Bullying - Stop It

Before reading on, please take a moment to watch this video. President Uchtdorf puts it well when he says: "when it comes to hating, gossiping, ignoring, ridiculing, holding grudges, or wanting to cause harm—stop it!"

Together we can work to put an end to bullying!

What is Bullying?

Nothing says enjoy your school cafeteria food like hearing the words “Move it whale!”  For Krysten Moore this became the melody of her lunchtime experience.  Unfortunately, it didn’t end there.  Krysten was pushed into lockers, stalked online and lied to. She was also manipulated to tell personal stories which were later used against her and then “websites were created posting false and crude remarks about her” (STOMP Out Bullying).  Krysten Moore is one of many students who experienced bullying in school.  It’s time for schools to fight back, create awareness and have zero tolerance.

Types of Bullying:

Emotional: Emotional abuse is any of abuse that is emotional rather than physical in nature. It can include anything from verbal abuse and constant criticism to more subtle tactics, such as intimidation, manipulation, and refusal to ever be pleased. 

Physical: Physical bulling occurs when a person uses overt bodily acts to gain power over peers. Physical bullying can include kicking, punching, hitting or other physical attacks.

Verbal: Verbal bullying is saying or writing mean things. Verbal bullying includes: Teasing, name-calling, inappropriate sexual comments, taunting, threatening to cause harm 

Social: Social bullying, sometimes referred to as relational bullying, involves hurting someone’s reputation or relationships. Social bullying includes: Leaving someone out on purpose, telling other children not to be friends with someone, spreading rumors about someone, embarrassing someone in public​

Prevention of Bullying [part 1]

Statistics show that “1 in 4 teachers see nothing wrong with bullying and will only intervene 4% of the time”(dosomething.org). These awe striking figures most certainly show us that this is not just an “at home” project. Bullying is something that should not be taken lightly and it should be focused on throughout our lives and in all of our doings.

         The best way to solve the problem of bullies on school grounds is to allow teachers to intervene but to make sure they understand what to do when intervening. This solution is the best because it brings an indifferent third party into the argument. If the teacher knows how to properly handle the situation they can talk through the problem with both the bully and the victim in order to understand the situation as a whole. The largest cost of teacher intervention is upset parents who feel that the teacher should not get involved in a situation. The benefit of a teachers involvement is being able to better understand why their students have made the decisions they have. If the teacher ends up discovering that their student is having trouble at home and they can help that definitely outweighs the cost of upset parents.

Prevention of Bullying [part 2]

A Teachers Guideline For Harmony

1. Be aware

2. Intervene the situation

3. Enlist help; ask other teachers, counselors, principles, staff members and maybe even other students. The more that know, the more they watch for others.

4. Ask the students why and what you can do to change their actions.

5. Do NOT stop. Keep watching, helping, and intervening.