Research Paper Draft
Kimberly Mullin
Richard Berrigan
ENG 105-09
25 March 2015
Anti-Bullying Programs in Our Schools Bullying is an act of exerting aggressive, abusive behavior upon others with the intent of causing them mental, emotional, or even physical harm (NoBullying.com). Many children are bullied in school, a place where they should feel safe and secure. Bullying in school effects a student in many ways, causing stress, students not wanting to attend school, even to the point where the student will drop out. Bullying can lead to depression and in many cases has led to suicide. Bullying is no longer viewed as an interaction between a perpetrator and a victim, it is situated within larger social systems like peer groups, families, and schools. There is a variety of roles that peers can play in bullying situations. Assistants, who help the bully commit the behavior, reinforcers who provide cheering or provide verbal encouragement, and onlookers who know the bullying is occurring and does nothing to intervene (Smith et al). The implementation of effective anti-bullying measures used through teacher interaction will help alleviate or even eradicate bullying in the school system. Coming up with a workable plan to stop bullying has proven difficult. The approaches are all over the map. According to an article written by Maggie Clark, Illinois requires schools to do social-emotional learning exercises to prevent bullying. During the exercises, students describe their emotions during a stressful event or recognize the emotional reactions to stress. On the punishment side, five states don’t have any sanctions for bullying in their anti-bullying laws, while 12 states include a criminal sanction for bullies, ranging from school suspension to jail time, according to an analysis of state bullying laws from the Cyberbullying Research Center (Clark). There are some that will argue and claim that anti-bullying programs are too costly for the schools. To train our teachers on how to handle
Richard Berrigan
ENG 105-09
25 March 2015
Anti-Bullying Programs in Our Schools Bullying is an act of exerting aggressive, abusive behavior upon others with the intent of causing them mental, emotional, or even physical harm (NoBullying.com). Many children are bullied in school, a place where they should feel safe and secure. Bullying in school effects a student in many ways, causing stress, students not wanting to attend school, even to the point where the student will drop out. Bullying can lead to depression and in many cases has led to suicide. Bullying is no longer viewed as an interaction between a perpetrator and a victim, it is situated within larger social systems like peer groups, families, and schools. There is a variety of roles that peers can play in bullying situations. Assistants, who help the bully commit the behavior, reinforcers who provide cheering or provide verbal encouragement, and onlookers who know the bullying is occurring and does nothing to intervene (Smith et al). The implementation of effective anti-bullying measures used through teacher interaction will help alleviate or even eradicate bullying in the school system. Coming up with a workable plan to stop bullying has proven difficult. The approaches are all over the map. According to an article written by Maggie Clark, Illinois requires schools to do social-emotional learning exercises to prevent bullying. During the exercises, students describe their emotions during a stressful event or recognize the emotional reactions to stress. On the punishment side, five states don’t have any sanctions for bullying in their anti-bullying laws, while 12 states include a criminal sanction for bullies, ranging from school suspension to jail time, according to an analysis of state bullying laws from the Cyberbullying Research Center (Clark). There are some that will argue and claim that anti-bullying programs are too costly for the schools. To train our teachers on how to handle