Popularity and the power of struggles in the school systems is a very important attribute. The way society has been viewed for a long time now shows bullying as an image of the big kid ragging on a child who is a lot smaller. More recently in schools you see mean girls and bullying involved with girls as well as boys. A lot of the reasons a child bullies is because of the way they look or act. Usually the bullies are more popular than the one who is actually getting bullied. There has been many instances in the news where popularity played a huge role in bullying cases. If these cases are no addressed they can become extremely dangerous.
The self-esteem levels in children should not be taken lightly. The children doing the bullying usually has a higher self-esteem than the one who is being bullied. Usually this child that is being bullied has a lot less self-esteem than essentially everyone else. The reason for this could be they feel helpless. When a child is being bullied they feel as though they cant do anything to stop it because they are so small in the situation. It is critical to monitor self-esteem levels with children because it can tell you a lot.
The bullying golden rule of three strikes is critical. If a child is reported in three different situations as bullying they are labeled as a bully. This is so important to be accurate with bullying incidents because some situations may not even be a type of bullying and the child may have just been defending himself or a friend. These "chances" the child who is being the bully gets before they are actually addressed as a bully give them a change to realize its wrong or actually realize they made a mistake. They could have had a bad day and the outcome is bullying that they regret doing later. If this attribute is dealt with in the school system by teachers and faculty, bullying instances could start to decrease in that specific school system.
Informational Knowledge- It is important for the students to
know and understand the definition and the outcomes of bullying. The Merriam
Webster dictionary defines it as, “a blustering
browbeating person; especially:
one habitually cruel to others who are weaker” (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bully)
It is important for students to understand why bullying happens and the effects
that it has on one’s self esteem. Some reasons that students are bullied
revolve around physical attributes (self-esteem issues), personal preferences,
or just to make one feel inferior (popularity issues). There are two ways to
bully someone, face to face and cyber bullying. It is important to understand
that it is hurtful whether someone is making fun of you to your face or through
electronics.
Procedural Knowledge- This would be used to indicate and bring action to an anti-bullying system in which promotes self-esteem. There are many ways to incorporate an anti-bullying system in every school. Some schools have signs that are posted throughout the schools that contain a list of rules in which the children have made, you can have a discussion group on which children can discuss their experiences of either being bullied or being the bully, creating or signing petitions, or a buddy system. These are ways to actively involve the students with the issue to help promote ways to minimize bullying. Also, having a program that promotes self-esteem could influence a decrease in bullying. It would help these students feel more confident with themselves which overall would reduce the chances for bullying.
Concepts of Bullying to Understand
- Who is a Bully?
- Bullies are people that are habitually mean to others on purpose. As stated before, bullies get 3 strikes before they are considered a bully.
- Types of Bullying
- Cyber Bullying- through the computer, telephone, anything virtual where the bullying is not occurring in person
- Direct- being mean to someone in person
- Indirect- excluding someone on purpose but not directly saying or being mean
- Most Bullies have an underling issue for why they are bullying others, giving them attention and working with them to change can help prevent them from bullying others
For our service learning service project we are considering doing a service learning binder. We want to put together a binder that will have some good resources to turn to if you are being bullied or know of a bullying incident that is going on. We want to have a variety of areas that children feel they can go to. One of the places we would like to make connections and start contact sheets with is the North Reading School Districts Bullying Prevention and Intervention Program. The Wakefield School Districts Bullying Policies. We will also contact the Bullying Prevention School Assembaly Program to learn more information about the "Choose Character Over Bullying" Assemblies they hold at elementary and middle schools.
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