I will stand up; I will help prevent.

Kathryn Whitted and David Dupper explain the ways to prevent bullying in “Best Practices for Preventing or Reducing Bullying in Schools”. They start out by giving what I think is the best definition of what bullying really is. “Bullying is the unprovoked physical or psychological abuse of an individual by one student or group of students over time to create an ongoing pattern of harassment and abuse”…”bullying can either be direct (verbal and physical aggression) or indirect (threats, insults, name calling, spreading rumors, writing hurtful graffiti,, or encouraging others not to play with a particular child)”. Although many other definitions include different types of bullying such as sexual bullying and racial bullying in my opinion it is all the same thing; bullying.

The consequences of bullying are not just seen by the victim, but also the bully, and the entire school community. Bullying victims can have long term, behavioral, emotional, and academic problems. They tend to have lower self esteem, feel more depressed, anxious, lonely, and insecure. It has been estimated that 160,000 students stay home each day from school in the United States alone due to fear. But its not just the victims that can experience consequences; bullies are at risk of social and emotional problems as well. They are likely to gravitate to other aggressive children and can potentially get involved in gangs and other delinquent activities. According to Whitted and Dupper “one study found that 60% of boys identified as bullies between the 6^th and 9^th grades had at least one criminal conviction by the age of 24 and 40% of these individuals had more than three arrests”. But we cannot leave out the witnesses to all of this bullying, because they are affected too. Bystanders tend to be intimidated and fearful that they may end up becoming the target of bullies. They could perform poorly in class due to their failure to focus on academic tasks.

                It is hard not to wonder what can be done. According to Whitted and Dupper the answer is bullying prevention programs which do more than just reach out one child; they seek to change the culture and climate of the school. It is important to involve multi level strategies that target bullies, victims, bystanders, families, and communities with intervention levels in the classroom, with teachers, and also with the students. The most common mistake that is made with these prevention programs is the implementation of them because of time constraints. However, according to Whitted and Dupper “modifications usually dilute the effectiveness of the intervention or in some cases the intervention results in no improvement at all”. They do a great job stressing how key these programs are, but also how important it is to use them effectively and to their fullest.

                Whitted and Dupper also brought up a great component that I thoroughly enjoyed; intervention strategies for school social workers. Being that I am going into social work to become a school social worker I found these strategies to be interesting and defiantly should be considered mandatory. They took a look at intervention in three steps; first being at the school level. This meant that there should be school wide rules that were explained in the classrooms that prohibit bullying and promote proper modeling of nonviolent behavior. Along with a set of rules, Whitted and Dupper suggested a written bullying prevention policy to be distributed to everyone in the school community. The policy would send a clear message that bullying incidents would be taken seriously. Finally, they suggested that a confidential reporting system should be put in place, so that students felt safe reporting if they were victims or if they were witnesses to any acts of bullying. Interventions at a classroom level were to be set to encourage teachers to include bullying prevention into their yearly curriculum. Whitted and Dupper say that “teachers can also involve the class in establishing and enforcing class rules against bullying”. Finally, student level interventions that would develop social competence by changing students’ knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs on bullying.

                I thought Whitted and Dupper did an excellent job of explain all the basics of bullying. What I found the most interesting were the points they made on the role that school social workers should play. As I have mentioned before, my sister is a victim of bullying. She has been bullied for the past couple of years at school, yet it continues to be an ongoing problem. As Sheri Bauman and Adrienne Del Rio mention in “Knowledge and Beliefs about Bullying in Schools” “the evidence is strong that, despite their claims to the contrary, teachers do not intervene effectively when students inform them of bullying problems”. This comment is clearly true; as my sister will tell you herself. The school has been informed of the issue, but clearly the problem has not been solved. Bauman and Del Rio also discuss like Whitted and Dupper how school bullying can negatively affect the school climate; which then distracts students from learning, since they cannot focus and feel unsafe. But unlike Whitted and Dupper, Bauman and Del Rio make a point to say “the response of teachers and other school staff to bullying has been ‘at best, disappointing’”.

                I find it hard to explain what it is like to watch my sister go through the struggles of being bullied. But what I can explain is my internal anger that I have toward the school system to fail to do anything to stop it. It is clear through every article that I have read that bullying exists. Bullying exists in every single school, and without prevention programs it will not go away. Innocent children will continue to feel the need to take their own lives if something is not done. My hope is that by the constant discussion of bullying something will start to change. Until then, I will continue to advocate for those innocent children who have become too victimized to speak up for themselves. 

-Rachel Forrester

Works Cited

 Bauman, Sheri, and Adrienne Del Rio. "Knowledge and Beliefs about Bullying in Schools." School Psychology International 4.26 (2005): 428-42. Esearch. Web. 15 Apr. 2012.

Whitted, Kathryn S., and David R. Dupper. "Best Practices for Preventing or Reducing Bullying in Schools." Children & Schools 27.3: 167-76. Esearch. Web. 15 Apr. 2012.