Taking on bullies
By : 12/2/2009
Lower Dauphin junior Elizabeth Rockwell sees bullying on a daily basis in the halls of her high school.
While the bullying in high school differs from the verbal put-downs of her middle school days, she said it is still disturbing knowing that so many kids are bullies and so many others are the targets.
“From what I see, a lot of people send mean text messages and sometimes threats,” she said. “It happens to both boys and girls here. In some cases, I think students have only known bullying in their lives – maybe from home too – so they end up doing it at school. Other times, I just think they have nothing better to do.”
What Rockwell describes is common among middle and high schools nationwide. While verbal bullying is common in middle school, Rockwell describes seeing more fistfights in the halls of the high school.
In middle school girls could join clubs that promoted self-esteem, but in high school students wouldn’t want to join a club like that, she said.
“A lot of people who do get bullied don’t want to tell anyone,” Rockwell said. “It makes them feel like they can’t handle it on their own, or like they are a snitch.”
Can bullies be stopped?
Whether it is a toddler being pushed down by another on the playground, a teenager teasing another, or a co-worker using scare tactics in an office setting – bullying occurs at all ages.
Rockwell said Lower Dauphin High School doesn’t provide anti-bullying clubs, but she said there are good support groups, including Fellowship of Christian Athletes and the Gay-Straight Alliance.
“The best part about those two groups is that there is no committing to anything. They are just there to help you tolerate things,” she said. “People just need to understand that words can really hurt. It doesn’t matter if you are just joking – if the person you are talking to doesn’t like what you are saying, then you need to stop.”
School districts are required to have anti-bullying programs in all schools, but it still occurs. The suicide death of a 15-year-old Middletown Area Middle School student last spring was widely believed to be linked to bullying.
The death shocked the community and prompted educators throughout the district to step up its vigilance against schoolyard bullies.
Middletown Area High School Superintendent Richard Weinstein said the district provides counseling for individuals and groups, as well as classroom instruction to help students deal with difficult issues.
“Each elementary school has a team of teachers and counselors that have been trained in the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program,” Weinstein said. “These elementary teams will train other teachers.”
The program shows teachers and staff how to identify bullying, intervene, and report the behavior, he said. An important component of the program is the class meeting, when teachers meet with small groups of students. It is here, Weinstein said, that students get the chance to talk about their concerns and develop strategies to handle situations they may encounter.
What to look for
Bullying takes different forms depending on whether it’s a boy or a girl, said Jim Hazen, spokesman for the Lower Dauphin School District, and the programs they use try to reflect that.
Boys generally bully with their fists, but in the case of girls, it is more subtle, girls tend to bully with words and snubbing of other students, he said.
Students may not tell their parents what is happening, but there will be signs to look for, Hazen said. Some children retreat into themselves. Some try to control other parts of their lives, such as what they eat, to feel their lives are not out of control, he said.
“If parents are concerned that their child is being bullied, or even if they hear about another child being bullied, they should
report it to the principal, teacher or guidance counselor immediately,” said Hazen. “Any time there is an incident, we treat it very seriously.”
In any case, the school district will step in to help improve matters between students. Students are also encouraged to step in when they see bullying happen. Clubs and organizations are in place to help students stand up to bullies.
One of those programs is Club Ophelia, which targets middle school girls.
The club uses peers and adults to work through bullying issues.
In addition, counselors, administrators and the schools’ resource officer are all available to help students at any time, Middletown Area’s Weinstein said.
“They are available to address issues of bullying that may occur in the high school,” he said. “Additionally, the “Link Crew,” consisting of approximately 50 upper classmen, mentor small groups of ninth-grade students.”
Building relationships
MAHS also uses so-called Homeroom Advisory Groups, a mixture of students from all grades, who stay together throughout the four-year time in school.
The program is designed to build positive and supportive relationships among students, Weinstein said.
“Bullying can happen in any setting at any time. It isn’t just one age group’s issue – it’s a societal thing that we all have to be aware of,” Hazen said.
Cheryl Dellasega, founder of Club Ophelia and a Penn State women’s studies professor, said bullying has evolved from the playground days of pushing. Today, bullying has stormed the Internet and takes on many forms. People of all ages are using the Internet to vent their frustrations and take out their anger, she said. This can be seen on any blog, or in the comments section of local newspapers.
Girls who are teased at school, may go home and post rumors about the aggressor on their personal blogs, she said. They start a rumor campaign that goes out to a worldwide group. Young people don’t realize how powerful posting something on the Internet can be, Dellasega said.
Web attacks
Gwen McIntosh, a pediatrician with the American Family Children’s Hospital and an associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, said the broader reach of bullies via the Internet and social networking sites can also broaden the pain caused by the words. It gives bullies an unlimited audience, she said.
“It used to be what happened in your school, stayed in your school,” McIntosh said. “But with electronic media such as Facebook and e-mail, something that happened at school can be splashed across the Internet, giving it national publicity.
Bullying has taken on a different role and victims are more vulnerable to a much bigger population.”
A survey conducted by the National Youth Violence Prevention Resource Center found that 13 percent of students in sixth through tenth grades said they had been bullied. Eleven percent said they were the target of bullying, while 6 percent said they had been on both sides as the bully and the bullied. Other studies have drawn direct paths from those who are bullies in grade school to criminals later in life.
“We have some pretty good data that shows kids who are bullies, or were bullied in school, are more likely to end up in prison,” McIntosh said. “The perception is that their voice is not being heard, and they feel they are being victimized with no one to help them or go to bat for them. They view it as their own problem and they have to find their own way to deal with it.”
Contact Rachel Swick at 944-4628 or rachelswick@pressandjournal.com. |