There are several outcomes that can occur when dealing with bullies, victims, and bully-victims. For victims, it is most likely for one to suffer psychological problems, while bullies tend to remain bullies throughout their lives and commit domestic violence, or they become criminals. Cedric Cullingford and Jenny Morrison, authors of “Bullying as a Formative Influence: the Relationship between the Experience of School and Criminality,” studied the effects of the classroom and schooling on criminals. They conducted interviews with twenty-five offenders, between the ages of sixteen and twenty-one, who were at the time incarcerated. The point of their study was, “To explore the correlation that has been found between bullying and the development of subsequent criminality and to investigate the sources of deviant behavior”(Cullingford 548). The study had many findings, all which explain how the young offenders were affected.
In all research that has been done, it is always important to include what may constitute as bullying. The three issues that Cullingford et al. includes are harmful actions that are repetitive, unequal power, and intentional. Before reviewing any article, it is important to acknowledge a researchers definition of what is being studied. After defining, bullying, Cullingford et al. goes on to conduct the research and then discusses the results. The first finding was that the most memorable thing about school is bullying and aggression. This idea is present in Joan Ryan’s article, “Why Girls are Bullies?,” because she opens her article with a few statements on bullying and how it has affected generations of women and is carried on in adult women, even though they have left school.
Another finding is, the young offenders tended to accept the bullying as part of growing up. One offender stated, “Calling each other names and that, well, I’m not saying it’s nice, but it’s harmless really, just kids being kids at the end of the day isn’t it?” (Cullingford 551). Most teasing experienced by children is damaging even though most people except it and believe it is harmless. This is supported by Robin Bright’s article, “It’s Just a Grade 8 Girl Thing: Aggression in Teenage Girls.” In the article, Bright talks about approaching the homeroom teacher, who said that this type of bullying was perfectly normal for girls her daughter’s age. She believed it was just a part of growing up. Unfortunately, this is the view that many people take on bullying, but these harmless antics do have long term affects on children.
Mark Chapell et al. talks about bullying committed by teachers and coaches. When bullying is committed by these two groups of people, it reinforces children to bully their peers and isolate them. In this study, Teachers were involved, in less obvious, ways of bullying. Usually teachers in grammar schools and high schools are able to figure out students capabilities within three weeks or so. When a teacher calls on a student knowing very well that they are not good at reading or spelling, it embarrasses the student. One male offender said, “They embarrass you cause they know, probably you ain’t very good at reading and that , they’ll just pick you out of the whole class and say stand up and read that paragraph to the class and all that and you say, no I’m not doin’ it and they’ll say right, if you’re not doin’ it you’re goin’ to the exclusion room, so I just grabbed my bag and just walked out, and everyone was takin’ the piss and that” (Cullingford 552).By calling students out on something they are not capable of doing, teachers embarrass and isolate them. Then, other peers laugh at their learning disabilities, which isolate them even more. Cullingford et al. goes on in the study to say, “Teachers are involved in generating labels and defining particular pupils as ‘different,’ not always aware of the wider consequences of their behavior towards particular pupils” (553). Most of the offenders were excluded more than at once in the classroom because of their lakc of academic competence, and they excluded themselves even more by refusing to participate in classes. Exclusion is a severe consequences of bullying.
These victims of bullying also had a hand in bullying as well. Bully-victims are able to bully others and then suffer victimization from others. A majority of the twenty five subjects had retaliated in some way and it was considered bullying. Most of them were not able to diffuse sitations. They would retaliate aggressively. The problem with bullying through retaliation, is the other students would acknowledge that the victim would get angry so they would pick on him or her even more. This negates what Ma Xing has to say about students who do not defend themselves. She found in her studies that children who did not stick up for themselves or retaliate were picked on even more because they would become and easy target.
Cullingford et al. sums up his findings in four points. The first is that focus needs to be put on the hurt felt by the victim in order to distinguish something as bullying. The second is that there is no distinction between the experience of being a bully and being a victim. Then, there is the idea that all children are affected by bullying at one point in time, and finally, the young offenders’ experiences were different from others and their peers teased them even more when certain forms of retaliation were used. The final finding of this study was the victims never saw themselves as victims. Because as said earlier, most people except bullying, the offenders did not think there was anything wrong with what was happening; they believed it was a part of growing up.
Cullingford and Morrison’s study shows the affects that bullying has when it is not acknowledged as that. People tend to except the actions and do not understand the repercussions. They are harmed by students and teachers and even though it might be unintentional, it is still harmful. When these students start to retaliate they are singled-out and picked on even more. What seems like simple childish games, as one offender puts it, are really hurtful things.
Cullingford, Cedric, and Jenny Morrison. 1995. “Bullying as a Formative Influence: The
Relationship between the Experience of School and Criminality.” British
Educational Research Journal 21:5. pp. 547-560.
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Critical Analysis of Its Just an Eight Grade Girl Thing
"It's Just a Grade 8 Girl Thing: Aggression in Teenage Girls"
Bullying is looked at in two ways, which include a part of growing up for children and teenagers, or as a deviant health problem. In the case of Robin M. Bright, “It’s Just a Grade 8 Girl Thing: Aggression in Teenage Girls,” its both. For almost a year she studied her daughter’s, Caroline, interactions with other girls in her eight grade class. She watched her daughter suffer the consequences of being a girl. She was picked on, teased, had rumors spread about her, called names, and ignored. These actions are considered bullying because in this case two girls were trying to seek dominance and power over another person by threatening and bringing harm to the other person. Even though this study shows potential bias, because it is a Mother studying her daughter, it is still important to acknowledge girl on girl bullying.
Rachel Simmons, author of the book Odd Girl Out, who is cited in the article says, “The middle school years are what many call the epicenter of the crisis of female adolescence” (Bright 93). For generations teenage girls have ripped each other apart. When comparing boys and girls, Dorothy Seals et al. believes that boys use more physical bullying and more apparent bullying, but bullying among girls is ignored because girls use more covert ways of bullying through rumors, gossip, teasing, and ignoring. These actions rip teenage girls apart and stay with them until they are much older. Mothers compete with mothers and watch their daughters “secretly” ostracize each other. There are three types of aggression that are used in this text which are relational aggression, which, “Is the act of ignoring someone to punish them, excluding someone socially for revenge, using negative body language or facial expressions and sabatoging someone else’s relationship” (Bright 93). The other types of bullying are indirect aggression, which, “Includes using others to inflict pain by having them pass notes to a person or by spreading rumors about a person” and finally, there is social aggression, which is used to, “Diminish the target’s self-esteem or her social status, often through social exclusion or rumour spreading” (Bright 93). It is important to understand these three types of bullying before being able to analyze female adolescent behavior.
Once in the sixth grade, according to Joan Ryan, author of “Why Girls are Bullies?” girls start to learn there is a social standard they are suppose to follow. This social standard is to maintain a “good girl” image and suppress sex, hunger, and aggression. Unfortunately, their feelings come out in other ways and it is shown in Bright’s article. Two girls, Jennifer and Rebecca, tortured Caroline. They would whisper in people’s ears and then they would walk past her and call her a whore. The two girls began to single her out and call her names. Apparently, according to their parents, they were jealous that Caroline was placed on the same soccer team as a boy they liked. Caroline had no decision in this. They continued to torture her and go up to people and say things like, “you’re zapped,” which meant that that person being zapped wanted to suck on Caroline’s boobs. This is completely inappropriate for thirteen-year-olds, but it happens. By saying “you’re zapped,” the teachers were never able to catch on to what was happening. Therefore, the teachers thought there were no problems with the girls.
This helped the girls keep up their “good girl” image. When the situation was brought to the principals attention, the principal said he would watch closely. The problem is that in the cafeteria, and when teachers were noticeably watching, the two girls would put their arm around Caroline, smile, and speak to her. This made things even more difficult because teachers had no proof.
Finally, there was one last attempt to bring Caroline to justice and it was by talking to the homeroom teacher. The homeroom teacher took it the wrong way, but did mention one thing, she said, “How much of this is just a Grade 8 girl thing?” (Bright 97). While Caroline’s parents viewed this behavior as unhealthy, wrong, and deviant, the teacher tried to normalize the situation. Some people think it is simply a part of growing up for girls. In Cedric Cullingford’s et al. study, it was found that students that are not victimized or are but grow up fine believe bullying is normal and just a part of growing up. One male that was quoted said, “Just normal school life…Just names being called or something like that, at break…just childish, when you’re in school, you’re childish and all that aren’t you” (Cullingford 551). Even though this is a boy stating this, most bullying is viewed as a part of growing up that cannot be avoided.
Included in this article, are the negative consequences female bullying has. It alienates one person from the whole class, especially if the class is smaller. These three girls had been friends since the first grade, but their friendship was torn apart, by the “social norm” of bullying. There are a few different outcomes for victims of female covert operations. The first is ignoring. This is very difficult if the bullying is persistent in which most cases it is. In most cases, bullying lowers a girls self-esteem, and causes her to suffer from anxiety and depression. Xin Ma found that bullies do not single out people because of their weight, grades, color of hair, type of dress, or whether or not the person wears glasses. This holds true for Caroline and so many other girls. Caroline was a “normal” girl, who was athletic and smart. Bullies pick on someone that is not going to retaliate or stand up for themselves. Caroline never once retaliated therefore it was easy for the girls to pick on her. Because of this, Caroline did not know what she did wrong and her self-esteem was lowered. Other outcomes, besides lower self-esteem are transferring schools, suicide, and retaliation. Caroline transferred schools, where no one knew who she was and was able to regain her confidence because no one picked on her.
Ignoring, depression, and transferring are the least harmful outcomes. Suicide has become a growing problem in adolescents and teens who are constantly ridiculed and isolated. Isolation is the most harmful part of bullying. Victims feel that there is no other way out, and since they have no one to turn to they end their lives. One final outcome is violence. Shootings have been on the increase in high schools. The tragic event at Columbine is just one example. These boys said they had been ridiculed and isolated. They only had each other and going on a killing spree was their way to get back at everyone. These boys had hate journals and wrote about how they hated everything and everyone. Unfortunately people’s lives were ended and then the two boys committed suicide.
These negative consequences can be prevented. When children first start primary school they can be taught about why bullying is wrong, be made aware of these negative situations, and help those who are victims of these situations. Unfortunately, anti-bullying programs have not been implemented in all schools and most students are scared to associate with victims, because they fear being singled out as well. Bullying in boys and girls must be recognized and stopped in order to have children grow up into healthy adults with high-selfesteem.
Bright, Robin M. 2005. “It’s just a Grade 8 Girl Thing: Aggression in Teenage Girls.”
Gender and Education 17:1. pp.93-101.
Cullingford, Cedric, and Jenny Morrison. 1995. “Bullying as a Formative Influence: The
Relationship between the Experience of School and Criminality.” British
Educational Research Journal 21:5. pp. 547-560.
Bullying is looked at in two ways, which include a part of growing up for children and teenagers, or as a deviant health problem. In the case of Robin M. Bright, “It’s Just a Grade 8 Girl Thing: Aggression in Teenage Girls,” its both. For almost a year she studied her daughter’s, Caroline, interactions with other girls in her eight grade class. She watched her daughter suffer the consequences of being a girl. She was picked on, teased, had rumors spread about her, called names, and ignored. These actions are considered bullying because in this case two girls were trying to seek dominance and power over another person by threatening and bringing harm to the other person. Even though this study shows potential bias, because it is a Mother studying her daughter, it is still important to acknowledge girl on girl bullying.
Rachel Simmons, author of the book Odd Girl Out, who is cited in the article says, “The middle school years are what many call the epicenter of the crisis of female adolescence” (Bright 93). For generations teenage girls have ripped each other apart. When comparing boys and girls, Dorothy Seals et al. believes that boys use more physical bullying and more apparent bullying, but bullying among girls is ignored because girls use more covert ways of bullying through rumors, gossip, teasing, and ignoring. These actions rip teenage girls apart and stay with them until they are much older. Mothers compete with mothers and watch their daughters “secretly” ostracize each other. There are three types of aggression that are used in this text which are relational aggression, which, “Is the act of ignoring someone to punish them, excluding someone socially for revenge, using negative body language or facial expressions and sabatoging someone else’s relationship” (Bright 93). The other types of bullying are indirect aggression, which, “Includes using others to inflict pain by having them pass notes to a person or by spreading rumors about a person” and finally, there is social aggression, which is used to, “Diminish the target’s self-esteem or her social status, often through social exclusion or rumour spreading” (Bright 93). It is important to understand these three types of bullying before being able to analyze female adolescent behavior.
Once in the sixth grade, according to Joan Ryan, author of “Why Girls are Bullies?” girls start to learn there is a social standard they are suppose to follow. This social standard is to maintain a “good girl” image and suppress sex, hunger, and aggression. Unfortunately, their feelings come out in other ways and it is shown in Bright’s article. Two girls, Jennifer and Rebecca, tortured Caroline. They would whisper in people’s ears and then they would walk past her and call her a whore. The two girls began to single her out and call her names. Apparently, according to their parents, they were jealous that Caroline was placed on the same soccer team as a boy they liked. Caroline had no decision in this. They continued to torture her and go up to people and say things like, “you’re zapped,” which meant that that person being zapped wanted to suck on Caroline’s boobs. This is completely inappropriate for thirteen-year-olds, but it happens. By saying “you’re zapped,” the teachers were never able to catch on to what was happening. Therefore, the teachers thought there were no problems with the girls.
This helped the girls keep up their “good girl” image. When the situation was brought to the principals attention, the principal said he would watch closely. The problem is that in the cafeteria, and when teachers were noticeably watching, the two girls would put their arm around Caroline, smile, and speak to her. This made things even more difficult because teachers had no proof.
Finally, there was one last attempt to bring Caroline to justice and it was by talking to the homeroom teacher. The homeroom teacher took it the wrong way, but did mention one thing, she said, “How much of this is just a Grade 8 girl thing?” (Bright 97). While Caroline’s parents viewed this behavior as unhealthy, wrong, and deviant, the teacher tried to normalize the situation. Some people think it is simply a part of growing up for girls. In Cedric Cullingford’s et al. study, it was found that students that are not victimized or are but grow up fine believe bullying is normal and just a part of growing up. One male that was quoted said, “Just normal school life…Just names being called or something like that, at break…just childish, when you’re in school, you’re childish and all that aren’t you” (Cullingford 551). Even though this is a boy stating this, most bullying is viewed as a part of growing up that cannot be avoided.
Included in this article, are the negative consequences female bullying has. It alienates one person from the whole class, especially if the class is smaller. These three girls had been friends since the first grade, but their friendship was torn apart, by the “social norm” of bullying. There are a few different outcomes for victims of female covert operations. The first is ignoring. This is very difficult if the bullying is persistent in which most cases it is. In most cases, bullying lowers a girls self-esteem, and causes her to suffer from anxiety and depression. Xin Ma found that bullies do not single out people because of their weight, grades, color of hair, type of dress, or whether or not the person wears glasses. This holds true for Caroline and so many other girls. Caroline was a “normal” girl, who was athletic and smart. Bullies pick on someone that is not going to retaliate or stand up for themselves. Caroline never once retaliated therefore it was easy for the girls to pick on her. Because of this, Caroline did not know what she did wrong and her self-esteem was lowered. Other outcomes, besides lower self-esteem are transferring schools, suicide, and retaliation. Caroline transferred schools, where no one knew who she was and was able to regain her confidence because no one picked on her.
Ignoring, depression, and transferring are the least harmful outcomes. Suicide has become a growing problem in adolescents and teens who are constantly ridiculed and isolated. Isolation is the most harmful part of bullying. Victims feel that there is no other way out, and since they have no one to turn to they end their lives. One final outcome is violence. Shootings have been on the increase in high schools. The tragic event at Columbine is just one example. These boys said they had been ridiculed and isolated. They only had each other and going on a killing spree was their way to get back at everyone. These boys had hate journals and wrote about how they hated everything and everyone. Unfortunately people’s lives were ended and then the two boys committed suicide.
These negative consequences can be prevented. When children first start primary school they can be taught about why bullying is wrong, be made aware of these negative situations, and help those who are victims of these situations. Unfortunately, anti-bullying programs have not been implemented in all schools and most students are scared to associate with victims, because they fear being singled out as well. Bullying in boys and girls must be recognized and stopped in order to have children grow up into healthy adults with high-selfesteem.
Bright, Robin M. 2005. “It’s just a Grade 8 Girl Thing: Aggression in Teenage Girls.”
Gender and Education 17:1. pp.93-101.
Cullingford, Cedric, and Jenny Morrison. 1995. “Bullying as a Formative Influence: The
Relationship between the Experience of School and Criminality.” British
Educational Research Journal 21:5. pp. 547-560.
Annotated Bibliography on Bullying
scholarly articles:
Chapell, Mark S., Stefanie L. Hasselman, Theresa Kitchin, Saflya N. Lomon, Kenneth
W. MacIver, and Partick L. Sarullo. 2006. “Bullying in Elementary School, High
School, and College.” Journal of Adolescence 41:164. pp.633-648.
It has been proven in several studies that bully, a bully-victim, or victim will stay that way through elementary school, high school, and college. Dan Olweus is considered the most important figure when it comes to studying bullying, however, he only tends to look at elementary school, middle school, and high school. Mark Chapell et al. wanted to and did study bullying in college but also looked at bullying done by coaches and professors. As in many other instances, bullying comes from a need to seek power over another person. Therefore it tends to be easy for a professor or coach to single out a student or athlete and pick on them constantly. This might seem like a tactic to make the person a better student or athlete; however the constant picking takes it toll. The main point of this study is to point out that children, who were bullied at the age of eight, were continued to be bullied in high school at the age of sixteen. It is more likely though that bullies will actually stay bullies, but victims will eventually grow out of their situation. After completing a study, it was found that overall, verbal bullying is more common at all three school levels than physical bullying. Also, it was found that bullying continues throughout a schooling career.
Coie, John D., Kenneth A. Dodge, Robert Terry, and Virginia Wright. 1991. “The Role
of Aggression in Peer Relations: An Analysis of Aggression Episodes in Boys’ Play
Groups.” Electronic Journal of Child Development 62:4.pp.812-826.
This study looked at aggression in young boys. It is suggested and proven by studies that some young boys are rejected by their peers because of their aggressive behavior. Because rejection among boys is not always common, aggression is the most common reason for being rejected for a boy at a young age. This aggression can be seen as bullying and is important to look at because if not grown out of or one does not learn to control it, the one’s that are rejected will either be bullied or they will become aggressors when they are older and could risk becoming domestic violators or child abusers. Bullying is common for girls, but not in the same way as boys therefore, aggression is not a reason for a girl to be rejected from a group. It was found that rejection based on aggression was also based on age. Boys in the third-grade are more likely to reject someone who is more aggressive in order to avoid being harmed. When a girl is rejected, it is a sign of becoming a victim, but in boys, those that are aggressive and rejected tend to become bullies in order to gain dominance in a group. Because of this, the non-aggressive boys tend to become victims of bullying.
Pellegrini, A.D., Maria Bartini. 2000. “A Longitudinal Study of Bullying, Victimization,
and Peer Affiliation during the Transition from Primary School to Middle School.”
American Educational Research Journal 37:3. pp.699-725.
Much like the study done by Chapell et al., who looked at bullying by coaches and teachers, Pellegrini et al. found that power has a lot of effect on bullying, which can be defined as someone bigger and stronger as a young child who uses negative actions to victimize his or her peers. In several studies, it is found that the transition from elementary school, to middle school causes children to readjust to social networks. In this study, instead of showing that bullying is persistent through the rest of schooling, it was predicted that the initial transition will cause bullying, but by the end of the first year of transition, bullying will tend to decrease. It is also predicted that the only reason for bullying is to gain dominance in a peer group, once that is established bullying is no longer necessary. There are many reasons for bullying when transitioning between schools. Children need to reconsider who they associate with and must find their spot in a peer group. Another reason is if a child decides to become friends with someone who is physically stronger and considered aggressive, and does not have a lot of other friends, the chances of becoming bullied are great. However, if the child instead decides to hang out with larger social network, the chances of being bullied become smaller. In the transition of school, boys tend to score higher in bullying. It was found in the study that dominance and bullying are greatest at the fifth grade level and by the end of sixth grade, the need to establish dominance ends.
Ma, Xin. 2001. “Bullying and Being Bullied: To What Extent Are Bullies Also
Victims?.” American Educational Research Journal, 38:2. pp.351-370
This study focuses on familial characteristics that affect bullies or those being bullied. It also talks about other reasons. It is shown that parents who have a strong involvement in their children’s lives raise children to not be bullies. Those that have lack of interest in their children produce bullies for children. And finally, those who are overprotective of their children and do not let them experience things on their own produce victims. Another characteristic is the amount of siblings. Those who have more siblings tend to be bullies, and those who come from only child households are more likely to become victims or bystanders. Those who had poor affective conditions were more likely to be bullies. Another characteristic that produces bullies is the size of a school. Students in small schools were more likely to bully than those in larger schools. Even though this is the case in small schools, schools in large cities see more bullies and more victims than in schools in small towns.
All of those results explain what might cause bullying, however there is another important finding, that most people are not aware of. Most parents will tell their children, who are victims, the bully is not happy with him/herself and that is the cause. However it was found that this is not the case. According to studies used in this article, bullies tend to have high self-esteem.Another important idea which was supported is, that girls are just as likely to bully was boys are once ostracism, and the spreading of rumors are looked at. Another finding is victims are not victimized because of their weight, hair color, wear eyeglasses, or dress differently. Children become victims when they lack social skills and do not defend themselves. Bullies thrive off of having more power. Unfortunately, it is found that those who are more aggressive and do become bullies are most likely to bully their spouses and children, which supports Coie et al. who also talks about aggression as children get older.
Farrington, David P. 1993. “Understanding and Preventing Bullying.” Journal of Crime
and Justice 17. pp.381-458
It is not uncommon that over half of children have been terrorized by bullies and half of children have bullied. Bullying has long term negative consequences on a victim’s mental health. While some believe that bullies do not suffer negative consequences, the truth is when they bully they are reinforced to fulfill their actions because they enjoy their status. This is a negative consequence and gives bullies all the more reason to become more aggressive. There are several ways to prevent these negative consequences. However, the main one, much like “Names Can Really Hurt Us” and other mediation programs, is to set up anti-bullying programs in the schools. This is important to do in order to prevent bullying because bullies are becoming criminals. It is much easier to implement bullying prevention programs to stop it before it gets out of hand because it is not easy to implement anti-criminal programs. These programs need to be placed in schools nation wide because even though bullies tend to come from a lower socio-economic status, bullying takes place in all schools.
Johnson, David, and Geraldine Lewis. 1999. “Do You Like What You See? Self-
Perceptions of Adolescent Bullies.” British Educational Research Journal 25:5.
pp. 665-667
An important idea raised by many psychologists and sociologist is whether or not there is a difference in social domain and self-esteem in adolescents who bully. The truth is bullies do have a self-perception as bullies and are aware of their actions. In this study, statements were presented, such as, “I demanded money from someone, and I tried to kick or hit someone.” Between these statements, things like, “I helped someone with their homework,” were thrown in to make the child unaware that they were being tested for bullying. After gathering all of the answers, it was found once again, that boys were more likely to engage in bullying. The students, who were used for this study, came from an all boy’s school, an all girl’s school, and a co-ed school. The girl’s school was the only one with a firm anti-bullying policy. This might have thrown off the results because if another girls school, without and anti-bullying policy, was studied, then maybe they would have been just as likely to bully. This helps to show that anti-bullying policies do help decrease bullying. One final conclusion of this study that is important to negate people’s perceptions of bullying is, they have good self-esteem. Also they have perceived social competence and below average scholastic competence.
Seals, Dorothy, and Jerry Young. 2003. “Bullying and Victimization: Prevalence and
Relationship to Gender, Grade Level, Self-Esteem, and Depression. Adolescence 38.
Many school officials and parents have fears that bullying is now a health issue. Many people are concerned for students’ safety. There is reason to believe bullying has had a major affect on shootings in schools. Columbine High School was a prime example. Those two boys were tired of being rejected and made fun of. They were isolated and did not have a large social network to turn to when they needed it the most. They resorted to shooting students at the high school. It is necessary for schools to have their teachers recognize bullying and stop it. This will only happen when it is understood why bullying occurs and what are signs of bullying. While shootings in schools are extreme, there are other negative consequences. Victims tend to grow up and lack self-esteem and suffer from depression. In other articles, it has been found that students have committed suicide because of the constant pressure and ostracism form students. In this particular article, boys and girls are both looked at. It is important to recognize that girls are at just as much fault as boys are. Ryan, a boy that was on ABC news killed himself after being rejection from both boys as friends and girls as girlfriends. Boys tend to be more physical when bullying, but girls use more covert forms such as ignoring, spreading rumors, and stares. These forms of bullying by girls tend to be overlooked. It is important to go to the root of the problem to fix bullying, just like it is necessary to go to the root of all problems of deviance.
Peskin, Melissa Fleschler, Susan R. Tortolero, and Christine M. Markham. 2006.
“Bullying and Victimization among Black and Hispanic Adolescents.”
Adolescence 41:163. pp. 467-484.
It is important to not just look at general bullying. In Xin Ma’s study, it was found that students in city schools are more likely to witness or be subjected to bullying than student from small towns. In most cases in the United States of America, most students in cities are now African American and Hispanic. Because of this, it is important to study them and see the affect of bullying on them. Bullying once again, is the imbalance of power. Peskin et al. found that Hispanic students are more likely to report being bullied and bullying. African American students, however, are less likely. This is odd because in cities like Los Angeles, the bullies, victims, and bully-victims are more likely to be Black than Hispanic. This study also shows that bullying and victimization is prevalent in urban, low-socioeconomic middle schools and high schools. This just gives more reason to implement nation wide anti-bullying programs in schools. It occurs everywhere.
Bright, Robin M. 2005. “It’s just a Grade 8 Girl Thing: Aggression in Teenage Girls.”
Gender and Education 17:1. pp.93-101.
Several studies and scholarly articles that have been looked seem to be repetitive in that they all say boys are more likely to be bullies than girls. However, very few acknowledge that spreading rumors, ignoring and ostracizing, indirect aggression, are common practices for adolescent girls, especially in the seventh and eight grade. This observational study included a mother and her daughter. This article might tend to be biased because of this relationship, but it is still important to look at the facts. Bright’s daughter had been friends with two girls since the first grade and then after two weeks into the eight grade, these girls started to call her names and ignore her. They would call her a whore, which is extremely inappropriate for young girls. Also they created this thing called, “you’re zapped.” These two girls would go up to people and say this. In translation this meant that the person being zapped wanted to “suck her tits.” The embarrassment that a majority of girls go through is horrifying. When attention is brought to the particular case, the two girls would be nice to her when teachers were watching. They would put their arms around her and be extremely friendly. This makes teachers not believe the victim. The response from her homeroom teacher was that she had noticed some bullying, but was not responsible. Also she said, “How much of this is just a Grade 8 girl thing?” The bullying that takes place among girls is more often then not ignored. People brush it off as a social norm that occurs because it is not physically violent. IN most cases, the root of the problem is not even the victim. In this particular girl’s case, her parents and the parents of a boy, who the two girls liked, requested that they be put on the same soccer team for car pooling transportation purposes. This girl did not like the boy and did not ask to be put on the same team, but she was ostracized anyways. It got to the point where this girl transferred schools. This is what some girls resort to. Unfortunately, unless girls antics are looked at as bullying, it will go on for generations to come.
Phillips, Debby A. 2007. “Punking and Bullying: Strategies in Middle School, High
School, and Beyond.” Journal of Interpersonal Violence 22:2. pp. 158-178
In previous studies there have been several explanations for why boys bully each other. Another form of bullying is called “punking.” “Punking” uses the same definitions as bullying, which include actions that are intended to harm someone, the actions are repeated, and there is an imbalance of power. This has been proven in several articles already covered and several more that have not been. An explanation that was given by Phillips is that boys punk or bully each other to seek male dominance and keep up with a masculine image. After completing a review of the study, “Exploring New Directions for Ending Practices of Male Violence: Masculinity, Adolescent Boys, and Culture,” she found bullying and punking are ways for boys to maintain a popular and normal reputation. It is suppose to show one’s masculinity. She also interviewed several different boys and learned the difference between punking and bullying, which is, punking is much more physical. The punker is always someone larger and more powerful. These ideas support all other studies that have been done. There is always a power issue. One thing mentioned, though, is the victim cannot tell on the bully or punker, because it makes them a snitch. This makes the situation for a victim worse because the victim usually has no friends to support him and the abuser has lots who will then take part in the abusing.
Espelage, Dorothy L., and Melissa K. Holt. 2006. “Dating Violence & Sexual
Harassment Across the Bully-Victim Continuum Among Middle and High School
Students.” Journal of Youth and Adolescence 36.6. pp. 799-811.
There are four different categories of children who are involved in bullying. There are children who bully others, children who bully and are bullied, those that are victims, and those who are not involved in bullying at all. A problem with bullying is it can be girl on boy, girl on girl, boy on boy, or boy on girl. These four different combinations can and usually do include sexual harassment. Sexual harassment can be defined as “unwanted and unwelcome sexual behavior that interferes with you life. Sexual harassment is no behaviors that you like or want”(Espelage 800). The problem with sexual harassment is it can start at an early age and can be a form of bullying because it is inflicted harm by a more powerful person. Boys call other boys gay or faggots, boys flirt or inappropriately touch girls, and a group of girls will gang up on one boy and make him feel uncomfortable about himself. These might all be prevented if bullying is acknowledged and something is done to prevent it. When girls report sexual harassment it is usually one-on-one, boy on girl; however, when a boy reports, it is usually reported that a group of females have been sexually harassing him. This study states that sexual harassment and dating violence are forms of bullying. This form of bullying creates depression and anxiety in victims, which commonly results from bullying. Even though it is not present in this article, if there were some kind of awareness programs, sexual-harassment and dating violence could decrease. It is such a problem though because it is a type of bullying that is prevalent in high schools and colleges because it is started at a young age and perfected by the time one is older.
Graovac, Mirjana, Jirjana Pernar, Ljiljana Moro, Daniela Petric, Klementina Ruzic, Igor
Girotto and Tanja Franciskovic. 2005. “Changes of Adolescents’ Defence
Mechanisms during the First Year of High School Education.” Collegium
Antropologicum 30:1. pp. 75-80.
After looking at different things which might cause a child to become a bully, it is necessary to look at how a victim or a bully-victim, might react and change their characteristics. On thing, which changes is the defense mechanism. There are different kinds of defense mechanisms that change, but the two that change considerable are regression and reactive formation. At first, the regressive mechanism increases, this shows immature defenses. It is a noticeable change because first year students need protection and are immature compared to the upperclassmen. When children are little, their reactive formation mechanism towards the opposite sex usually involves the opposite sex having cooties. Once in high school, adolescents do not need to restrain their sexual impulses and need less defenses for the reactive formation. This could create bullying through sexual harassment. When these mechanisms begin to change, bullying can become prevalent because of the power struggle.
Cullingford, Cedric, and Jenny Morrison. 1995. “Bullying as a Formative Influence: The
Relationship between the Experience of School and Criminality.” British
Educational Research Journal 21:5. pp. 547-560.
A problem with bullying and bullying victims is most accept it. Some believe that it is ok and a part of growing up. Some believe all children must go through it in order to gain social normalcy. This acceptance is only of teasing and name-calling though. It is believe that such things can be and should be ignored. However, physical violence is a totally different type of bullying. Even though a lot of people believe teasing is a social norm, it is still harmful to the victims that have to endure it. This study shows that teachers play a large part in bullying in England. Some students were asked to spell words on the board that the teacher knew they could not, or ask them to read something he/she knew they could not. The student would then be sent to a different classroom and this sort of seclusion supports bullying and makes it ok for students to do it as well. When teachers use labels for students as different or stupid, other students than carry these labels on and begin to pick on and tease the student that has been labeled.
Newman, Matthew L., George W. Holden, and Yvon Delville. 2005. “Isolation and the
Stress of Being Bullied.” Journal of Adolescence 28:3. pp.247-257.
While the anti-bullying policy is important, Newman et al. points out the importance of helping the victims who feel isolated. The anti-bullying policy and programs that support it will not change things overnight. Victims of bullying in high school go on to college and suffer from stress symptoms which otherwise would not be present. It is important to take the victim out of isolation in high school. The ones that feel isolated the most are the ones that end up with the psychological problems as adults. Also, in present day, a lot of shootings that take place in high schools, i.e. Columbine High School, are related to victims who felt so isolated they believe they could turn to anything else. Also, in the case of Ryan from ABC news, he committed suicide like so many other victims of bullying. While these are extreme cases, those that suffer from stress in college are not. It would be easy to implement programs to un-isolate students who feel invisible. Acknowledging their needs is more important than anti-bullying programs at present. Anti-bullying programs are excellent and are needed too, but should start being implemented in pre-schools and younger grades, not just high schools. This might cut down on bullying so by the time adolescents reach high school they will not feel as isolated or it will be easy to make them feel un-isolated.
Espelage, Dorothy L., and Melissa K. Holt. 2001. “Bullying and Victimization during
Early Adolescence: Peer Influences and Psychological Correlates.” Journal of Emotional
Abuse 2:2-3. pp. 123-142.
Most of the time, someone that is considered a bully will admit to taking part in bullying acts especially in the study done by Johnson et al. Most of the time bullying is reported which is important because it can be so detrimental to a child’s mental health, however, teachers and other school officials do not always respond. Once again, boys were found to be bullies or suffer from bullying more than girls. Boys also report bullying more often than girls. Also, older students take part in bullying more often. The most important and most interesting finding of this study includes, bullies tend to hang out with bullies and they have just as many friends as those who do not bully, but are not victims of bullying. As long as students have a large group of friends, they tend to no be affected by bullying.
Others:
Hinton, S.E. 1967. The Outsiders. New York, NY: Penguin Group.
This fictional novel is about two different gangs, the Greasers and the Socs (the socials). A boy by the name of Ponyboy narrates a part of his teenage life and the difficulty he has in fitting in. Unlike most of the studies that have been reviewed in this project, the kids of lower-socioeconomic status are bullied. Both gangs jump each other and fight constantly. All of them are bully-victims. However, this book shows the struggles that are faced by over coming the bullying and harsh environment. Usually they fight over girls and turf, but sometimes they just fight each other to look cool or gain power. They all use physical bullying. One night, in the book Ponyboy and his friend Johnnie are walking home from a movie and are jumped by a number of Socs. It escalated to the point that Johnnie killed on of the Socs and the two boys then escape to a hide out. Unfortunately, bullying does sometimes resort to death. While this is just a fictional book, the situations can occur. When one lives in fear of their own life and is constantly threatened, they are victims of bullying. The oddity in this book, however, is both gangs suffer from bullying each other.
Youtube.com. 2007. “ABC News: Bullying Story.” ABC News, Retrieved Nov. 15, 2007
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Wcx2qM5C4g)
Mean Girls the movie, unfortunately is not only fiction. While it was a Lindsay Lohan movie by Paramount, it held a lot of truth. Girls can be atrocious and horrible. A boy Ryan committed suicide after being harassed and bullied by a group of girls online. One girl in particular, Ashley, used to be friends with Ryan before they reached the age of 14. Ryan was diagnosed with some learning disabilities and other problems. Once they were older they stopped talking but one day Ashley and some other girls decided that they were going to tell Ryan they had crushes on him. Because he thought they were being serious, he told Ashley that he like her, which in fact was the truth. She turned around and told him that she did not like him and how could he think girls like her and her friends would ever have crushes on a boy like him. To make matters worse, Ryan had a rectal exam after suffering some health problems. Not knowing there would be consequences, he told one of his friends about it. His friend went and told everyone else, and then a rumor was started that Ryan was homosexual and enjoyed anal sex. He had aggression and verbal attacks coming from every side and he is one of the adolescents like many others that could not handle it. Ryan committed suicide. Unfortunately, because of a lack of social connections, and the lack of knowledge that students have about bullying, it took its toll and killed someone. Programs like “Names Can Really Hurt Us” help make students aware of the affects of bullying and are needed in schools. Many adolescents do not realize the repercussions of bullying, aggression, and harassment. Unless each individual suffers from some kind of emotional or physical aggression, they have no idea what it is like. In Ryan’s case, it was extremely easy for people like Ashley and his other friend to target him because of his learning and other disabilities. Ryan was unable to understand fully what people were doing to him. Even adolescents, who do not have disabilities, sometimes cannot fully understand why they are targeted. For some, it is extremely difficult to ignore and self-mutilation, counter-violence, or suicide is the outcome.
Walters, Mark. 2004. Mean Girls. Paramount Pictures
The movie, Mean Girls, which was directed by Mark Walters, is about a girl, played by Lindsay Lohan, who had to make the transition of being home schooled in Africa to attending high school right outside Chicago. She is taken in by two average students, who want seek revenge on the most popular girl in school, played by Rachel McAdams. The most important part of this movie is the comparison between survival of the fittest in Africa among wild animals, and the survival of the fittest of high school girls in the United States. This movie is a prime example of bullying and the effects it has on other students. Teachers usually end up having to intervene and girls’ lives are torn apart. The girls in this movie had a burn book, which made fun of everyone they did not like. If this book was ever released it would have upset many people and at climax of the movie it was released. Mayhem broke out in the school. The moral of the story, words and actions do really hurt others. In reviews form IMBD.com, some newspapers called it a sociological masterpiece. Being able to understand the torture and humiliation that girls put other girls through is something that will never happen. The movie tried to understand that. This movie did the unthinkable; it went inside the minds of girls and looked at the inner workings of popularity and making others miserable. It showed how self-esteem is diminished and hatred becomes prevalent. Unfortunately, what IMBD.com failed to mention is in the end no one usually forgives anyone. That hatred and anger stays with girls for a long time and nothing is ever accomplished. Usually, they graduate high school and just try to move on.
Wired Kids, Inc. 2007. “Stop Cyberbullying.” WiredKids, Inc, Retrieved Dec 1, 2007
(http://www.stopcyberbullying.org/)
Cyber bullying is attacks on one minor by another minor. It is not the same as cyber sexual harassment that is usually inflicted by adults on minors. There are direct attacks and cyber bullying by proxy. Direct attacks take place through e-mail, texting, instant messaging, and stealing passwords. Proxy is having another minor do the bullying for someone else. Cyber bullying has become a problem for many reasons. Bullies/aggressors now have other ways to attack fellow peers. These children, who were once able to get away from their aggressors by going home at night, now have to deal with them on the internet. Death threats and other harmful comments are sent to people. Because those being attacked do not always respond by telling an adult, the bullying can become so constant that cases of suicide have occurred. Most adolescents and high school students that commit suicide, go through with the act because they are threatened, made fun of, and told that they do not belong. It is not easy to prevent cyber bullying. When schools try and get involved, they are usually sued by parents for controlling something not in their jurisdiction and taking away a child’s freedom of speech. It is also difficult to prevent this type of bullying because minors are not always regulated on-line. Unless parental controls are used, or unless parents go on-line and check their children’s internet activity, it is difficult to know what is going on. The internet and cell phone use has opened new doors for attacks.
The Teen Relationship Project. 2003. “Bullying in High School.” LaMarsh Centre for
Research, Retrieved Dec. 1, 2007
(http://www.arts.yorku.ca/lamarsh/projects/trp/trp_wwl02.html)
Bullying is prevalent in most high schools because of the transition of junior high school to high school. It is aggression of one student towards another. Some people believe that bullying becomes less of a problem in high schools because students begin to mature; however, it actually can become worse and tends to diversify. Bullying can and commonly does turn into sexual harassment and date rape. Boys who bully others have high individual problems and girls who bully tend to have high peer problems. Students who are aggressive or are prone to being harassed were usually so in grammar school. Also, those who bully tend to be delinquents. Students who are bullied suffer from depression and anxiety. In the worst cases, some have committed suicide. A lot of students today are facing problems with adjustment due to bullying because they have been physically and emotionally abused. Some major problems for high school students are once they are harmed, physically or emotionally, their self-esteem lowers, as well as their ability to cope with situations. Some students have the confidence and will to disregard aggression; however, there are some students who cannot cope with their problems. This is usually due to lack of social connections and peer groups. Something that is apparent in almost all bullying cases is that the person affected does not have a social network. Therefore, it is important to make by-standers aware that watching aggression take place is not ok and it is also important for students who are bullied to either tell someone or get involved in groups on campus so they will have a social network to turn to instead of being isolated.
Periodicals:
Ryan, Joan. 2002. “Why Girls are Bullies.” San Francisco Chronicle, May 21. Retrieved
Dec. 1, 2007
(http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?index=7&did=120656974&SrchMode=1&sid=8&Fmt=3&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=PQD&TS=1196621167&clientId=21856)
Socialization and cultural ideals have molded young girls. They believe that there is a certain standard they have to follow and they follow it. Girls are taught to suppress their feelings of aggression, hunger, and sex, just to name a few. However, these things come out in other ways and they always tend to appear when girls reach the sixth grade. Because girls do not want to lose their good girl image, they take out their aggression in other ways. They single out one girl or a few girls and isolate them. They stare at them to make them feel uncomfortable, spread rumors about them, and call them names. Every time there is a new group of sixth graders, women who have been working so hard to move past the horrors and undo them, see them in the next generation. The problem with this form of bullying for a girl is it is looked at as a social norm; “an inevitable development phase for girls” (Ryan 2). Bullying actions are not looked at as relational aggression. It is for the most part disregarded. While bullying in females is ignored, there has been a crack down on boy bullying. Because boy bullying tends to be more violent, it is focused on. If girls actions were looked at as bullying and something was done to try and prevent it, it is predicted that girls will be more open and honest and speak what is on their mind instead of suppressing it and taking it out on other peers. Also, if it is looked at more closely, it will allow girls to trust other females and girls.
1995. “Death in a Harbor City School: The Roots of Violent Bullying YOUTH
OPINION.” Los Angeles Times, May 24. Retrieved Dec 1, 2007
(http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?index=9&did=21451135&SrchMode=1&sid=8&Fmt=3&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=PQD&TS=1196621167&clientId=21856)
A boy, by the name of Shazeb Andleeb of Harbor City, was beaten to death by about 10 other peers, and it has spurred major concern about bullying, aggression, and violence. Teachers and others believe that the main reason for aggression and bullying comes from the media, specifically television. According to the article, by the time kids reach high school they have witnessed hundreds of murders and other physically violent acts on television. This makes it acceptable and it becomes a social norm. Another influence is violent video games. Children who are the product of divorced families or single-headed families basically raise themselves because their parents are going through their own issues. Also parents do not acknowledge their children’s issues. This allows kids to watch violent television and play violent video games, which allows them to believe violence is the social norm. The media has a power over the general population and kids learn from it. Another idea is, kids carry weapons, threaten people, and use the art of graffiti because it gives them power and makes them feel good at the expense of others. On the other hand, according to a school psychologist, he believes that there is progress being made and he believes that everyone needs to come together as a group in order to continue to make progress.
Hirshey, Gerri. 2007. “Pushing Back at Bullying.” New York Times, Jan 28. Retrieved
Dec 1, 2007
(http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A06E3D8163FF93BA15752C0A9619C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=2)
There are three sides to bullying, there are those that are bullied, those that do the bullying, and those that stand-by and watch. There are now programs in high schools to make students aware of the effects of bullying. These programs will probably never prevent bullying but it creates a positive environment for those that are bullied and teaches by-standers that it is not alright to sit back and watch someone have pain inflicted upon them. The program, “Names can really hurt us,” created by Marji Lipshez-Shapiro, is a program for high school students to help prevent bullying, which according to officials in the state of Connecticut, has become a major health problem. “Names,” the shorten named, “is assured a place on the school calendar, along with homecoming, SAT prep and the prom.”(Hirshey 1). This program uses examples of bullying and makes students aware of how much hurt they really inflict when they call each other names, or make fun of someone that trips and falls in the hallway on his/ her way to class. This program teaches teens to become allies and help those that are bullied. It covers issues such as, eating disorders, suicide, physical violence, name calling, and self-mutilation. Students are allowed to stand up in front of their peers and talk about things that bother them and the way they are treated. The point of this program is not to stop bullying completely because that would be impossible, but it is to reach out to students and make them aware, even if it is just one or two, it makes all the difference.
Brunks, Abby G. 2001. “Programs Stand up to Bullying Harrassment: Students Seek
Ways to Prevent Classmate Aggression that can Lead to Tragedy. Student
Watch;” The Atalanta Journal-Constitution, Mar 15. Retrieved Dec 1, 2007
(http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?index=8&did=69707869&SrchMode=1&sid=7&Fmt=3&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=PQD&TS=1196619632&clientId=21856&Fmt=3&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=PQD&TS=1196619632&clientId=21856
The program, Students Against Violence Everywhere, also known as SAVE, is a new program in Georgia, that is trying to stop bullying. This program is much like Names Can Really Hurt Us. It is extremely important to learn about these programs to counter-act bullying. Those being bullied are not the only ones that want to stop bullying. Teachers have allowed students to give ideas for projects that will help stop and prevent teasing, harassment, and gossiping, which are the three highest ranked forms of bullying in schools. Officials have made it necessary for any bullying to be reported. It is also important for those who are not being bullied to step in and stop the offense when it is seen. A lot of shootings that occur in grammar schools and high schools are due to bullying. Usually the shooter is fed up with bullying and knows no other way to stop it. These violent acts need to be stopped because they are just as bad as bullying. If bullying can be prevented, it is likely that school shootings will decrease.
Coleman, Sandy. 2006. “Schools Working to Stop Bullying.” Boston Globe, Oct. 22.
Retreived Dec. 1, 2007 (http://proquest.umi.com/)
There is a legislative bill that is trying to be passed for a statewide anti-bullying program. The exact program has not been fully outlined or explained. However, it would include a statement that would prohibit bullying, a way to report bullying, and a special behavior expected of students and faculty. The new programs and policies might be a burden for some schools, however, according to Elizabeth K. Englander, “Schools need to be transparent about what and how they deal with bullying. Bullying is much too serious and dangerous an issue to simply ignore” (Coleman 1). Simply removing a victim from the classroom reinforces bullying. It allows the offender to believe it is ok to torture fellow peers. One major factor for installing this program is the invention of cyber bullying. The internet allows students to continue their bullying after school hours through aim and e-mail, also over text-messaging. Children and teens can now be harassed, bullied, and stalked on-line, which is easier than doing it in person. Some schools do already have anti-bullying programs, however, it is believed that if there is a statewide mandatory program, bullying will definitely decrease.
Manuscripts/Books & Dissertation:
Schwamb, Janet. 2005. “Exploring the School Experience of those who Bully: A Look
Inside the Classroom.” dissertation, Hofstra University, Long Island, NY.
In this study, three middle school students, who were categorized as bullies, were followed around. The nature and tone of the students’ interactions with teachers, other peers, and class work were all documented. The purpose was to learn what life was like inside of a classroom for a bully. Also a journal was kept with a Likert Assessment; this helped to asses the three middle school students who were considered bullies even further. The main finding was these three students have very few positive experiences in the classroom. They were also looked at by teachers as problematic. The problem with this is these students were ignored, but when they did interact with the teachers the interaction was usually negative on the teachers’ part. Also, when these three students reached out to other students, they were ignored. These three students responded with bullying outside the classroom because they had constant negative interactions inside it. These three bullies however, were also victims of bullying because they were frequently ignored and excluded. This research done proves that there needs to be even more research to help students inside the classroom. Also, it needs to be recognized that teachers are not meeting the needs of their students psychologically. They might be doing an excellent job cognitively but that is only half the battle. If teachers were to do both, these three students might not have had to resort to bullying.
Juvonen, Jaana, and Sandra Graham. 2001. Peer Harassment in School. New York, NY:
Guilford Publications, Inc.
Peer harassment is a large part of bullying. It affects all students, whether one is committing the harassing, being harassed, or watching the harassment. This book talks the victims and those most vulnerable to peer harassment. It is necessary to measure and study peer harassment because it has negative short term and long term affects. It is also now easier to study things such as peer harassment with a large compliment of ideas because of new statistical approaches that have been created. It is extremely important to understand what peer harassment is and how it can be decreased. Harassment is absolutely a form of bullying. By studying individual types of bullying, it will make it easier for officials and parents to understand and fix.
Oprinas, Pamela, and Arthur M. Horne. 2006. Preventing Bullying. Washington, DC:
American Psychological Association.
The goal of this book is not to simply prevent bullying or to teach kids about bullying. It goes way beyond that because like all sociological problems, or any other problem, it is necessary to go to the root, analyze it, and fix it. The aim of this book is to treat child and adolescent behavioral problems that are considered to be bullying. This book moves step by step in explaining bullying and its affects on children. It also acknowledges that bullying is a wide spread problem. This book studies different reviews that have been done and different studies that have been done and are evidence based. After using this information and translating it, the book provides strategies for kids to deal with bullying if they are targets. It is so important to have these types of strategies because if children do not, they could resort to things like suicide and physical violence. This in turn would counteract what officials want to do. People want to stop bullying so before one can do that, one must help the victims.
Espelage, Dorothy L., and Susan M. Swearer. 2004. Bullying in American Schools.
Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Inc.
Until April of 1999, when Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris went on a killing spree at Columbine High School, and then killed themselves, the emotional violence that children go through was not commonly studied or looked at. Many kids endure emotional violence because they believe they have to. What Espelage and Swearer did was compile articles by American scholars. It is necessary to look at this book and use it to rehabilitate kids that have suffered from emotional violence that occurs when being bullied. This book goes in order of how to help those who have been affected by bullying. The most important part of this book though is explaining how it is necessary to make peace with bullies and not just attack them because that would be doing the same thing they do to victims.
Beaudoin, Marie-Nathalie, and Maureen Taylor. 2004. The Culture of Bullying and
Disrespect. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
Bullying is a “normal” occurrence in grammar schools and high schools these days. Boys tend to use more physical violence than girls, but teasing, name calling, exclusion are just as bad. Unfortunately, teachers and principals, as well as, parents do not know how to handle the situation. The bullying and violence tends to take place where higher authorities cannot see what is going on and therefore ignore the situations. Also, most adults tend to believe that bullying is just a normal part of growing up or that their child might be exaggerating some of the cases. Since the shootings at Columbine, bullying has become and extremely important topic and professionals are trying to pin point who is at fault for the bullying. The point of this book is to give educators therapy practices to use. This is necessary for educators because they become very involved in students lives and activities. When problems of bullying are recognizable teachers begin to place all of their focus on the situation and put aside academic teaching responsibilities. It is necessary to focus on bullying as a whole and not wait for an isolated situation to drain all of one’s time. By looking at bullying before it occurs, teachers might be able to help prevent it and also be able to still focus on academics.
Lipkins, Susan. 2006. Preventing Hazing. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
A topic that has definitely been on the radar lately is Hazing. This book was written after Lipkins heard about three freshman football players who were beaten and sodamized by their teammates in order to be accepted onto the football team. While this might not seem like a form of bullying, it meets all of the criteria that have been suggested to what bullying is. Even though hazing happens at one point to initiate someone, it still has drastic effects on students for the long term. The people that commit the hazing have an unequal balance of power over their subjects, it is always intentional and usually whatever action the one being hazed has to do is harmful or humiliating. Also, harassment and violence tend to be involved. Hazing is considered a right to passage into a certain group, whether it is a sports team or private club. Several people have been killed in the hazing process today in the United States. Usually the people being hazed do not want to be taking part in the actions, but in order to be accepted into the social norm of a particular group, they are expected to. By making parents, teachers, and students aware of such practices, the death rate in hazing and hazing could decrease dramatically.
Simmons, Rachel. 2002. Odd Girl Out. Orlando, Florida: Harcourt Books.
This book explains girl on girl bullying and the effects. It makes sure that parents to do not simply brush of the things that their daughters suffer from. Girl aggression is just as harmful as boy aggression. Sometimes it can be even worse because of the isolation a girl suffers from. Girls are expected to follow a social norm so they try to maintain a good girl image. This image however, is destroyed by covert measure of bullying. In Robin Bright’s daughter’s case, the girls were nice to her in public in front of officials, but undercover when no one was watching they brutally attacked her through notes and name calling. Teachers do not have time to look at girl pettiness because they need to teach the class academics, but it needs to be addressed because the little things that happen can be and usually are devastating to girls.
Chapell, Mark S., Stefanie L. Hasselman, Theresa Kitchin, Saflya N. Lomon, Kenneth
W. MacIver, and Partick L. Sarullo. 2006. “Bullying in Elementary School, High
School, and College.” Journal of Adolescence 41:164. pp.633-648.
It has been proven in several studies that bully, a bully-victim, or victim will stay that way through elementary school, high school, and college. Dan Olweus is considered the most important figure when it comes to studying bullying, however, he only tends to look at elementary school, middle school, and high school. Mark Chapell et al. wanted to and did study bullying in college but also looked at bullying done by coaches and professors. As in many other instances, bullying comes from a need to seek power over another person. Therefore it tends to be easy for a professor or coach to single out a student or athlete and pick on them constantly. This might seem like a tactic to make the person a better student or athlete; however the constant picking takes it toll. The main point of this study is to point out that children, who were bullied at the age of eight, were continued to be bullied in high school at the age of sixteen. It is more likely though that bullies will actually stay bullies, but victims will eventually grow out of their situation. After completing a study, it was found that overall, verbal bullying is more common at all three school levels than physical bullying. Also, it was found that bullying continues throughout a schooling career.
Coie, John D., Kenneth A. Dodge, Robert Terry, and Virginia Wright. 1991. “The Role
of Aggression in Peer Relations: An Analysis of Aggression Episodes in Boys’ Play
Groups.” Electronic Journal of Child Development 62:4.pp.812-826.
This study looked at aggression in young boys. It is suggested and proven by studies that some young boys are rejected by their peers because of their aggressive behavior. Because rejection among boys is not always common, aggression is the most common reason for being rejected for a boy at a young age. This aggression can be seen as bullying and is important to look at because if not grown out of or one does not learn to control it, the one’s that are rejected will either be bullied or they will become aggressors when they are older and could risk becoming domestic violators or child abusers. Bullying is common for girls, but not in the same way as boys therefore, aggression is not a reason for a girl to be rejected from a group. It was found that rejection based on aggression was also based on age. Boys in the third-grade are more likely to reject someone who is more aggressive in order to avoid being harmed. When a girl is rejected, it is a sign of becoming a victim, but in boys, those that are aggressive and rejected tend to become bullies in order to gain dominance in a group. Because of this, the non-aggressive boys tend to become victims of bullying.
Pellegrini, A.D., Maria Bartini. 2000. “A Longitudinal Study of Bullying, Victimization,
and Peer Affiliation during the Transition from Primary School to Middle School.”
American Educational Research Journal 37:3. pp.699-725.
Much like the study done by Chapell et al., who looked at bullying by coaches and teachers, Pellegrini et al. found that power has a lot of effect on bullying, which can be defined as someone bigger and stronger as a young child who uses negative actions to victimize his or her peers. In several studies, it is found that the transition from elementary school, to middle school causes children to readjust to social networks. In this study, instead of showing that bullying is persistent through the rest of schooling, it was predicted that the initial transition will cause bullying, but by the end of the first year of transition, bullying will tend to decrease. It is also predicted that the only reason for bullying is to gain dominance in a peer group, once that is established bullying is no longer necessary. There are many reasons for bullying when transitioning between schools. Children need to reconsider who they associate with and must find their spot in a peer group. Another reason is if a child decides to become friends with someone who is physically stronger and considered aggressive, and does not have a lot of other friends, the chances of becoming bullied are great. However, if the child instead decides to hang out with larger social network, the chances of being bullied become smaller. In the transition of school, boys tend to score higher in bullying. It was found in the study that dominance and bullying are greatest at the fifth grade level and by the end of sixth grade, the need to establish dominance ends.
Ma, Xin. 2001. “Bullying and Being Bullied: To What Extent Are Bullies Also
Victims?.” American Educational Research Journal, 38:2. pp.351-370
This study focuses on familial characteristics that affect bullies or those being bullied. It also talks about other reasons. It is shown that parents who have a strong involvement in their children’s lives raise children to not be bullies. Those that have lack of interest in their children produce bullies for children. And finally, those who are overprotective of their children and do not let them experience things on their own produce victims. Another characteristic is the amount of siblings. Those who have more siblings tend to be bullies, and those who come from only child households are more likely to become victims or bystanders. Those who had poor affective conditions were more likely to be bullies. Another characteristic that produces bullies is the size of a school. Students in small schools were more likely to bully than those in larger schools. Even though this is the case in small schools, schools in large cities see more bullies and more victims than in schools in small towns.
All of those results explain what might cause bullying, however there is another important finding, that most people are not aware of. Most parents will tell their children, who are victims, the bully is not happy with him/herself and that is the cause. However it was found that this is not the case. According to studies used in this article, bullies tend to have high self-esteem.Another important idea which was supported is, that girls are just as likely to bully was boys are once ostracism, and the spreading of rumors are looked at. Another finding is victims are not victimized because of their weight, hair color, wear eyeglasses, or dress differently. Children become victims when they lack social skills and do not defend themselves. Bullies thrive off of having more power. Unfortunately, it is found that those who are more aggressive and do become bullies are most likely to bully their spouses and children, which supports Coie et al. who also talks about aggression as children get older.
Farrington, David P. 1993. “Understanding and Preventing Bullying.” Journal of Crime
and Justice 17. pp.381-458
It is not uncommon that over half of children have been terrorized by bullies and half of children have bullied. Bullying has long term negative consequences on a victim’s mental health. While some believe that bullies do not suffer negative consequences, the truth is when they bully they are reinforced to fulfill their actions because they enjoy their status. This is a negative consequence and gives bullies all the more reason to become more aggressive. There are several ways to prevent these negative consequences. However, the main one, much like “Names Can Really Hurt Us” and other mediation programs, is to set up anti-bullying programs in the schools. This is important to do in order to prevent bullying because bullies are becoming criminals. It is much easier to implement bullying prevention programs to stop it before it gets out of hand because it is not easy to implement anti-criminal programs. These programs need to be placed in schools nation wide because even though bullies tend to come from a lower socio-economic status, bullying takes place in all schools.
Johnson, David, and Geraldine Lewis. 1999. “Do You Like What You See? Self-
Perceptions of Adolescent Bullies.” British Educational Research Journal 25:5.
pp. 665-667
An important idea raised by many psychologists and sociologist is whether or not there is a difference in social domain and self-esteem in adolescents who bully. The truth is bullies do have a self-perception as bullies and are aware of their actions. In this study, statements were presented, such as, “I demanded money from someone, and I tried to kick or hit someone.” Between these statements, things like, “I helped someone with their homework,” were thrown in to make the child unaware that they were being tested for bullying. After gathering all of the answers, it was found once again, that boys were more likely to engage in bullying. The students, who were used for this study, came from an all boy’s school, an all girl’s school, and a co-ed school. The girl’s school was the only one with a firm anti-bullying policy. This might have thrown off the results because if another girls school, without and anti-bullying policy, was studied, then maybe they would have been just as likely to bully. This helps to show that anti-bullying policies do help decrease bullying. One final conclusion of this study that is important to negate people’s perceptions of bullying is, they have good self-esteem. Also they have perceived social competence and below average scholastic competence.
Seals, Dorothy, and Jerry Young. 2003. “Bullying and Victimization: Prevalence and
Relationship to Gender, Grade Level, Self-Esteem, and Depression. Adolescence 38.
Many school officials and parents have fears that bullying is now a health issue. Many people are concerned for students’ safety. There is reason to believe bullying has had a major affect on shootings in schools. Columbine High School was a prime example. Those two boys were tired of being rejected and made fun of. They were isolated and did not have a large social network to turn to when they needed it the most. They resorted to shooting students at the high school. It is necessary for schools to have their teachers recognize bullying and stop it. This will only happen when it is understood why bullying occurs and what are signs of bullying. While shootings in schools are extreme, there are other negative consequences. Victims tend to grow up and lack self-esteem and suffer from depression. In other articles, it has been found that students have committed suicide because of the constant pressure and ostracism form students. In this particular article, boys and girls are both looked at. It is important to recognize that girls are at just as much fault as boys are. Ryan, a boy that was on ABC news killed himself after being rejection from both boys as friends and girls as girlfriends. Boys tend to be more physical when bullying, but girls use more covert forms such as ignoring, spreading rumors, and stares. These forms of bullying by girls tend to be overlooked. It is important to go to the root of the problem to fix bullying, just like it is necessary to go to the root of all problems of deviance.
Peskin, Melissa Fleschler, Susan R. Tortolero, and Christine M. Markham. 2006.
“Bullying and Victimization among Black and Hispanic Adolescents.”
Adolescence 41:163. pp. 467-484.
It is important to not just look at general bullying. In Xin Ma’s study, it was found that students in city schools are more likely to witness or be subjected to bullying than student from small towns. In most cases in the United States of America, most students in cities are now African American and Hispanic. Because of this, it is important to study them and see the affect of bullying on them. Bullying once again, is the imbalance of power. Peskin et al. found that Hispanic students are more likely to report being bullied and bullying. African American students, however, are less likely. This is odd because in cities like Los Angeles, the bullies, victims, and bully-victims are more likely to be Black than Hispanic. This study also shows that bullying and victimization is prevalent in urban, low-socioeconomic middle schools and high schools. This just gives more reason to implement nation wide anti-bullying programs in schools. It occurs everywhere.
Bright, Robin M. 2005. “It’s just a Grade 8 Girl Thing: Aggression in Teenage Girls.”
Gender and Education 17:1. pp.93-101.
Several studies and scholarly articles that have been looked seem to be repetitive in that they all say boys are more likely to be bullies than girls. However, very few acknowledge that spreading rumors, ignoring and ostracizing, indirect aggression, are common practices for adolescent girls, especially in the seventh and eight grade. This observational study included a mother and her daughter. This article might tend to be biased because of this relationship, but it is still important to look at the facts. Bright’s daughter had been friends with two girls since the first grade and then after two weeks into the eight grade, these girls started to call her names and ignore her. They would call her a whore, which is extremely inappropriate for young girls. Also they created this thing called, “you’re zapped.” These two girls would go up to people and say this. In translation this meant that the person being zapped wanted to “suck her tits.” The embarrassment that a majority of girls go through is horrifying. When attention is brought to the particular case, the two girls would be nice to her when teachers were watching. They would put their arms around her and be extremely friendly. This makes teachers not believe the victim. The response from her homeroom teacher was that she had noticed some bullying, but was not responsible. Also she said, “How much of this is just a Grade 8 girl thing?” The bullying that takes place among girls is more often then not ignored. People brush it off as a social norm that occurs because it is not physically violent. IN most cases, the root of the problem is not even the victim. In this particular girl’s case, her parents and the parents of a boy, who the two girls liked, requested that they be put on the same soccer team for car pooling transportation purposes. This girl did not like the boy and did not ask to be put on the same team, but she was ostracized anyways. It got to the point where this girl transferred schools. This is what some girls resort to. Unfortunately, unless girls antics are looked at as bullying, it will go on for generations to come.
Phillips, Debby A. 2007. “Punking and Bullying: Strategies in Middle School, High
School, and Beyond.” Journal of Interpersonal Violence 22:2. pp. 158-178
In previous studies there have been several explanations for why boys bully each other. Another form of bullying is called “punking.” “Punking” uses the same definitions as bullying, which include actions that are intended to harm someone, the actions are repeated, and there is an imbalance of power. This has been proven in several articles already covered and several more that have not been. An explanation that was given by Phillips is that boys punk or bully each other to seek male dominance and keep up with a masculine image. After completing a review of the study, “Exploring New Directions for Ending Practices of Male Violence: Masculinity, Adolescent Boys, and Culture,” she found bullying and punking are ways for boys to maintain a popular and normal reputation. It is suppose to show one’s masculinity. She also interviewed several different boys and learned the difference between punking and bullying, which is, punking is much more physical. The punker is always someone larger and more powerful. These ideas support all other studies that have been done. There is always a power issue. One thing mentioned, though, is the victim cannot tell on the bully or punker, because it makes them a snitch. This makes the situation for a victim worse because the victim usually has no friends to support him and the abuser has lots who will then take part in the abusing.
Espelage, Dorothy L., and Melissa K. Holt. 2006. “Dating Violence & Sexual
Harassment Across the Bully-Victim Continuum Among Middle and High School
Students.” Journal of Youth and Adolescence 36.6. pp. 799-811.
There are four different categories of children who are involved in bullying. There are children who bully others, children who bully and are bullied, those that are victims, and those who are not involved in bullying at all. A problem with bullying is it can be girl on boy, girl on girl, boy on boy, or boy on girl. These four different combinations can and usually do include sexual harassment. Sexual harassment can be defined as “unwanted and unwelcome sexual behavior that interferes with you life. Sexual harassment is no behaviors that you like or want”(Espelage 800). The problem with sexual harassment is it can start at an early age and can be a form of bullying because it is inflicted harm by a more powerful person. Boys call other boys gay or faggots, boys flirt or inappropriately touch girls, and a group of girls will gang up on one boy and make him feel uncomfortable about himself. These might all be prevented if bullying is acknowledged and something is done to prevent it. When girls report sexual harassment it is usually one-on-one, boy on girl; however, when a boy reports, it is usually reported that a group of females have been sexually harassing him. This study states that sexual harassment and dating violence are forms of bullying. This form of bullying creates depression and anxiety in victims, which commonly results from bullying. Even though it is not present in this article, if there were some kind of awareness programs, sexual-harassment and dating violence could decrease. It is such a problem though because it is a type of bullying that is prevalent in high schools and colleges because it is started at a young age and perfected by the time one is older.
Graovac, Mirjana, Jirjana Pernar, Ljiljana Moro, Daniela Petric, Klementina Ruzic, Igor
Girotto and Tanja Franciskovic. 2005. “Changes of Adolescents’ Defence
Mechanisms during the First Year of High School Education.” Collegium
Antropologicum 30:1. pp. 75-80.
After looking at different things which might cause a child to become a bully, it is necessary to look at how a victim or a bully-victim, might react and change their characteristics. On thing, which changes is the defense mechanism. There are different kinds of defense mechanisms that change, but the two that change considerable are regression and reactive formation. At first, the regressive mechanism increases, this shows immature defenses. It is a noticeable change because first year students need protection and are immature compared to the upperclassmen. When children are little, their reactive formation mechanism towards the opposite sex usually involves the opposite sex having cooties. Once in high school, adolescents do not need to restrain their sexual impulses and need less defenses for the reactive formation. This could create bullying through sexual harassment. When these mechanisms begin to change, bullying can become prevalent because of the power struggle.
Cullingford, Cedric, and Jenny Morrison. 1995. “Bullying as a Formative Influence: The
Relationship between the Experience of School and Criminality.” British
Educational Research Journal 21:5. pp. 547-560.
A problem with bullying and bullying victims is most accept it. Some believe that it is ok and a part of growing up. Some believe all children must go through it in order to gain social normalcy. This acceptance is only of teasing and name-calling though. It is believe that such things can be and should be ignored. However, physical violence is a totally different type of bullying. Even though a lot of people believe teasing is a social norm, it is still harmful to the victims that have to endure it. This study shows that teachers play a large part in bullying in England. Some students were asked to spell words on the board that the teacher knew they could not, or ask them to read something he/she knew they could not. The student would then be sent to a different classroom and this sort of seclusion supports bullying and makes it ok for students to do it as well. When teachers use labels for students as different or stupid, other students than carry these labels on and begin to pick on and tease the student that has been labeled.
Newman, Matthew L., George W. Holden, and Yvon Delville. 2005. “Isolation and the
Stress of Being Bullied.” Journal of Adolescence 28:3. pp.247-257.
While the anti-bullying policy is important, Newman et al. points out the importance of helping the victims who feel isolated. The anti-bullying policy and programs that support it will not change things overnight. Victims of bullying in high school go on to college and suffer from stress symptoms which otherwise would not be present. It is important to take the victim out of isolation in high school. The ones that feel isolated the most are the ones that end up with the psychological problems as adults. Also, in present day, a lot of shootings that take place in high schools, i.e. Columbine High School, are related to victims who felt so isolated they believe they could turn to anything else. Also, in the case of Ryan from ABC news, he committed suicide like so many other victims of bullying. While these are extreme cases, those that suffer from stress in college are not. It would be easy to implement programs to un-isolate students who feel invisible. Acknowledging their needs is more important than anti-bullying programs at present. Anti-bullying programs are excellent and are needed too, but should start being implemented in pre-schools and younger grades, not just high schools. This might cut down on bullying so by the time adolescents reach high school they will not feel as isolated or it will be easy to make them feel un-isolated.
Espelage, Dorothy L., and Melissa K. Holt. 2001. “Bullying and Victimization during
Early Adolescence: Peer Influences and Psychological Correlates.” Journal of Emotional
Abuse 2:2-3. pp. 123-142.
Most of the time, someone that is considered a bully will admit to taking part in bullying acts especially in the study done by Johnson et al. Most of the time bullying is reported which is important because it can be so detrimental to a child’s mental health, however, teachers and other school officials do not always respond. Once again, boys were found to be bullies or suffer from bullying more than girls. Boys also report bullying more often than girls. Also, older students take part in bullying more often. The most important and most interesting finding of this study includes, bullies tend to hang out with bullies and they have just as many friends as those who do not bully, but are not victims of bullying. As long as students have a large group of friends, they tend to no be affected by bullying.
Others:
Hinton, S.E. 1967. The Outsiders. New York, NY: Penguin Group.
This fictional novel is about two different gangs, the Greasers and the Socs (the socials). A boy by the name of Ponyboy narrates a part of his teenage life and the difficulty he has in fitting in. Unlike most of the studies that have been reviewed in this project, the kids of lower-socioeconomic status are bullied. Both gangs jump each other and fight constantly. All of them are bully-victims. However, this book shows the struggles that are faced by over coming the bullying and harsh environment. Usually they fight over girls and turf, but sometimes they just fight each other to look cool or gain power. They all use physical bullying. One night, in the book Ponyboy and his friend Johnnie are walking home from a movie and are jumped by a number of Socs. It escalated to the point that Johnnie killed on of the Socs and the two boys then escape to a hide out. Unfortunately, bullying does sometimes resort to death. While this is just a fictional book, the situations can occur. When one lives in fear of their own life and is constantly threatened, they are victims of bullying. The oddity in this book, however, is both gangs suffer from bullying each other.
Youtube.com. 2007. “ABC News: Bullying Story.” ABC News, Retrieved Nov. 15, 2007
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Wcx2qM5C4g)
Mean Girls the movie, unfortunately is not only fiction. While it was a Lindsay Lohan movie by Paramount, it held a lot of truth. Girls can be atrocious and horrible. A boy Ryan committed suicide after being harassed and bullied by a group of girls online. One girl in particular, Ashley, used to be friends with Ryan before they reached the age of 14. Ryan was diagnosed with some learning disabilities and other problems. Once they were older they stopped talking but one day Ashley and some other girls decided that they were going to tell Ryan they had crushes on him. Because he thought they were being serious, he told Ashley that he like her, which in fact was the truth. She turned around and told him that she did not like him and how could he think girls like her and her friends would ever have crushes on a boy like him. To make matters worse, Ryan had a rectal exam after suffering some health problems. Not knowing there would be consequences, he told one of his friends about it. His friend went and told everyone else, and then a rumor was started that Ryan was homosexual and enjoyed anal sex. He had aggression and verbal attacks coming from every side and he is one of the adolescents like many others that could not handle it. Ryan committed suicide. Unfortunately, because of a lack of social connections, and the lack of knowledge that students have about bullying, it took its toll and killed someone. Programs like “Names Can Really Hurt Us” help make students aware of the affects of bullying and are needed in schools. Many adolescents do not realize the repercussions of bullying, aggression, and harassment. Unless each individual suffers from some kind of emotional or physical aggression, they have no idea what it is like. In Ryan’s case, it was extremely easy for people like Ashley and his other friend to target him because of his learning and other disabilities. Ryan was unable to understand fully what people were doing to him. Even adolescents, who do not have disabilities, sometimes cannot fully understand why they are targeted. For some, it is extremely difficult to ignore and self-mutilation, counter-violence, or suicide is the outcome.
Walters, Mark. 2004. Mean Girls. Paramount Pictures
The movie, Mean Girls, which was directed by Mark Walters, is about a girl, played by Lindsay Lohan, who had to make the transition of being home schooled in Africa to attending high school right outside Chicago. She is taken in by two average students, who want seek revenge on the most popular girl in school, played by Rachel McAdams. The most important part of this movie is the comparison between survival of the fittest in Africa among wild animals, and the survival of the fittest of high school girls in the United States. This movie is a prime example of bullying and the effects it has on other students. Teachers usually end up having to intervene and girls’ lives are torn apart. The girls in this movie had a burn book, which made fun of everyone they did not like. If this book was ever released it would have upset many people and at climax of the movie it was released. Mayhem broke out in the school. The moral of the story, words and actions do really hurt others. In reviews form IMBD.com, some newspapers called it a sociological masterpiece. Being able to understand the torture and humiliation that girls put other girls through is something that will never happen. The movie tried to understand that. This movie did the unthinkable; it went inside the minds of girls and looked at the inner workings of popularity and making others miserable. It showed how self-esteem is diminished and hatred becomes prevalent. Unfortunately, what IMBD.com failed to mention is in the end no one usually forgives anyone. That hatred and anger stays with girls for a long time and nothing is ever accomplished. Usually, they graduate high school and just try to move on.
Wired Kids, Inc. 2007. “Stop Cyberbullying.” WiredKids, Inc, Retrieved Dec 1, 2007
(http://www.stopcyberbullying.org/)
Cyber bullying is attacks on one minor by another minor. It is not the same as cyber sexual harassment that is usually inflicted by adults on minors. There are direct attacks and cyber bullying by proxy. Direct attacks take place through e-mail, texting, instant messaging, and stealing passwords. Proxy is having another minor do the bullying for someone else. Cyber bullying has become a problem for many reasons. Bullies/aggressors now have other ways to attack fellow peers. These children, who were once able to get away from their aggressors by going home at night, now have to deal with them on the internet. Death threats and other harmful comments are sent to people. Because those being attacked do not always respond by telling an adult, the bullying can become so constant that cases of suicide have occurred. Most adolescents and high school students that commit suicide, go through with the act because they are threatened, made fun of, and told that they do not belong. It is not easy to prevent cyber bullying. When schools try and get involved, they are usually sued by parents for controlling something not in their jurisdiction and taking away a child’s freedom of speech. It is also difficult to prevent this type of bullying because minors are not always regulated on-line. Unless parental controls are used, or unless parents go on-line and check their children’s internet activity, it is difficult to know what is going on. The internet and cell phone use has opened new doors for attacks.
The Teen Relationship Project. 2003. “Bullying in High School.” LaMarsh Centre for
Research, Retrieved Dec. 1, 2007
(http://www.arts.yorku.ca/lamarsh/projects/trp/trp_wwl02.html)
Bullying is prevalent in most high schools because of the transition of junior high school to high school. It is aggression of one student towards another. Some people believe that bullying becomes less of a problem in high schools because students begin to mature; however, it actually can become worse and tends to diversify. Bullying can and commonly does turn into sexual harassment and date rape. Boys who bully others have high individual problems and girls who bully tend to have high peer problems. Students who are aggressive or are prone to being harassed were usually so in grammar school. Also, those who bully tend to be delinquents. Students who are bullied suffer from depression and anxiety. In the worst cases, some have committed suicide. A lot of students today are facing problems with adjustment due to bullying because they have been physically and emotionally abused. Some major problems for high school students are once they are harmed, physically or emotionally, their self-esteem lowers, as well as their ability to cope with situations. Some students have the confidence and will to disregard aggression; however, there are some students who cannot cope with their problems. This is usually due to lack of social connections and peer groups. Something that is apparent in almost all bullying cases is that the person affected does not have a social network. Therefore, it is important to make by-standers aware that watching aggression take place is not ok and it is also important for students who are bullied to either tell someone or get involved in groups on campus so they will have a social network to turn to instead of being isolated.
Periodicals:
Ryan, Joan. 2002. “Why Girls are Bullies.” San Francisco Chronicle, May 21. Retrieved
Dec. 1, 2007
(http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?index=7&did=120656974&SrchMode=1&sid=8&Fmt=3&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=PQD&TS=1196621167&clientId=21856)
Socialization and cultural ideals have molded young girls. They believe that there is a certain standard they have to follow and they follow it. Girls are taught to suppress their feelings of aggression, hunger, and sex, just to name a few. However, these things come out in other ways and they always tend to appear when girls reach the sixth grade. Because girls do not want to lose their good girl image, they take out their aggression in other ways. They single out one girl or a few girls and isolate them. They stare at them to make them feel uncomfortable, spread rumors about them, and call them names. Every time there is a new group of sixth graders, women who have been working so hard to move past the horrors and undo them, see them in the next generation. The problem with this form of bullying for a girl is it is looked at as a social norm; “an inevitable development phase for girls” (Ryan 2). Bullying actions are not looked at as relational aggression. It is for the most part disregarded. While bullying in females is ignored, there has been a crack down on boy bullying. Because boy bullying tends to be more violent, it is focused on. If girls actions were looked at as bullying and something was done to try and prevent it, it is predicted that girls will be more open and honest and speak what is on their mind instead of suppressing it and taking it out on other peers. Also, if it is looked at more closely, it will allow girls to trust other females and girls.
1995. “Death in a Harbor City School: The Roots of Violent Bullying YOUTH
OPINION.” Los Angeles Times, May 24. Retrieved Dec 1, 2007
(http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?index=9&did=21451135&SrchMode=1&sid=8&Fmt=3&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=PQD&TS=1196621167&clientId=21856)
A boy, by the name of Shazeb Andleeb of Harbor City, was beaten to death by about 10 other peers, and it has spurred major concern about bullying, aggression, and violence. Teachers and others believe that the main reason for aggression and bullying comes from the media, specifically television. According to the article, by the time kids reach high school they have witnessed hundreds of murders and other physically violent acts on television. This makes it acceptable and it becomes a social norm. Another influence is violent video games. Children who are the product of divorced families or single-headed families basically raise themselves because their parents are going through their own issues. Also parents do not acknowledge their children’s issues. This allows kids to watch violent television and play violent video games, which allows them to believe violence is the social norm. The media has a power over the general population and kids learn from it. Another idea is, kids carry weapons, threaten people, and use the art of graffiti because it gives them power and makes them feel good at the expense of others. On the other hand, according to a school psychologist, he believes that there is progress being made and he believes that everyone needs to come together as a group in order to continue to make progress.
Hirshey, Gerri. 2007. “Pushing Back at Bullying.” New York Times, Jan 28. Retrieved
Dec 1, 2007
(http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A06E3D8163FF93BA15752C0A9619C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=2)
There are three sides to bullying, there are those that are bullied, those that do the bullying, and those that stand-by and watch. There are now programs in high schools to make students aware of the effects of bullying. These programs will probably never prevent bullying but it creates a positive environment for those that are bullied and teaches by-standers that it is not alright to sit back and watch someone have pain inflicted upon them. The program, “Names can really hurt us,” created by Marji Lipshez-Shapiro, is a program for high school students to help prevent bullying, which according to officials in the state of Connecticut, has become a major health problem. “Names,” the shorten named, “is assured a place on the school calendar, along with homecoming, SAT prep and the prom.”(Hirshey 1). This program uses examples of bullying and makes students aware of how much hurt they really inflict when they call each other names, or make fun of someone that trips and falls in the hallway on his/ her way to class. This program teaches teens to become allies and help those that are bullied. It covers issues such as, eating disorders, suicide, physical violence, name calling, and self-mutilation. Students are allowed to stand up in front of their peers and talk about things that bother them and the way they are treated. The point of this program is not to stop bullying completely because that would be impossible, but it is to reach out to students and make them aware, even if it is just one or two, it makes all the difference.
Brunks, Abby G. 2001. “Programs Stand up to Bullying Harrassment: Students Seek
Ways to Prevent Classmate Aggression that can Lead to Tragedy. Student
Watch;” The Atalanta Journal-Constitution, Mar 15. Retrieved Dec 1, 2007
(http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?index=8&did=69707869&SrchMode=1&sid=7&Fmt=3&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=PQD&TS=1196619632&clientId=21856&Fmt=3&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=PQD&TS=1196619632&clientId=21856
The program, Students Against Violence Everywhere, also known as SAVE, is a new program in Georgia, that is trying to stop bullying. This program is much like Names Can Really Hurt Us. It is extremely important to learn about these programs to counter-act bullying. Those being bullied are not the only ones that want to stop bullying. Teachers have allowed students to give ideas for projects that will help stop and prevent teasing, harassment, and gossiping, which are the three highest ranked forms of bullying in schools. Officials have made it necessary for any bullying to be reported. It is also important for those who are not being bullied to step in and stop the offense when it is seen. A lot of shootings that occur in grammar schools and high schools are due to bullying. Usually the shooter is fed up with bullying and knows no other way to stop it. These violent acts need to be stopped because they are just as bad as bullying. If bullying can be prevented, it is likely that school shootings will decrease.
Coleman, Sandy. 2006. “Schools Working to Stop Bullying.” Boston Globe, Oct. 22.
Retreived Dec. 1, 2007 (http://proquest.umi.com/)
There is a legislative bill that is trying to be passed for a statewide anti-bullying program. The exact program has not been fully outlined or explained. However, it would include a statement that would prohibit bullying, a way to report bullying, and a special behavior expected of students and faculty. The new programs and policies might be a burden for some schools, however, according to Elizabeth K. Englander, “Schools need to be transparent about what and how they deal with bullying. Bullying is much too serious and dangerous an issue to simply ignore” (Coleman 1). Simply removing a victim from the classroom reinforces bullying. It allows the offender to believe it is ok to torture fellow peers. One major factor for installing this program is the invention of cyber bullying. The internet allows students to continue their bullying after school hours through aim and e-mail, also over text-messaging. Children and teens can now be harassed, bullied, and stalked on-line, which is easier than doing it in person. Some schools do already have anti-bullying programs, however, it is believed that if there is a statewide mandatory program, bullying will definitely decrease.
Manuscripts/Books & Dissertation:
Schwamb, Janet. 2005. “Exploring the School Experience of those who Bully: A Look
Inside the Classroom.” dissertation, Hofstra University, Long Island, NY.
In this study, three middle school students, who were categorized as bullies, were followed around. The nature and tone of the students’ interactions with teachers, other peers, and class work were all documented. The purpose was to learn what life was like inside of a classroom for a bully. Also a journal was kept with a Likert Assessment; this helped to asses the three middle school students who were considered bullies even further. The main finding was these three students have very few positive experiences in the classroom. They were also looked at by teachers as problematic. The problem with this is these students were ignored, but when they did interact with the teachers the interaction was usually negative on the teachers’ part. Also, when these three students reached out to other students, they were ignored. These three students responded with bullying outside the classroom because they had constant negative interactions inside it. These three bullies however, were also victims of bullying because they were frequently ignored and excluded. This research done proves that there needs to be even more research to help students inside the classroom. Also, it needs to be recognized that teachers are not meeting the needs of their students psychologically. They might be doing an excellent job cognitively but that is only half the battle. If teachers were to do both, these three students might not have had to resort to bullying.
Juvonen, Jaana, and Sandra Graham. 2001. Peer Harassment in School. New York, NY:
Guilford Publications, Inc.
Peer harassment is a large part of bullying. It affects all students, whether one is committing the harassing, being harassed, or watching the harassment. This book talks the victims and those most vulnerable to peer harassment. It is necessary to measure and study peer harassment because it has negative short term and long term affects. It is also now easier to study things such as peer harassment with a large compliment of ideas because of new statistical approaches that have been created. It is extremely important to understand what peer harassment is and how it can be decreased. Harassment is absolutely a form of bullying. By studying individual types of bullying, it will make it easier for officials and parents to understand and fix.
Oprinas, Pamela, and Arthur M. Horne. 2006. Preventing Bullying. Washington, DC:
American Psychological Association.
The goal of this book is not to simply prevent bullying or to teach kids about bullying. It goes way beyond that because like all sociological problems, or any other problem, it is necessary to go to the root, analyze it, and fix it. The aim of this book is to treat child and adolescent behavioral problems that are considered to be bullying. This book moves step by step in explaining bullying and its affects on children. It also acknowledges that bullying is a wide spread problem. This book studies different reviews that have been done and different studies that have been done and are evidence based. After using this information and translating it, the book provides strategies for kids to deal with bullying if they are targets. It is so important to have these types of strategies because if children do not, they could resort to things like suicide and physical violence. This in turn would counteract what officials want to do. People want to stop bullying so before one can do that, one must help the victims.
Espelage, Dorothy L., and Susan M. Swearer. 2004. Bullying in American Schools.
Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Inc.
Until April of 1999, when Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris went on a killing spree at Columbine High School, and then killed themselves, the emotional violence that children go through was not commonly studied or looked at. Many kids endure emotional violence because they believe they have to. What Espelage and Swearer did was compile articles by American scholars. It is necessary to look at this book and use it to rehabilitate kids that have suffered from emotional violence that occurs when being bullied. This book goes in order of how to help those who have been affected by bullying. The most important part of this book though is explaining how it is necessary to make peace with bullies and not just attack them because that would be doing the same thing they do to victims.
Beaudoin, Marie-Nathalie, and Maureen Taylor. 2004. The Culture of Bullying and
Disrespect. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
Bullying is a “normal” occurrence in grammar schools and high schools these days. Boys tend to use more physical violence than girls, but teasing, name calling, exclusion are just as bad. Unfortunately, teachers and principals, as well as, parents do not know how to handle the situation. The bullying and violence tends to take place where higher authorities cannot see what is going on and therefore ignore the situations. Also, most adults tend to believe that bullying is just a normal part of growing up or that their child might be exaggerating some of the cases. Since the shootings at Columbine, bullying has become and extremely important topic and professionals are trying to pin point who is at fault for the bullying. The point of this book is to give educators therapy practices to use. This is necessary for educators because they become very involved in students lives and activities. When problems of bullying are recognizable teachers begin to place all of their focus on the situation and put aside academic teaching responsibilities. It is necessary to focus on bullying as a whole and not wait for an isolated situation to drain all of one’s time. By looking at bullying before it occurs, teachers might be able to help prevent it and also be able to still focus on academics.
Lipkins, Susan. 2006. Preventing Hazing. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
A topic that has definitely been on the radar lately is Hazing. This book was written after Lipkins heard about three freshman football players who were beaten and sodamized by their teammates in order to be accepted onto the football team. While this might not seem like a form of bullying, it meets all of the criteria that have been suggested to what bullying is. Even though hazing happens at one point to initiate someone, it still has drastic effects on students for the long term. The people that commit the hazing have an unequal balance of power over their subjects, it is always intentional and usually whatever action the one being hazed has to do is harmful or humiliating. Also, harassment and violence tend to be involved. Hazing is considered a right to passage into a certain group, whether it is a sports team or private club. Several people have been killed in the hazing process today in the United States. Usually the people being hazed do not want to be taking part in the actions, but in order to be accepted into the social norm of a particular group, they are expected to. By making parents, teachers, and students aware of such practices, the death rate in hazing and hazing could decrease dramatically.
Simmons, Rachel. 2002. Odd Girl Out. Orlando, Florida: Harcourt Books.
This book explains girl on girl bullying and the effects. It makes sure that parents to do not simply brush of the things that their daughters suffer from. Girl aggression is just as harmful as boy aggression. Sometimes it can be even worse because of the isolation a girl suffers from. Girls are expected to follow a social norm so they try to maintain a good girl image. This image however, is destroyed by covert measure of bullying. In Robin Bright’s daughter’s case, the girls were nice to her in public in front of officials, but undercover when no one was watching they brutally attacked her through notes and name calling. Teachers do not have time to look at girl pettiness because they need to teach the class academics, but it needs to be addressed because the little things that happen can be and usually are devastating to girls.
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Brave New World
http://books.google.com/books?id=aQz5ZpkQn7AC&dq=a+brave+new+world&pg=PP1&ots=LQgESG2Njs&sig=MzUWPrclR3sgUd7keQoeNKXYLkc&prev=http://www.google.com/search%3Fhl%3Den%26q%3DA%2BBrave%2BNew%2BWorld&sa=X&oi=print&ct=title&cad=one-book-with-thumbnail#PPA110,M1
A Brave New World was written by Aldous Huxley. It was published in London in 1932. My sophomore year of high school I took British Literature. In one marking period we focused on the books 1984, by George Orwell and A Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. Both of these books parallel each other. They both represent utopias that are trying to be created but there are always flaws in the system that make these nations dystopia's. People that go crazy are excommunicated or given somma in A Brave New World. Also, children are taught to celebrate death and babies are born in test tubes. Both societies show that there is a power that lies and takes control over others. Not for the sake of others but for themselves.
A Brave New World was written by Aldous Huxley. It was published in London in 1932. My sophomore year of high school I took British Literature. In one marking period we focused on the books 1984, by George Orwell and A Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. Both of these books parallel each other. They both represent utopias that are trying to be created but there are always flaws in the system that make these nations dystopia's. People that go crazy are excommunicated or given somma in A Brave New World. Also, children are taught to celebrate death and babies are born in test tubes. Both societies show that there is a power that lies and takes control over others. Not for the sake of others but for themselves.
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Song Lyrics for Code of the Street
In class we have been reading Code of the Street, written by Elijah Anderson. We are more than half way through it now and I have found lyrics to songs that remind of the Code and life for people of innercities. All of these rappers have either been shot or become millionaires from their music and I think it is interesting to connect these lyrics to the book.
2Pac - Changes
http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/Changes-lyrics-2Pac/4B5E5C3281E191954825686A002CDF1C
2Pac- Life Goes On
http://www.seeklyrics.com/lyrics/2pac/Life-Goes-On.html
Scarface- My Block
http://www.lyriczz.com/lyriczz.php?songid=8683
Geto Boys- G Code
http://www.lyrics007.com/Geto%20Boys%20Lyrics/G-Code%20Lyrics.html
Notorious B.I.G.
http://www.lyrics007.com/Notorious%20B.I.G.%20Lyrics/Big%20Poppa%20Lyrics.html
This song reminds me of the decent people from the book:
Grits-Ooh Ahh
http://www.onlylyrics.com/song.php?id=30937
2Pac - Changes
http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/Changes-lyrics-2Pac/4B5E5C3281E191954825686A002CDF1C
2Pac- Life Goes On
http://www.seeklyrics.com/lyrics/2pac/Life-Goes-On.html
Scarface- My Block
http://www.lyriczz.com/lyriczz.php?songid=8683
Geto Boys- G Code
http://www.lyrics007.com/Geto%20Boys%20Lyrics/G-Code%20Lyrics.html
Notorious B.I.G.
http://www.lyrics007.com/Notorious%20B.I.G.%20Lyrics/Big%20Poppa%20Lyrics.html
This song reminds me of the decent people from the book:
Grits-Ooh Ahh
http://www.onlylyrics.com/song.php?id=30937
Into the Wild
Watching Into the Wild, directed by Sean Penn, was definitely an eye-opening experience. I did not admire Chris, the main character, but I did not disagree with his ideas of material things. It is very hard to decipher whether he was wrong or not. He did not belive in money and material things, which was a different view from what I am used to. Usually when someone decides they want to rid them selves of our corrupt society, they just donate money to a charity. They do not go as far as Chris went. To burn your own social security card so you cannot be found is mind boggling.
With that said, I do not respect what Chris did. I grew up in a loving family, my parents have their moments but they love each other and have never been violent towards each other. They also have never tried to put my younger brother and I against one or the other. Because of this I cannot fully understand the way Chris felt and the turmoil he had suffered. However, I believe he had a responsibility to his younger sister and he gave that up. He did not call her or write her a letter. To me I saw a boy who was fed up with his parents and wanted to be alone and not have to deal with anyone. The movie makes me wonder if in real life Chris ever considered what his sister might go through because of his disappearance. My feeling is that he was being selfish. All he cared about was finding happiness and he believed that he would find it in Alaska without anyone. However, accept for right before his death, the only times I saw him truly happy and smiling were when he was with others; the hippy couple, the criminal farmer, and the old man. For some reason he still needed to search. He ended up dying alone, and right before that he came to the realizaion that there can only be happiness when it is shared with others. I feel that it was a shame for him to have to find that out the hard way.
With that said, I do not respect what Chris did. I grew up in a loving family, my parents have their moments but they love each other and have never been violent towards each other. They also have never tried to put my younger brother and I against one or the other. Because of this I cannot fully understand the way Chris felt and the turmoil he had suffered. However, I believe he had a responsibility to his younger sister and he gave that up. He did not call her or write her a letter. To me I saw a boy who was fed up with his parents and wanted to be alone and not have to deal with anyone. The movie makes me wonder if in real life Chris ever considered what his sister might go through because of his disappearance. My feeling is that he was being selfish. All he cared about was finding happiness and he believed that he would find it in Alaska without anyone. However, accept for right before his death, the only times I saw him truly happy and smiling were when he was with others; the hippy couple, the criminal farmer, and the old man. For some reason he still needed to search. He ended up dying alone, and right before that he came to the realizaion that there can only be happiness when it is shared with others. I feel that it was a shame for him to have to find that out the hard way.
Sunday, November 4, 2007
crack cocaine and the new prison sentence
As of Friday, November 2, 2007 the prsion sentence for crack cocaine as been reduced from 10 years and one month to eight years and 10 months. A sentencing commission is deciding on November 13th whether or not the new guidlines will apply retroactively to about 19,500 prisoners. One of the main reasons for changing the sentence is because in a Supreme Court case in 2005, federal judges were allowed to apply lower sentences depending on the case. This caused a lost of credibility for United States Sentencing Commission. Now that this new sentence is in effect, there is an estimated reduction of 3,800 prisoners in the next 15 years.
The point of this article is it applies to the book Code of the Street. In this book, Elijah Anderson writes about deceny, street, and codes of inner cities. As one gets further into the book, he/she will see the enormous problem of the underground economy of drugs. These drugs include everything, however, the biggest one is crack cocaine. Men that cannot find jobs because of lack of resources and jobs turn to dealing crack cocaine and they persuade women to become hooked on it. These women then depend on the drug and do anything to get money. The begin to get involved with prostitution, steal money from their mothers, and spend all of their welfare checks on the drugs.
There are several problems with the lowering of the sentencing. There is also talk to eliminating a minimum of drugs found on a person to be arrested. There are different standards for whites and blacks, there always have been and unfortunately there probably always will be. I do not know the sentencing terms for regular cocaine, heroine, or marijuana. I do not think I am wrong though when I say that an uppermiddle class white man who deals or is caught with cocaine probably does less jail time than a black man who deals or uses crack cocaine. Whatever the terms are, by lowering the sentence, dealers of all kinds, white, black, Hispanic, or Asian, will be put back on the streets to deal drugs again. I am not saying that drug dealers should be put away for life, but there has to be a way to fight drugs more effectively and by getting rid of minimum amount to be arrested is not going to help. If this law is passed, federal prisons will overflow with violators. While it is important to try and keep jails filtered because they are overcroweded, it is more important to find more affective ways of providing jobs for the innercity population and to fight drugs.
The point of this article is it applies to the book Code of the Street. In this book, Elijah Anderson writes about deceny, street, and codes of inner cities. As one gets further into the book, he/she will see the enormous problem of the underground economy of drugs. These drugs include everything, however, the biggest one is crack cocaine. Men that cannot find jobs because of lack of resources and jobs turn to dealing crack cocaine and they persuade women to become hooked on it. These women then depend on the drug and do anything to get money. The begin to get involved with prostitution, steal money from their mothers, and spend all of their welfare checks on the drugs.
There are several problems with the lowering of the sentencing. There is also talk to eliminating a minimum of drugs found on a person to be arrested. There are different standards for whites and blacks, there always have been and unfortunately there probably always will be. I do not know the sentencing terms for regular cocaine, heroine, or marijuana. I do not think I am wrong though when I say that an uppermiddle class white man who deals or is caught with cocaine probably does less jail time than a black man who deals or uses crack cocaine. Whatever the terms are, by lowering the sentence, dealers of all kinds, white, black, Hispanic, or Asian, will be put back on the streets to deal drugs again. I am not saying that drug dealers should be put away for life, but there has to be a way to fight drugs more effectively and by getting rid of minimum amount to be arrested is not going to help. If this law is passed, federal prisons will overflow with violators. While it is important to try and keep jails filtered because they are overcroweded, it is more important to find more affective ways of providing jobs for the innercity population and to fight drugs.
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