By: Deeban Fernandez Dec/12/12
Essay: What Is Worth Fighting For? Stop Bullying
"Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one's definition of your life; define yourself. " Harvey Fierstein
According to the National Education Association, it is estimated that 160,000 children miss school every day due to fear of attack or intimidation by other students. These children are victims of bullying. Bullying can take many forms. A main characteristic of bullying is the need to gain control over their victims. Bullies can gain control over others through physical force or threats, verbal teasing, and exclusion from peers. The school community and the society can stop bullying through education initiatives about the negative effects of bullying as bullying is detrimental to a one’s well-being and development.
In schools, children must be taught to identify bullying, and express their feelings to trusted adults including parents,teachers and counselors at an early age. Starting from pre-school, children should be taught how to identify bullying and how it affects them, their friends and the school. In many schools, bullying and effects of bullying are not taught as a subject but are incorporated in the lessons. Because of age, very young children are shown pictures about appropriate behavior. They discuss these pictures with the teachers. In the library, the librarian reads books about bullying because adults know that bullying can cause a lot of emotional and physical pain. Older children however, read books and discuss the negative effects of bullying in the classroom and with their counselors. Sometimes, teachers choose books about bullying for class reading. An example of a book is ‘Shadow of the Minotaur’. The purpose is to expose and educate children about teenage life and negative impact of bullying and how to overcome bullying. At the playground and in the canteen, students should know that bullying is unacceptable behavior. The Canadian Bullying Statistics reports that bullying occurs once every 7 minutes on the playground and once every 25 minutes in the classroom. ‘I had a hard time with bullying. I ate lunch in the bathroom’. Julianne Hough. Some school children are probably in these or similar situations. Bullied children can suffer from low self-esteem and grow up into insecure adults or become bullies themselves. School children who are victims of bullying can be found all over the world. Some of them do not do anything about bullying because they have probably accepted bullying as part of life, not been taught how to handle bullying or cannot approach adults for help. From small, adults should teach children about good social values so that they can take care of themselves, take care of others and take care of the environment.
The media is always publishing news about cases of student bullying ranging from verbal abuse to gruesome physical attacks that can sometimes cause death or force the victims to commit suicide. Students in higher learning centers, such as colleges and university face bullying due to peer pressure. We read some disturbing news headlines about bullying such as ‘Bullied Teen Shoots Himself In Front of Peers’, ‘Teen Attacked by Bullies” and ‘ Bullycide: A Father’s Heart-Wrenching Letter to His Son’s Tormentors’ almost on a daily basis. In the first instance, the teenager could have handled the situation better by knowing what to do when bullied instead of becoming a victim and committing suicide. Another scenario can take place at the field. A new student can be peer pressured to join or support a group of students who are misbehaving. If the student walks away the student may be in danger of being bullied. In the process of socialization, students form many types of relationships. One relationship is a romantic relationship which can attract unwanted attention from bullies who may hurt the boy or girl because of jealousy. Many Western movies and books about teenagers center around relationships and bullying. Class of 1984 and School Ties are some examples of such movies. Books such as Diary of the Wimpy Kid and Destroying Avalon describe peer relationships and bullying. Besides watching non fiction movies and playing on the internet, teenagers could watch educational movies and read books about life issues and how to handle them. Some the information about bullying can be an eye-opener for some students who are being bullied. Adults such as counselors and lectures are not usually around when incidences of bullying occur. All students must be aware of the support systems that are offered at the school. Students must be taught to follow rules and respect the rights and feelings of others. They should also spend their time wisely and avoid dangerous situations.
We often hear incidences of bullying in the society due to gender bias. Women are more vulnerable to bullying than men at the workplace. At the workplace, workers sometimes complain about being treated unfairly or differently because of gender bias. Gender bias is a preference or prejudice toward one gender over the other. Bias can manifest in many ways, both subtle and obvious. Women who are bullied usually experience the more subtle type of bullying. These women often feel helpless or frustrated. Usually female workers or staff experience sexual harassment from their male superiors. The males are usually powerful people who are in-charge of paying the employees or promoting them. Although they have sound education and qualifications, women continue to face discrimination at the workplace. They often have to prove their worth or are not taken seriously by their male bosses. Women often have to fight for equal rights and equal pay. In the corporate world, some people get special or immediate attention while others are ignored due to gender bias. According to http://smallbusiness.chron.com/ women are often relegated to low-paying, clerical and administrative jobs, while men are often placed on career tracks that promise upward mobility and career advancement. From this information, it can be argued hat bullying happens to women at the workplace because of gender difference. Women are seen as weak and incapable beings by some male employers. Sometimes, women are paid less than men for the same work that they do. Bullying in the form of sexual harassment and gender inequality is serious. In the adult world creating awareness and education about these is probably not enough to stop bullying from happening. Victims must feel comfortable to report sexual harassment and be protected under law. Stern action must be taken against bullies who deny job opportunities to women purely because of gender difference.
Bullying is a complex human issue. As civilized humans, we can put a stop to bullying by making the public become more knowledgeable about the debilitating effects of bullying on one’s mental well-being. Bullying is killing our kids. Being different is killing our kids and the kids who are bullying are dying inside. We have to save our kids whether they are bullied or they are bullying. They are all in pain’- Cat Cora
