Bullying

While school-based bullying has been an issue since the beginning of public school institutions, public schools today are seeking out new solutions to provide all students and parents with support and guidance. Today, in an effort to educate both bullies and victims, schools are implementing early-intervention programs to combat the many issues of bullying in public schools.

Bullying in Public Schools: Signs and Symptoms of Problems

According to the public school program Stop Bullying Now, parents and school officials can identify specific signs as indications of a bullying issue. In fact, according to studies reported by Stop Bullying Now, an incident of bullying occurs every seven minutes, as the experts assert: “Children, after all, learn from what they see us do, rather than from what we say. When adults do not intervene, bullies may feel there is nothing wrong with their actions. Targets may feel they deserve the bullying.” To prevent a negative cycle of violence and attacks, both kids and adults can identify three specific types of bullying: physical, verbal, and exclusive.

Physical bullying signs, as Stop Bullying Now supports, are evident through “hitting, kicking, pushing, choking, punching.” Verbal bullying, on the other hand, is seen by “threatening, taunting, teasing, starting rumors, hate speech.” Lastly, exclusive bullying is evident, often, through a less obvious symptom. In this third case, when a child is bullied by being excluded from activities, “This does not mean that a child should not have the right to choose to play,

"Sticks and Stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me…" - English Proverb. Once echoing throughout the halls of the nation’s schools, this simple phrase reminded children that the taunts that had been considered a rite of passage in childhood would one day end.

Fast forward several decades and “sticks and stones” becomes increasingly rare as schoolyard bullying is recognized as a serious problem. School administrators and teachers now know that, not only do words hurt, they often escalate into a physical conflict that envelops the bully and his victim as well as those around them, including adults and other children who may get caught in the crossfire.

All too often, what begins as minor name-calling or teasing, ends up with those involved coming to blows at the victim attempts to defend himself. This type of escalation is what experts insist creates even more violence. Violence does not begin with a physical attack, but rather a psychological one. What begins as words, perhaps a taunt or name-calling, escalates into pushing and shoving, which then may lead to a bloody nose, a black eye, or even a broken bone.

This television news video reports on death from bullying.

Experts insist that today’s lifestyles put so much pressure on children that they often bring that added stress into the classroom making what would normally be a minor incident just the straw that breaks