Stop Bullying In America
Ashley Horn
Professor Barbara Russell
Composition 1101
January 29, 2012
Bullying in America: We Must Take a Stand
Imagine that you are a thirteen year crying in your bed because you are dreading facing another day at school because you are being bullied. Nowadays, this is more common than ever before. For far too many teens this is a daily reality. According to the ASPCC (American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children) there are over 160,000 students in America who stay home from school every day because they are fearful of the mental and physical abuse from their classmates (1). The ASPCC defines bullying as a direct attack on a child’s status, sense of belonging and core identity and more times than not leads to low self-esteem (2). 1 out of 4 children are bullied every day (3). Bullying in any shape, form or fashion must be stopped so that our children can have a fighting chance. …show more content…
When children are afraid to do everyday activities that will enrich their lives whether it’s school or extracurricular activities something has to be done.
There have been many efforts to help stop bullying. There are several websites to help children and teenagers become more aware of bullying and how to report it if they are being bullied or if someone else is being bullied. Just a few of the websites are http://americanspcc.org/, http://www.stopbullying.gov/, and http://stompoutbullying.com. There also several organizations to help with this epidemic. The National Center for Bullying Prevention and The Trevor Project are just a couple of the organizations that are dedicated to stopping
bullying.
In the last decade or so, teenagers and children that have been bullied for long periods of time have gone to extremes to retaliate against their offenders. There have been several school shootings, stabbings and suicides in the United States. The most prominent shooting is The Columbine School Shooting. Students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold killed twelve students and one teacher and injured 24 other people (4). There are countless families missing their deceased children and wishing something could have been done to prevent what happened. There are too many children not even in their teen years that are killing themselves because they are being bullied. This must stop. An eleven year old boy killed himself after enduring a day of bullying (5). It’s just so sad when kids are bringing guns and other weapons to school to get back at their attackers. School is supposed to be a safe place of learning and fun. Bullying has taken a 180 degree turn. Back in the day, bullies would take their victims lunch money but the victims didn’t kill themselves. Now bullies are tormenting their victims emotionally. They constantly put them down and alienate them and now the victims are killing themselves or each other.
It seems that a lot of the children and teens being bullied are LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Genderqueer). They are already going through enough trying to identify and find themselves without having to be bullied. There are more incidents involving LGBTQ kids than kids who aren’t. One incident in particular, a fourteen year old committed suicide after enduring years of being bullied about his sexuality. Then to add insult to injury, his attackers chanted, “We’re glad you’re dead” at a school dance after a Lady GaGa song was played (6). Children have to realize that school is a place of learning and fun and that’s all it should be used for.
In order to stop bullying, there are several actions that should be taken. First of all, even the mildest form of bullying must be addressed. Bullying doesn’t even have to be face to face anymore. Bullies are now tormenting their victims through text messaging, email, and social networking sites (cyber bulling). Secondly, If a student reports being bullied than a conference needs to be held with both sets of parents and if it happens again the bully should be expelled and undergo mandatory counseling. I think if you nip in the bud when it first starts it will not escalate and no one develops depression or low self-esteem. Better still, no one has to lose their life.
Sources: 1. http://americanspcc.org/ 2. http://americanspcc.org/ 3. http://stompoutbullying.com 4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_shooting 5. http://www.glsen.org/walker.html 6. http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/44684938/ns/today-today_people/t/teens-parents-after-suicide-hes-still-being-bullied/
Professor Barbara Russell
Composition 1101
January 29, 2012
Bullying in America: We Must Take a Stand
Imagine that you are a thirteen year crying in your bed because you are dreading facing another day at school because you are being bullied. Nowadays, this is more common than ever before. For far too many teens this is a daily reality. According to the ASPCC (American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children) there are over 160,000 students in America who stay home from school every day because they are fearful of the mental and physical abuse from their classmates (1). The ASPCC defines bullying as a direct attack on a child’s status, sense of belonging and core identity and more times than not leads to low self-esteem (2). 1 out of 4 children are bullied every day (3). Bullying in any shape, form or fashion must be stopped so that our children can have a fighting chance. …show more content…
When children are afraid to do everyday activities that will enrich their lives whether it’s school or extracurricular activities something has to be done.
There have been many efforts to help stop bullying. There are several websites to help children and teenagers become more aware of bullying and how to report it if they are being bullied or if someone else is being bullied. Just a few of the websites are http://americanspcc.org/, http://www.stopbullying.gov/, and http://stompoutbullying.com. There also several organizations to help with this epidemic. The National Center for Bullying Prevention and The Trevor Project are just a couple of the organizations that are dedicated to stopping
bullying.
In the last decade or so, teenagers and children that have been bullied for long periods of time have gone to extremes to retaliate against their offenders. There have been several school shootings, stabbings and suicides in the United States. The most prominent shooting is The Columbine School Shooting. Students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold killed twelve students and one teacher and injured 24 other people (4). There are countless families missing their deceased children and wishing something could have been done to prevent what happened. There are too many children not even in their teen years that are killing themselves because they are being bullied. This must stop. An eleven year old boy killed himself after enduring a day of bullying (5). It’s just so sad when kids are bringing guns and other weapons to school to get back at their attackers. School is supposed to be a safe place of learning and fun. Bullying has taken a 180 degree turn. Back in the day, bullies would take their victims lunch money but the victims didn’t kill themselves. Now bullies are tormenting their victims emotionally. They constantly put them down and alienate them and now the victims are killing themselves or each other.
It seems that a lot of the children and teens being bullied are LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Genderqueer). They are already going through enough trying to identify and find themselves without having to be bullied. There are more incidents involving LGBTQ kids than kids who aren’t. One incident in particular, a fourteen year old committed suicide after enduring years of being bullied about his sexuality. Then to add insult to injury, his attackers chanted, “We’re glad you’re dead” at a school dance after a Lady GaGa song was played (6). Children have to realize that school is a place of learning and fun and that’s all it should be used for.
In order to stop bullying, there are several actions that should be taken. First of all, even the mildest form of bullying must be addressed. Bullying doesn’t even have to be face to face anymore. Bullies are now tormenting their victims through text messaging, email, and social networking sites (cyber bulling). Secondly, If a student reports being bullied than a conference needs to be held with both sets of parents and if it happens again the bully should be expelled and undergo mandatory counseling. I think if you nip in the bud when it first starts it will not escalate and no one develops depression or low self-esteem. Better still, no one has to lose their life.
Sources: 1. http://americanspcc.org/ 2. http://americanspcc.org/ 3. http://stompoutbullying.com 4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_shooting 5. http://www.glsen.org/walker.html 6. http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/44684938/ns/today-today_people/t/teens-parents-after-suicide-hes-still-being-bullied/