likely they are to be cyber bullied—so limit online time. There’s a simple litmus test you can teach your children about online posting: if you wouldn’t say it to someone’s face or you would not feel comfortable having your parents see it—don’t post it (or take it down now).

10. Spread the word that bullying should not be a normal part of childhood. Some adults hesitate to act when they observe or hear about bullying because they think of bullying as a typical phase of childhood that must be endured or that it can help children “toughen up.” It is important for all adults to understand that bullying does not have to be a normal part of childhood. All forms of bullying are harmful to the perpetrator, the victim, and to witnesses and the effects last well into adulthood (and can include depression, anxiety, substance abuse, family violence and criminal behavior). Efforts to effectively address bullying require the collaboration of school, home, and community. Forward this list and articles you’ve read to all the parents, teachers, administrators, after-school care programs, camp counselors, and spiritual leaders you know. Bullying is a serious problem, but if we all work together, it’s one we can impact.

Ten Actions Parents Can Take if Your Child is Bullying Others

Updated on Feb 22, 2012
Learning that your child is involved in bullying behavior can be a tough blow to any parent. Before you get angry or upset, take a breath. Social skills develop gradually over the school years, and for many children, this includes learning and experimenting with power and relationships. It’s important that you work steadily and compassionately to get your child back on track. There’s a lot you, as a parent, can do to help your child learn from the situation and become a more productive and supportive part of her peer group. Here are 10 actions you can take today to help create better outcomes for both your child and the kids who were bullied.

1. Have an honest and firm conversation with your child. Many children don’t fully understand that what they are doing is bullying and this it is not OK. They may have seen similar behavior in adults, their peers, or on television. Your child needs to hear from you explicitly that it’s not normal, OK, or tolerable to bully, to be bullied, or to watch other kids be bullied. Kids need to understand that when they bully their peers, they are doing harm not only to those victims, but also to kids who witness their actions—and even to themselves. Children who repeatedly bully others tend to end up as adults having increased depression, anger, and conflict with other adults—and are more likely to be convicted of a crime. Your child needs your love and care to get back on track. 2. Make a commitment to help your child find healthy ways to resolve conflict and to stop bullying others. Start by determining why your child is bullying: is it the draw of social power or status? Or perhaps, a natural temperament that needs more adult regulation or a case of copying peers? Is it possible your kid’s being bullied by others, and is lashing out with pro-active behavior to try to keep from getting bullied? A teacher, counselor or mental health professional may be able to help with this process. Once you get a handle on why the bullying is occurring, you can then help your child come up with alternate behaviors or ideas to gain leadership and “social status” that don’t involve excluding others or physical and verbal bullying. Provide specific examples from your own experience or from carefully screened books and media. Support your child’s efforts to communicate the plan and ideas to teachers and administrators and to implement the plan at school. 3. Schedule an appointment to talk with school staff including your child’s teacher(s) and the school counselor. Share your concerns. Work together to send clear messages to your child that bullying won’t be accepted at home or at school and must stop. Set up a hierarchy of clear consequences that do not involve punishment, but rather actions of apology and new respect towards kids who were bullied. Let your child know that acting with respect and kindness towards others is the true form of power. Always have these conversations modeling calm, gentle and loving ways of speaking. 4. Develop clear and consistent family rules for behavior and follow through on your child’s compliance to those rules. Your child needs to know the specific behaviors you expect. Praise and reward the kids who follow rules. Establish appropriate consequences that are not physical or hostile if your child’s actions or behavior fails to meet expectations. Remember, saying nothing sends the message that what your child’s doing is OK. 5. Monitor your child’s behavior at home closely. Immediately and calmly stop any acts of aggression you see against siblings or other children in your home, and talk about other ways your child can deal with sticky situations. Guide your child toward respectful and kind actions within your home environment on a consistent basis. 6. Your behavior teaches your children how to behave. Take an honest look at your interactions with other adults inside and outside your home. Work to make changes if your children aren’t learning to treat each other with respect by watching you. Do your best to model respectful, kind and empathetic communication and avoid aggressive, intimidating and abusive behaviors—even during disagreements. 7. Spend time getting to know your child. Talk about how your kid prefers to spend free time—who does he or she spend time with? What activities are they involved in? If the circle of friends concerns you, work together to help direct your child to a better environment—one that builds on healthy interests and talents. School clubs, music lessons and sports can be great outlets. 8. Be realistic and patient. Don’t expect any behavior to change overnight. Support your child’s efforts to improve, and be there every step of the journey. Keep lines of communication open so your kid has a sounding board, and someone to trust and confide in. Practice role-playing, where you take on the role of children being bullied, and have your child practice talking it out. You can make suggestions for both word choice and tone of voice. 9. Continue to work and communicate with school staff for as long as it takes. They should be your allies. If you’re not receiving the support and attention your situation requires, escalate the issue through the school and district administration channels. 10. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. While there’s unfortunately not a shot or pill to end bullying behavior in kids, your child’s pediatrician can support you in a lot of ways—including making a referral to a mental health professional and other resources available in your community.
School bullying
Bullying can occur in nearly any part in or around the school building, though it may occur more frequently in physical education classes and activities, recess, hallways, bathrooms, on school buses and while waiting for buses, and in classes that require group work and/or after school activities. Bullying in school sometimes consists of a group of students taking advantage of or isolating one student in particular and gaining the loyalty of bystanders who want to avoid becoming the next victim. These bullies may taunt and tease their target before physically bullying the target. Bystanders may participate or watch, sometimes out of fear of becoming the next victim.
Bullying can also be perpetrated by teachers and the school system itself: There is an inherent power differential in the system that can easily predispose to subtle or covert abuse (relational aggression or passive aggression), humiliation, or exclusion — even while maintaining overt commitments to anti-bullying policies.

Bullying is the use of force or coercion to abuse or intimidate others. The behavior can be habitual and involve an imbalance of social or physical power. It can include verbal harassment or threat, physical assault or coercion and may be directed repeatedly towards particular victims, perhaps on grounds of class, race, religion, gender, sexuality, appearance, behavior, or ability. If bullying is done by a group, it is called mobbing. The victim of bullying is sometimes referred to as a "target".
Bullying can be defined in many different ways. The UK currently has no legal definition of bullying, while some U.S. states have laws against it.

Bullying consists of four basic types of abuse – emotional (sometimes called relational), verbal, physical, and cyber. It typically involves subtle methods of coercion such as intimidation.
Bullying ranges from simple one-on-one bullying to more complex bullying in which the bully may have one or more "lieutenants" who may seem to be willing to assist the primary bully in his or her bullying activities. Bullying in school and the workplace is also referred to as peer abuse. Robert W. Fuller has analyzed bullying in the context of rankism.

A bullying culture can develop in any context in which human beings interact with each other. This includes school, family, the workplace, home, and neighborhoods. In a 2012 study of male adolescent football players, "the strongest predictor was the perception of whether the most influential male in a player's life would approve of the bullying behavior".

Definitions
Bullying may be defined as the activity of repeated, aggressive behavior intended to hurt another person, physically or mentally. Bullying is characterized by an individual behaving in a certain way to gain power over another person.
Norwegian researcher Dan Olweus says bullying occurs when a person is:
'exposed, repeatedly and over time, to negative actions on the part of one or more other persons'. He says negative actions occur 'when a person intentionally inflicts injury or discomfort upon another person, through physical contact, through words or in other ways.

Etymology
The word "bully" was first used in the 1530s meaning "sweetheart", applied to either sex, from the Dutch boel "lover, brother", probably diminutive of Middle High German buole "brother", of uncertain origin (compare with the German buhle "lover"). The meaning deteriorated through the 17th century through "fine fellow", "blusterer", to "harasser of the weak". This may have been as a connecting sense between "lover" and "ruffian" as in "protector of a prostitute", which was one sense of "bully" (though not specifically attested until 1706). The verb "to bully" is first attested in 1710.
Bullying is 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. Both kids who are bullied and who bully others may have serious, lasting problems.
In order to be considered bullying, the behavior must be aggressive and include: * An Imbalance of Power: Kids who bully use their power—such as physical strength, access to embarrassing information, or popularity—to control or harm others. Power imbalances can change over time and in different situations, even if they involve the same people. * Repetition: Bullying behaviors happen more than once or have the potential to happen more than once.
Bullying includes actions such as making threats, spreading rumors, attacking someone physically or verbally, and excluding someone from a group on purpose.

Bullying - The Role of Schools in Bullying
Schools play a critical role in stopping bullying, because most aggression happens on school grounds during recess, in lunch rooms, or in bathrooms. Schools should have and enforce zero-tolerance programs that make it clear that bullying won't be tolerated.
School-based programs can help reduce bullying when they: * Raise awareness of bullying through school assemblies and classroom discussion of the problem. These conversations should include teaching healthy ways to control anger. They should also teach the value of cooperation, positive communication skills, and friendship. * Have peers help settle an incident and talk with all students involved. * Increase parents' and teachers' involvement. * Increase supervision of children on school grounds, especially when they are out of the classroom. * Form clear rules about behavior that will not be tolerated. * Provide support and protection for children who are bullied.
You can help your child's school develop bullying policies by becoming involved in parent-teacher organizations (PTO or PTA) and by volunteering to help teachers.
In the classroom, teachers should make it clear that bullying will not be tolerated. Teachers must be prepared to follow through with consequences if bullying occurs. Doing so sends the message that adults are serious about the problem. It also encourages children who are not involved in bullying to report any incidents they see.
Conferences can be held-separately or together-with the parents of both children involved in bullying incidents.
School-based programs are one piece of a larger plan to help children understand the importance of treating one another with kindness and respect.
His research project hopes to provide answers to the following questions; 1. Is there any difference between violence and school bullying? 2. Can academic achievement take place without bullying? 3. Does bullying affect student’s performance in schools? 4. Does supervision reduce the effects of bullying?

1. BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

In schools, bullying occurs in all areas. It can occur in nearly any part in or around the school building, thought it more often occurs in recess, hallways, bathrooms, on school buses and waiting for buses, classes that require group work or after school activities. Bullying in school sometimes consist of a group of students taking advantage of or isolating one student in particular and gaining the loyalty of bystanders, who, in some cases want to avoid becoming the next victim. School bullying is a widespread issue that affects secondary school students in three essential parts of their lives; psychologically, educationally and professionally. Bullying is a sort of aggressive behavior against others such as, verbal by calling nasty names, physical by kicking; pushing or tripping up and social by everyone stopped talking to you.

Academic achievement is the first aspect which influences bullying at school. Therefore, bullied children live within fear, self-blame, feel weak and it affects their personality traits and self-confidence, so this situation makes them unable to study well and they might hate going to school. Furthermore, they will lose their opportunities to participate with others or enjoy school activities. Hence, they will gain less academic performance and low educational attainment. There is a strong relationship between bullying and school quality such as class size, lack of library, sports facilities. Both bullies and victims feel more negative about school, and persistent bullying may lead to stress and depression. Bullying can lead to anxiety, low self-esteem, hopelessness and isolation. Children miss lessons or are scared to attend school. They lose concentration when they do attend. Some of the effects last long after the bullying, until they are adults.

One adverse effect of bullying is that it also leads to suicide. While suicide is rare in bullied children, the other effects of bullying are also devastating and last well beyond the time when the child is actually bullied. Many schools have a zero tolerance policy towards bullying, but sometimes have difficulty identifying the victims and the abusers because children are afraid to come forward. Bullying causes long-term problems such as depression and anxiety. In his essay “The long term effects of bullying”, psychologist Mark Dombeck relays his own bullying experiences as a child, as well as the experience of his patients and then, asserts that the anger, anxiety, and depression of that moment often lingers into adulthood, causing problems with keeping a job, forming relationship and even continued victimization in abusive relationship or work environment.

Students who are bullied cannot concentrate in schools, so their grades may be a warning sign that a student is being bullied. A child’s grade may also suffer if he or she misses a lot of school due to bullying. Children who are bullied will complain of headaches, stomachaches, and overall fatigue. These issues are usually caused by mental anguish that manifest in physical ailments. Students who are bullied often use physical complaints to get out of school. Additionally, they may avoid infectious from holding crime during the day. A particularly unfortunate effect of bullying is that some children who are bullied go on to victimize and harass other children. In the same way that some student begin to bully at school because they are bullied at home, children who are bullied at school will begin to look for children more vulnerable than they are to bully. It is an effort to exert any power they may have over someone more vulnerable. A bullied child, may, at the demand of his own bully become a bully to another child.

In the light of this problem, the study is designed to assist students, teachers, parents, and concerned bodies on how to avoid bullying in some selected secondary school in Oredo Local Government Area of Edo State.

Bullying affects student performance
Researchers at UCLA have found that students who are bullied suffer academically. A study involving 2300 middle schoolers revealed that bullying, especially high levels of it, correlated with lower grades. Many areas of a student’s performance are affected when a student is bullied, including test scores, and class participation.

UCLA psychology professor, Jaana Jovonen, lead researcher of the study said, "We cannot address low achievement in school while ignoring bullying, because the two are frequently linked."Kids who are bullied often avoid raising their hands for fear of the response it will draw. A previous study by the same researcher showed that middle school kids who bully are often looked upon as cool by their peers. This dynamic creates “a norm of meanness that needs to be addressed,” according to Juvonen. Wisecracks, put-downs, negative looks, mean laughter, and exclusion can all be part of the cycle of bullying. Add to that mean or threatening text messages, web bashings, and other forms of cyber bullying, and the atmosphere in a classroom becomes toxic. When this happens kids, even those who just observe the bullying are affected. Fear, mistrust, and aggression often result, with some kids believing that if they’re not the aggressor, they’ll become the next target. How can this not affect performance?
Cyber bullying has become a huge problem in schools. In an earlier study Juvonen found over the course of a year, nearly three out of four teens experienced cyber bullying, yet only one in ten reported it to adults. Fear and shame render many kids silent, and silence allows bullying to continue. As a New Jersey middle schooler who was being bullied said, “When I kept the problem inside, it just got worst. When I finally told my parents, things started to get better. I wish I told them sooner.”

What Can Parents Do?

Talk to your kids about the issue of bullying. Let them know how important it is to ask for help if they’re bullied. Encourage your kids to be up standers too. Let them know that every time we look the other way, we allow bullying to continue, but when we stand up for kids who are picked on, we become part of the solution. The more people who speak up and speak out, the greater chance that we’ll put an end to bullying.

(a) What are the perceptions of students on bullying and its impact on academic performance? (b) What are the perceptions of teachers on bullying and its impact on academic performance? (c) What are the perceptions of guidance counselors on bullying and its impact on academic performance? (d) What are the perceptions of the school leadership team on bullying and its impact on academic performance?

The Effects of Bullying on Achievement
By Colby Phillips, eHow Contributor
School support programs have sought to reduce incidents of bullying.

The problem of school bullying has raised the concerns of parents, educators and community leaders. Children who are bullied bear an increased risk of emotional and social problems, which tends to have a negative impact on their academic performance. Bullying victims may be more likely to be absent from school, to have lower grades, to suffer from anxiety and depression and to experience feelings of alienation at school.

1. School Absence * According a study by the Educational Review, bullying victims are at an increased risk of truancy. Analyzing data from a national study of 10th graders, it was found that being bullied positively correlated with chronic absence as well as behavioral and discipline problems.
Lower Grades * Researchers in the Journal of Early Adolescence concluded that being bullied tends to have a negative impact on academic performance, after examining data collected from Los Angeles-area public middle schools. For each one-point increase on a four-point scale (from least to most bullied), students suffered an average drop in GPA of 1.5 points.
Emotional Problems * Depression and suicidal ideation are more prevalent among students who have been bullied, according to research published in the Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine. The researchers also found that bullying victims were more likely to have been referred to psychiatric services.
Feelings of Alienation * Research reported in Science Daily has concluded that victims of bullying were more likely to feel they didn't belong at school, to report feeling unsafe, and to say they felt unhappy; this, after analysis of data collected from urban West Coast elementary school students. They also concluded that bullied students were more likely to suffer from low academic achievement.

Read more: http://www.ehow.com/info_8500490_effects-bullying-achievement.html#ixzz2ZJlNbWRh

The poem "The Man with the Hoe," by Edwin Markham, was the poet’s comment on labor after observing the painting L'homme à la houe,in which a French peasant toils in the fields. The laborer serves as a symbol of a hard deprived life as mankind toils in the field. The man receives no reward for his labor nor does he have much time to rest before being back in the fields. For the man life is mundane and repetitive. The man has been equipped with the gifts of the ability to learn and know about philosophy and dreams, but they have been stripped away from him. He is a prisoner in the fields by something corrupt that uses him like an ox. The man, who was created in God’s image, falls short he believes of what God had expected for mankind. The poet questions if this was what was intended by God or has man’s own hand led to this man’s burdened life.
It is interesting to note that the painter, Millet, caused his government and the people around him to be concerned that he was making a Socialist statement about the painting. In the same way, Markham’s poem was not received well by the Aristocrats.