Bullying As we know, bullying is a one of the problem that occurs around us ever

yday and everywhere. People do experience some sort of bullying in their lives,
whether they are the victim or even that they are the bully. In this essay, I wi
ll focus on the causes and effects of bullying in the school environment. But wh
at exactly is bullying? Well, there are several ways to define what is bullying.
Bullying can be described as repeated negative events that occur over time; dir
ected at a special individual and carried out by one or even several people. Bul
lying is an act of aggression causing embarrassment, pain, or discomfort to anot
her person. It¶s an abuse of power that can either be planned or unintentional. In
bullying, there is a clear imbalance of power. Bullying is basically anything t
hat makes a person feel hurt, whether it is physical or psychological. No matter
if it is physical or psychological, bullying is wrong. There are two types of b
ullying. The first type is indirect bullying, which i ncludes intentionally reje
cting or freezing someone out of a group. The second type is direct bullying. Th
ere are three categories of direct bullying--physical bullying, verbal bullying,
and bullying themself. Physical bullying includes pushing, shoving, hitting, ki
cking, stealing, and so on. Verbal bullying includes mockery, taunting, name-cal
ling, verbal threats of violence, and so on. When you bully yourself, it usually
includes emotional abuse. Telling yourself that you¶re fat or ugly is an example
of bullying yourself. These types of bullying occur everywhere, but the most com
mon place where bullying occurs is at school. Why is the school environment so v
ulnerable to bullying? Therefore ,I will discuss where and why it occurs in the
school environment, as well as the effects it has and how society can prevent bu
llying in this essay. Also, I will describe the common characteristics of bullie
s and victims as well. Bullies are those people who like to hurt, threaten, frig
hten, or control the other people. Bullies are always angry, upset, jealous, agg
ressive, insensitive, and cruel. They are usually lack of self-confidence and ga
in confidence and feel powerful just by controlling the others. Normally ,bullie
s think that being hurtful and frightening is okay. They have little empathy for
their victims and derive satisfaction from inflicting injury and suffering on o
thers. They defend their actions by saying that their victim provoked them in so
me way. Other characteristics of a bully include being defiant or oppositional t
owards adults, with a tendency to break school rules. They¶re antisocial and have
little anxiety. Having a positive attitude about violence and being steered by i
mpulses are some other traits often found in a bully. Although bullies seems to
have very high self-esteem, under their aggressive surface they are actually ins
ecure and have very low self-esteem. Children aren¶t necessarily always the bullie
s. Also, men and women, of all ages, can both be bullies. Bullies often don¶t know
any good ways of dealing with their problems and/or their parents fight instead
of discussing their problems. They often come from homes where physical punishm
ent is used or the parents have taught their children to strike back physically
as a way to handle problems. Usually parental involvement and warmth are frequen
tly lacking.
Victims can also be anybody, male or female, and can be of any age. But how do v
ictims get picked? They could be anyone who¶s either just in the wrong place at th
e wrong time or anyone who¶s regarded as a ³loser.´ In general, there are two types of
victims: passive victims and resistant victims. In passive victims, there is an
acute sense of personal threat, which in most cases is followed by a strong emo
tional reaction of anxiety, panic, anger, fear, and/or humiliation. Passive vict
ims seek to get away, cry, hide, and perhaps become severely despondent. On the
other hand, in resistant victims there will be a sense of threat, unease, and ma
ybe fear. The bullying is seen in a different light. It¶s seen as a challenge to b
e met. Resistant victims may think of escaping, fighting back, acting nonchalant
ly, seeking help, or even distracting the bully. Although passive victims and re
sistant victims may react differently to bullying, they share the same qualities
and characteristics. Victims of bullying are shy, timid, afraid, unassertive, l
acking in confidence, and people who allow others to control them. They¶re anxious
, insecure, and cautious. Victims are usually smaller, weaker, and/or younger th
an their bullies. The school environment is seen as frightening of unfriendly to
many victims. They lack social skills and therefore, find it hard to make frien
ds. Victims suffer from low self-esteem and rarely defend themselves in a bullyi
ng situation. Another characteristic is being seen as ³different.´ Being different i
ncludes being overweight, wearing glasses, or even being gay. They could simply
be the victim because they¶re new to the town or to the school. Victims are usuall
y people who are late developers, which means that their bodies haven¶t changed or
developed yet. They are often clumsy and bad at sports. Also, they have a negat
ive self-image. People could be the victims of bullying because of their family
life. Their family could be either very well off or even the extreme opposite, b
adly off. This could be a factor of who or who doesn¶t gets bullied. Also, a victi
m could be bullied because their parents are the focus of public attention. For
instance, a kid gets bullied at school because his dad is in jail. Victims are o
ften socially isolated and therefore, are close to their parents. Victims¶ parents
could just simply be overprotective of their son or daughter. As mentioned earl
ier, the most common place where bullying occurs is at school. The ³hot spots´ at sc
hool for bullying are in the classroom, on the playground or halls during breaks
, and on the way to and from the school. People often wonder why these ³hot spots´ o
ccur. The many factors that contribute to bullying may explain why bullying occu
rs more often in certain places than in others. Many people think that the size
of the class has an effect on the amount of bullying that happens in the classro
om. According to studies, neither the school size nor the class size has any sig
nificance for creating an environment where bullying occurs. There¶s no proof that
a highly populated school suffers from more bullying than a sparsely populated
school. Other factors that people believe affect the amount of bullying are poor
grades or failing in school. In fact, these factors don¶t seem to influence the l
ikelihood of bullying. Factors, such as the family¶s economic status, are also not
believed to make any difference as to who is bullied or who does the bullying.
One factor that seems to diminish the vast amount of bullying that goes on, is w
hether or not an adult is near during breaks or anytime bullying could occur.
Bullying causes problems that can carry into adulthood both for the victims and
the bullies. Bullying tends to increase some students¶ isolation. Their peers don¶t
want to lose status by associating with the bullies. Also, they don¶t want to incr
ease the risk of being bullies themselves. Bullying has a major impact on the vi
ctims¶ lives. Some victims commit suicide or run away from home. Some victims suff
er from depression and stress. People who are bullied often refuse to go to scho
ol and find it hard to trust anyone ever again. When the victims get older, they
often have difficulty forming relationships. Roughly 7% of America¶s eighth-grade
rs stay home at least once a month because of bullying. The bullies are affected
by bullying too. They seem to maintain their behaviors into adulthood, negative
ly influencing their ability to develop and maintain positive relationships. App
roximately 60% of bullies in grades six to nine had at least one criminal convic
tion by age 24. How do we, as a society, decrease the amount of bullying that go
es on? Especially since teachers and parents are generally unaware of the extent
of the problem. Also, other children are either reluctant to get involved or si
mply don¶t know how to help. We need to: develop whole-school bullying policies; i
mplement extra-curricular activities; improve school ground environment; peer co
unselling; assertiveness training; and provide interventions at the school, clas
s, and individual levels. Prevention of bullying needs to happen at the school,
in class, and at the individual level. As well, bullying can be prevented at hom
e. At the school level there needs to be better supervision of the students¶ activ
ities, an attractive outdoor environment, contact phones for the students and th
e parents, and teacher groups. In the classroom there are many things teachers a
nd students can do. They can make class rules against bullying and have activiti
es that encourage well-being. In the classroom, frequent class councils, co-oper
ative learning, and meetings between the teachers, parents, and students can hel
p to prevent bullying. Teachers or other authorities can have serious discussion
s with the bully to reduce the amount of bullying that occurs. Any other individ
ual can offer protection to the victim. The victim could simply change to a new
class or school. At home, discussion groups can be formed for parents, bullies,
and victims. Also, conversations and meeting can be held between the school pers
onnel and the parents. There are many other ways to reduce the risk of bullying.
A physically attractive and stimulating school environment seems to reduce the
risk of bullying. A school environment which has a lot of involvement from adult
s, many positive interests, and warmth, would have less bullying occur than non-
attractive schools. Anti-bullying programs, such as parental awareness campaigns
and interventions with the bullies and victims, are also effective. Another way
to prevent bullying is to stop the bully itself. There are three approaches to
treating a bully. The first approach is the moralistic approach. It requires tha
t the student conforms to the values of the school. The second approach, the leg
alistic approach, assumes a set of rules, which the bully is expected to be fami
liar with. The last approach implies listening and establishing two-way communic
ation as an essential element in bringing about change, not only in the bully¶s be
havior, but also in the bully¶s way of thinking and feeling. This is called the hu
manistic approach. In conclusion, I think bullying is a very serious problem and
I think it can be stopped altogether. I have learned many things about bullying
, mostly about the prevention of bullying, and I can¶t believe how easy it would b
e to stop bullying. I¶ve been through bullying, both as a victim and a bully, and
I think it¶s very wrong and hurtful to bully others. I just hope that people every
where can learn to be less tolerant towards bullying in general. I think it woul
d be great to live in a world where people don¶t have to worry about what is going
to happen to them, but achieving this would take more than just me.