Introduction
Bullying is aggressive behavior, which is repeated and characterized by power balance to cause harm as the student being bullied to feel powerless and threatened. In the United States, bullying is a systematic problem affecting all schools in the districts report by the National Centre for Educational Statistics in 2016 depicted that I out of 5 students are said to have been bullied in school (Oakes,2019). Bullying can not only be stubble but also destructive and persistent, and at times teachers may not be aware of it. Teachers should, therefore, recognize bullying signs and ways to curb it since it not only leads to long-lasting psychological effects but also emotional and physical problems.
Discussion
The U.S. society underscores bullying as a presentation of the most considerable health risks in children youth and healthy adults. Bullying helps both the bully and the victims. Bullying affects the wellbeing of the students with the targeted victims registering poor performances in schools, anxieties, sleep issues, and depressions. The bullies are also at higher risks of extending the behavior to adulthood as the habit may be influenced by their abuse of substances, peer pressure, or mental problems. Bullying is most common in elementary schools, middle and high school countrywide. It is linked to adverse outcome lie effects on the mental health, use of a substance, and suicide in worse case scenarios (Divecha, 2019). The prevention of bullying is hence, a top national priority in academic research. Regardless of severe or immediate harms, schools should respond quickly to bullying to stop the escalating of bullying and prevent it from happening again.
Facts about School Bullying
School bullying stresses not only the child but also the parent, as well. The events that offered useful insights to parents dealing with children being bullied at schools underlie that billing rates are increasing. According to A study, international staff, bullying rates increased from 28% in 2015 to 33% in 2016 (Holohan, 2019). Bullying is higher in white primary schools, where they are reported to have risen to crises. Another fact about bullying is that looks matter as most victims report they bare bellied ion the basis of their looks, especially on racial grounds. Besides the appearances in looks, some are bullied for looking overweight, body shape, failure to adore the latest trends, and warring clothes deemed inappropriate.
Similarly, bullying is majorly common in public schools than in private schools owing to the poor school management in public schools, a child being at more target risk in public school coupled with the child’s social and emotional skills. Additionally, bullying is informed by the violation of feelings experienced through the behaviors that are culturally accepted, coupled with power imbalances (Holohan, 2019). The marginalized young people report their experiences in bullying as violence beyond the physical sense. Finally, not all anti-bullying campaigns works. The anti-bullying initiatives, albeit their intentions may be geared for the common good, may not all be practical and at times, may worsen the bullying situation.
Causes of Bullying in Schools
Any student is a target of bullying regardless of gender race, socioeconomic status, or religion. One of the most common reasons for bullying in public and private schools in the physical appearances of the victims, especially during adolescent stages, the bullies may make fun of the victim’s changes in physical appearances. Bullying in schools may be caused by race and ethnicity, commonly in schools with the homogenous student body. Mulsim and African American students, for instance, are prone to bullying owing to their competition.
Similarly, school bullying is caused by a disability, or illness status of the victims as bullies prey on the weak, whether physically or mentally frail. Primary students with illnesses such as chronic illness, diagnosed with ADHD, those in wheelchairs, mental and physical abnormalities are targets of bullies. Moreover, sexual orientation is also a major cause of school bullies like gay, bisexual, transgender, and lesbians. Bullying is such cases can be brutal and can even result in an assault.
Additionally, students bully to deal with pressure from unmet expectations of their own or those put upon them or their inability to solve a personal problem in their life, making them vent their frustrations on those around them. Too much responsibility and authority since power corrupts and absolute power evil. The too much body on the students gives them unrealistic power and control perceptions. The fears of inferiority also inform the causes of bullying in schools emanating from students in the quest to deflect attention from the problems they are suffering from, making them behave disagreeably. The negative attention may be vested on students doing better than them academically, consequently making the bullies inferior (Oakes, 2019). Some bullies are also coerced into by peer pressure, and for fear of not being bullied by others, they try not to empathize nor shoe weakness signs for their victims. Some students also bully in schools to maintain popularity, admiration, and to maintain a sense of superiority. They, therefore, resort to bullying others in the quest to support such positions, to receive attention and the differences that they believe they deserve.
Effects of Bullying in Schools
Bullying in schools can have both short term and long term negative impacts on everyone involved with no exceptions to bystanders. Those who are bullied frequently feel unsafe and are unable to focus on learning in schools. They may, at times, resolve to stay away from schools to avoid bullying, an action that may result in more problems like substance abuse to reduce stress. Additionally, they suffer depression, anxiety, sadness, loneliness, health complaints, and self-doubt. They are reluctant to participate in group activities besides the loss of dignity and feeling of powerlessness towards their victims, which may make them contemplate suicides. Those who bully others in the long run typically have issues with mental health, abuse substances, get into fights, and become abusive partners, poor educational outcomes, and showing antisocial and criminal behaviors. The bystanders to bullying usually feel anxious and distressed on the sight of things that are not right and not knowing what to do. They may also feel depressed and insecure for fear of being the next victims, which may have negative impacts on their learnings and participation. They are generally left in a dilemma after weighing several factors on whether or not to intervene.
Prevention Mechanisms to Bullying in Schools
Teachers should educate on the importance of kindness and empathy towards others, coupled with the creation of opportunities for connections among students. They should also be vigilant enough to identify gateway behavior like name-calling, stalking, physical harm among the students, and correct them early enough (Holohan, 2019). They should also build a positive school climate through the engineering of social norms and encourage students to report any bullying cases upon which they should deal with the instances immediately coupled with the advancement of social and emotional earning.
Conclusion
Bullying is rampant in most schools, and its causes are informed by reasons such as peer pressure, use of drugs, quests to maintain popularity, revenge, fears of inferiority, among others. It results in adverse effects in all the parties involved from the victim who experiences depression and insecurity to the bully who may experience mental issues or abuse substances and the bystanders who may feel guilt and insecure as well. School teachers should, therefore, be vigilant enough to identify and curb bullying cases in schools and create a positive climate in school through the engineering of social norms.
