Running Head: ON CAMPUS BULLYING

On Campus Bullying
Dana J. Hernandez
University of Texas at El Paso
Professor Kinley
English 1302: Rhetoric and Composition

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On Campus Bullying

Bullying has been an issue on the rise for years. Students, both young and old,
have self harmed and even committed suicide due to continuous acts of verbal,
emotional, mental and physical bullying. With children spending most of their days
within a school environment, it is very easy for many to become a victim of bullying. The
education system has taken action against this ongoing issue in order to make a safer
environment for any student who walks through their doors. However, how effective are
their anti-bullying campaigns? Are they resolving the issue or just bringing light to what
it is and what should be done? There are two very effective genres that are used daily in
order to address the fight against bullying within school grounds. Alison DeNiscos
(2013) news article Are schools doing enough to stop bullying addresses a young boys
suicide due to bullying and what Greenwich schools are doing to both prevent and
address bullying. The Bullying Experiment is a YouTube video filmed on a college
campus with the intent to see how many students would really stand up for someone
who was being bullied right in front of them. Though both genres have different styles of
delivering and addressing issues, they are both effective and used daily.
Audience
The first genre, is a news article titled Are schools doing enough to stop bullying
a news article published October 2013 by Alison DeNisco. The main purpose for this
article is to inform its audience of the procedures that need to take place when
administration is dealing with bullying. The second genre, The Bullying Experiment is
a short video posted on YouTube December 1, 2013 by the fouseyTube channel. The
intended audience for the news update is the people of Greenwich, Connecticut. Though

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bullying is an international issue, the sole cause for this article began with the suicide of
a local boy due to endless years of bullying. Therefore, the audience is well aware that
bullying can lead to suicide along with self harm and is then in search for a possible
solution and action taking place within the school system. The targeted audience of The
Bullying Experiment is the general public, though certain features such as the college
campus indicate that it would want to draw the attention of young adults. Students
throughout their many years in school are taught they should avoid being a bystander
and be the voice for a victim of bullying. This being said, the audience already knows the
seriousness of bullying and not turning away when witnessing it, the video then
challenges every day casualties and pushes them to realize why they should speak out. In
both genres, the audience not only needs to be aware of; wants to see action taking
place. In the news article, people want to know that their children are in a safe
environment; where there are responsible adults that will take care of them should they
experience an encounter with a bully. In the short video, both the audience and the
makers of the video need to know that they are in a world where people will stand up for
one another rather than looking the other way and ignoring physical, verbal, mental
and/or emotional bullying.
Though both genres have an effective style of delivering information to the
general public, they have a vast difference in the amount of time their audience uses
searching through them. For instance, because the first genre is typography, the
audience may spend a larger amount of time reading through the articles diaries or
documents in addition to this, a huge key factor is how good of a reader the audience
member is. Should they have trouble with staying focus and keeping up with the

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terminology, the reader may skim, take a large amount of time or give up and move on
to the next thing. With bullying being such a big issue, the article aims not to be short
and brief but rather detailed and straight to the point. On the other hand, the second
genre consists of a faster pace, dealing with videos, webcasts, posters and visuals in
general. This makes it easier to catch and maintain the audiences attention. If a person
does not want to take the time to sit and read through an article, they can search for
videos or webcast on the same subject and retrieve the information they were searching
for faster and more efficiently. Along with this, when listening and viewing a video,
photograph or webcast, the person has some type of interaction going on, thus requiring
more focus and attention.
Both styles of genre have the intent to inform their viewer of the current issues.
Both types of genres can deliver information in an informative, persuasive and or
entertaining manner. Determining the purpose for each depends on the topic being
discussed at that time. In the news article, the sole purpose was to not only inform the
public of a tragic even but to also address the action that is being taken in order to
prevent or decrease any other occurrences of that sort. The short video was made more
with the intention of informing their audience the importance and reality of being a
bystander to bullying. Both genres, however, did not really carry any particular
characteristics that made them stand out from the rest or grab the audience attention
with one glance. The attention was drawn in more and more as the viewer read and
watched each of the genres. With this being said, both genres did obtain their own style
of vocabulary and terminology used in order to stay credible and factual.

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In the first genre, the vocabulary was that of the school system, stating rules and
protocols that had to be taken by administration. In the second genre, because it was a
social experiment, the vocabulary and terminology was very casual and informal. For
instance, the way each person responded, because it was their first reaction, they used
their every day terminology such as repeatedly saying Hey or Stop. There was no
editing or retake of each response in order to make the language more professional.
Rhetorical Issues
Both genres have certain characteristics that place the elements of ethos, pathos,
and logos within their delivery of information. The second genre however, uses more
varied rhetorical appeals than the first. The first genre, as stated earlier, was made with
the main purpose of informing their audience of set information. The second genre on
the other hand, was made to evoke numerous traits of pathos through both direct and
indirect delivery.
In the first genre, the administration stated that the all teachers and staff must
follow a specific protocol when witnessing or hearing acts of bullying. As enforced by
Greenwich Public Schools, teachers must notify the principle immediately and follow up
with a written report. In the parents are then notified and offered a consent form that
will then allow the school to do further investigation. The genre established its
credibility by explaining the several steps that need to be taken when dealing with
bullying cases. The second genre, the by standers display their own credibility by the
way they reacted toward the situation. Going into the experiment, there were no
expectations or standards as to how the people would respond. In order to get the
natural response from nearby people, they were not informed that there was a hidden

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camera filming them. This then makes the credibility of each response more personal for
the by stander and the audience viewing the video.
The news article piece did not have the intention to provoke any emotion from
their audience but rather focus on informing people of the solution being applied. The
one emotion that may have been extracted from the audience is concern. Bullying has
become such a serious issue among young and older students; it is very difficult for
parents to feel their children are safe both in and out of school. Along with this, it raises
the question of whether or not parents really know what is going on in their childs life.
Social media played a key role in the news article, influencing it to advise that both
parents and administration should have some type of access to the students lives in
cyber space. The short experiment however, draws out numerous emotions from their
audience in order to inform them the importance of taking action. By using random
people with in knowledge of the experiment, the audience receives the full experience of
how it is not only to see someone being bullied but how it would feel to both defend and
turn away from a situation of that sort. In addition to this, the audience is left reflecting
upon their own character and what would be their response would be should they ever
come across any form of bullying.
In the first form of genre, terminology is used to display logos. The way this is
shown is beginning with a general case, which was the suicide of a young Greenwich boy
who experienced years and years of bullying. By bringing attention to this unfortunate
event, the writer grasps the attention of their audience. Bullying is already a serious
ongoing issue and parents want to make sure their children are safe when sending off to
school every day. Along with this, evidence is stated by listing the protocol that is taken

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when teachers or administration witnesses any act of bullying. In the second genre,
because it was a social experiment, there is little to no logos being used. Instead, there is
a larger amount of pathos and ethos formed throughout the video.
Structure and Delivery
Though both genres are continuously used, the information and intentions of
each form is done in very different ways. In the first genre, its information is organized
by cause, effect, action and future ways of solution. The writer was sure to state the
future plans the school system had in order to keep their students safe. In the second
genre, because it was a social experiment there was no factual or intentional information
given. Because the second genre is in the form of the video, the audience is more likely
to sit and watch till the very end. Along with this, the experiment was used to show first
and real life responses of people toward bullying, this then grasps and hold the audience
attention.
Conclusion
Both genres have their own way of addressing the issue at hand. The first genre is
more formal and supports what schools are doing to prevent bullying through factual
evidence. The second genre, because it was a short video, had an informal way of
delivering information to their audience. Along with this, the second not only informed
the viewers but used pathos to create various emotions, including self reflection of
oneself. Each genre has their own way of delivering information to the public but both
share one thing in common: they are taking the time to inform the public of the issue
and push for change.

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References

DeNisco, A. (2013). Are schools doing enough to stop bullying. District Administration
Retrieved from http://www.districtadministration.com/article/are-schools-doingenough-stop-bullying

Erakat, Y.S.(2013 October) The Bullying Experiment [Video File] Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EisZTB4ZQxY