Bullying must be recognized and stopped. Recently, the Strick Injury Law and Mediation resolved a case against a local School District that failed to abate bullying of a self-identified gay Middle School student. While the individual victory helped one family cope with the death of a child, the story was tragic, and the problem is pervasive. A victory in one lawsuit can only do so much. We all have more work to do.
Because of the wide-spread amount of bullying, it is more important than ever for parents and teachers to maintain open dialog with children about bullying. Many students might be afraid to tell an adult or parent, which is why parents and teachers need to be aware of the signs of bullying and to pay attention to what is going on with their child or student. Students and children should be encouraged to tell a trusted adult, parent or teacher about any kind of bullying attack. It is the best way to help stop the situation from getting worse and to help prevent bullying from targeting more and more victims.
Caring for a child’s safety and well-being should be everyone’s goal. Let’s work together to make every child’s life free from unwelcome and unnecessary harm.
Sadly, statistics reveal almost half of all students have experienced some sort of bullying.
Bullying statistics:
- About 42 percent of kids have been bullied while online.
- About 35 percent of kids have been threatened online.
- About 58 percent of kids and teens have reported that something mean has been said about them or to them online.
- Other bullying statistics show that about 77 percent of students have admitted to being the victim of one type of bullying or another.
- The American Justice Department bullying statistics show that one out of every 4 kids will be bullied sometime throughout their adolescence.
- 46 percent of males followed by 26 percent of females have admitted to being victims in physical fights as reported in one report of bullying statistics by the Bureau of Justice School.
Other bullying facts:
- As these bullying statistics indicate, bullying is getting worse in American schools. Many studies have shown that increasing domestic violence at home is leading to an increase in bullying online and at school.
- Researchers note that one way to help begin to lower these bullying statistics is to tell an adult when it is happening.
- Cyber-bullying is real, and needs to be reported too.
- According to the i-Safe American survey of students bullying statistics, about 58 percent of kids admit to never telling an adult when they’ve been the victim of a bullying attack.
- Another way to stay safe from bullies is to inform the school if the attacks are taking place on school property or have something to do with the school.
Sources: http://www.isafe.org