Help Stop Bullying

What should be done to stop bullying in public schools?

The University of Memphis

An 11 year old Massachusetts boy, Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover, hung himself April 6, 2009 because he was being taunted daily for being gay. The mother begged the school to address the problem, but nothing was ever done about it and now a woman is left son less. That was at least the fourth suicide of a middle-school aged child linked to bullying that year. Most harassment and bullying go unreported. Children are being bullied each and every day, but the question is what should be done to stop it? Each and every day a child is being teased or picked on because of the way they look, act, dress, or because of what they believe in. Children should not have to be tortured just because they are not like everyone else. Children should be able to come to school and enjoy themselves and not worry about being picked on. A child that is being bullied can have many problems such as low self esteem and low self confidence which could lead them to suicide. Also, children that are bullied may start doing poorly in school or maybe even drop out because they do not feel safe at school. Bullying really needs to be stooped because it can leave a child physically, emotionally, and mentally scarred for the rest of their lives. Some schools say that there is very little that they can do about bullying because a lot of bullying starts off of school property. “Much of today’s bullying originates online, school officials said, with the growing use of social networking websites and cell phones has led to new ways to intimidate and tease. But because cyber bullying usually happens off-campus school administrators have little recourse” (Nissley 2010). I do not agree with the school district when they say that there is little they can do. Even though, it may start online, it continues or become worse at the school. With that being said, they need to try and do more so it can stop all together no matter where it starts. The solution that they think will help stop bullying is if the educate student about it more. Like Nissley (2010) stated, “In a model that has been mirrored by other school districts across the state, Abington Heights has been working on educating students as early as kindergarten about bullying and their responsibility to report it when they see it (p. 1). I think that it is good to educate the students about bullying and reporting it, but what is that really going to do? As we all know a lot of students will not tell because they will be too afraid. Or if they do tell they will be little done about it and they will continue to get bullied. So, their solution would not be effective at all. “Safe to learn: Embedding anti-bullying work in schools is the overarching anti-bullying guidance for schools and was launched in 2007” (teacherNet, 2009, p.2). It seems that everyone thinks that the solution to stop bullying is just to educate students about it. I think that it is good that they are trying to educate students about the issue, but we all know that it is going to take more than that to stop bullying. It does not matter how much information you provide the students with about bullying, it still is not going to do anything. People have been trying to stop bullying by just telling students it is not the right thing to do for years and nothing has changed. As you see, they tried this solution in 2007 and now in 2010 the same problem is still going on. You can make students take classes every day about bullying and there will still be children getting bullied. Principals and administrators need to punish students by making use of more suspensions and require mandatory parent meetings for those who are bullying others. If the bullying continues, it must be dealt with strongly. And, both the child and parent should be held responsible for it. Until people start taking actions of this nature, bullying will forever be a problem. I think that the only way to stop bullying is to actually make a law against it. In Massachusetts, they have passed a bill for anti-bullying. I think that is wonderful because now that the law is involved I am sure bullying will be cut down because the kids would not to have to deal with the harsh consequences. “The bill would prohibit bullying at schools and clamp down on so-called cyber bullying by prohibiting the use of e-mails, text messages, internet postings, and other electronic means to create hostile school environment” (Gay & Lesbians, 2010, p. 16). I also believe that it is good that they are requiring the school principals to report to the bullying to the police, if they believe criminal charges should be pursued. Maybe now if the students know that they could possibly go to jail they would stop bullying. It is great that somebody has passed a bill and takes this issue seriously because this has been going on for too long and it is time for it to stop. Lately there have been many other cities discussing and making laws about bullying. In New Jersey, they have also passed a bill regarding bullying. “A law against bullying in schools which advocates call the nation’s toughest because it requires schools to develop anti-harassment programs, was approved Monday in New Jersey” (Mulvihill, 2010, pg.1). I believe that this is what the schools need in order for bullying to stop. It may take a while for the schools to get all the policies and programs in the public schools, but it will be worth it. This law will hopefully prevent any more suicides from happening due to children being bullied. Maybe it should have been stricter laws a long time ago and a lot of bullying could have been stopped. The state of New Jersey has already passed the law for anti-bullying shows how it will cut down on a lot of bullying. There was already an anti-bullying law in 2002, but it was not required that schools set up anti-bullying programs. The new bill is claimed to be one of the toughest anti-bullying bill that there is. They are going all out the way to make sure students will not get bullied. They are even making teachers get training to help to bulling. Like Julie Bolcer (2010) stated, ‘’ The measure would required training for most public school employees on how to spot bulling and mandate that all districts from ‘school safety teams’ review complaints, reported The Star – Ledger . Superintendent would have to report incidents of buying to the state board of education, which would grade schools and districts on their efforts to combat it ‘’ (pg.1). I think that it is to stop bulling because this is a very serious problem. But now that there are such harsh laws against it, I know the rates will go down a lot. Bullying is something that has been around for ages, but no one has ever seemed to find the right solution for it. Many say there is not a lot that can be done to stop bulling because it starts off school property; I totally disagree with that. While you have others that think that just by telling students about will stop it, which we all know will not. I feel that the only way bulling will ever stop is if they give harsh punishments and let the bullies know that is not a joke. Even though, there have been many attempts to stop bulling, I think that they have finally found a solution which is by making a tough anti-bulling law. If a child wants to bully someone then they should deal with the law and suffer the consequences.