Bullying is aggressive behavior between children in schools. No matter if the child is bully or bullied one, both are in danger of developing various mental health problems. It is imperative that people work together on solving this everlasting problem that is plaguing elementary, middle and high schools. There are three types of bullying. Physical, social and verbal. Physical includes any kind of physical contact that is unwanted by the bullied person. Social refers to degrading someone by using other people around them or by blackmailing a person so that you would show something to classmates. Verbal abuse is name calling, teasing, threatening to harm someone and saying pretty much anything that agitates in any way.

Every type of bullying is unacceptable and causes some mental problems that may occur later on in life. This problem should seriously be taken care of, as bullying facts and statistics are spine chilling.

The ability to learn

One of the things that is affected by bullying is a student’s ability to learn. As being bullied causes lower self-esteem and self-confidence, children do not want to spend their time learning as their main problem is how to get out of the bullying chain. Over time, the bullied person’s self-worth diminishes which is a trigger for depression or even suicidal behavior. This leads to the other problems – no doubt about that.

Health

Both bullies and bullied children are in great risk of developing mental health problems later on in life. Bullies develop violent behavior that follows them throughout their whole lives. They are at greater risk of abusing drugs and alcohol as adults. They often get into fights and vandalize property and are therefore at greater risk of facing time in a correctional facility. They are therefore at risk of developing depression and anxiety.

They are also at risk of dropping out of school as the frequency of skipping classes starts to increase. What is even more disappointing is that bullying victims are likely to skip school as well and they are also at risk of developing depression and anxiety. What these kids do not realize is that they can easily put an end to bullying instead of simply just witnessing it.

Bystanders

An interesting statistics implies that, when a bystander interferes on the side of the bullied person in every second case the bullying immediately stops. This means that they should stop witnessing bullying but work harder at interfering in order to prevent these awful situations. What is more important is that the school as an institution should recognize this kind of behavior as positive and award pupils who have successfully prevented bullying from occurring. Schools should provide encouragement to students who are ready to interfere in order to stop an act of bullying. More than two thirds of students recognize that schools are trying poorly. This indicates that there should be far more engagement on all fronts.

Statistics

There are some numbers which call for action as soon as possible:

  • There are 3.2 million students that suffer bullying every year
  • Only every fourth teacher perceives bullying as a problem and is ready to intervene once in twenty bullying situations
  • One in five students report bullying two to three times per week
  • Sadly, 9 out of 10 students, 4th through 8th grade, report that they were victims of bullying

What is defeating is the fact that 1 in every 10 students even drop out of school due to the constant bullying they experience. All these numbers indicate the seriousness of the situation.

As this is a very important problem that is present in most schools, it is essential to prevent this from happening in every school possible. Steps that every school should take is to include various community members. Law enforcement can be very helpful as well as religious organizations and community action groups. But, it is important that these problems can be easily solved by parents. As they are very busy, some children feel neglected and it is essential that they steer their kids to the right path. Another key point is the involvement of teachers who have to open students’ minds and raise their awareness on how to avoid conflict. With everyone in the community focusing on this issue, it will be successfully eradicated.

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