My essay on child bullying.

I think this is one of  my more important essays. Not the best writing I’ve done but very important. Please read this, and give me some feedback. Don’t humor an old man, and make it real.

 

Living in Paradise

There is a child out there that is in pain, with no hope that needs help, and doesn’t know how to get it. Despite this being the 21st century, there is a significant problem that is currently affecting children by being bullied to death. We have a social injustice growing in this country by allowing the excessive bullying of children. It's not your everyday one on one bullying, it’s a consorted effort to make a child give up hope that they can survive, so why even try. Children are emotional, and when under stress will sometimes shut down. In this case the defendants are being charged with a violation of civil rights resulting in bodily injury (Breaking News). For this we look at the case of Phoebe Prince who killed herself after a relentless, months-long bullying campaign (Teen-suicide).We need to find a solution for the socially unacceptable behavior of child bullying.

The case of Phoebe Prince is bringing attentions to the ongoing issue that has been looked at, but not resolved. On January 14^th of this year Phoebe Prince hanged herself. Phoebe was found by her younger sister hanging in a stairway. In this case it came to light that more than just a few people knew something was going on, she was bullied by six people for three months (Krasny). More people than that knew too, the school, the mother, and friends knew something was wrong. Phoebe’s mother had contacted the school about the issue, but there is still debate as to what was done (Ms. Marie). She had a date with a popular school football player that one of the accused girls also had dated. The girls charges in this case belonged to a clique called “The Mean Girls” (Ms. Marie). They obviously have had taken some kind of pride, and a badge of honor to be in this group. On the day of her suicide they had thrown a beverage can at her on her way home. Over time they had called her names such as Irish slut, posted hurtful messages online, and yelled at her on school grounds (Brown). In all nine people have been charges says MSNBC (3 teens plead not guilty). Various charges have been filed, but this is a hard issue to prosecute. There are no specific laws in place for the crime of bullying. The question is, who should be charges, and for what crime.

Some other cases that have helped bring this issue to the attention are Carle Walker-Hoover. Carl was a loving bright little eleven year old, but in sixth grade that changed (Solórzano). He became the victim at his school by bullies that tormented his. They threatened to beat and kill him (Solórzano). His mother contacted the school, but it couldn’t prevent his torment. On April 6^th 2009 Carl hanged himself with an extension cord (Solórzano). There are more of these that have come up, and they are all just as devastating. This is another case that had national coverage, but again passed with little change.

The extent of this problem is that it is getting worse. What can be said about bullying is that it is not your normal behavior of teasing by a friend or sibling (New). No, this is much more, bullying is the intentional tormenting of another physically, verbally, and psychologically (New) . With kids nowadays becoming more insensitive to others feeling or even life, it's time to take some corrective action. With the internet, text messaging, chat rooms and instant messaging the problem cannot be left to be handled by the victim, or to run its course (New). This problem is worse than you might expect, a U.S. Department of Education report from 2005 found that 14% of students aged 12 to 18 said they were bullied in the previous six months (Krasny). A survey of 700 community's done in 1994 by the National Safety Center said, "80% of respondents stated that violence was a serious problem in hallways, playgrounds, and classrooms.” (Ms. Marie). This study conducted 14 years ago shows that the issue has been looked at, but nothing has been implemented to help stem the problem (Ms. Marie). The Department of Education reports that 25% of American students say they were bullied at least once a day (Solórzano). 60% of kids identified as bullies will have a criminal record by the age of 24 (Ms. Marie).

What is happening to these children is that they are being devastated emotionally. The seemingly simple act of going to the bus, waiting in line or even attending class can be turned into a nightmare (New). The absolute terror of knowing you will be entering a seemingly safe environment that isn’t at all safe is disturbing. That nobody is going to intervene on your behalf to remove the threat. Over time they will develop emotional problems that will last a life time. Prof. Swearer says, “Depression and anxiety often go hand in hand weather students are bullies, victims, bystanders or bully-victims (Expert: Bullying). As we have seen there is the chance of them taking their own life, but as we have seen in the 90's, they have taken matter in their own hands with violence. This approach can be just as devastating to a community (Martin). Bullying is a mental health problem, and needs to be treated as such (Expert: Bullying). Susan Swearer, a psychologist in child care said, " I am seeing more and more case of child bullying related behavior." (Expert: Bullying).

There is a similarity in the bullying and an increase in bullying. Those that are bullied, become bullies. The victims see this when the event is ignored, as socially acceptable, and will do it themselves (Expert: Bullying). As we have seen, some kids have resulted in violence to solve the problem. There’s the child in Washington that turned on his bully with a gun and shot his tormenter in the cafeteria (Martin). Children are inventive, and when they see that adults accept something and do nothing, that the act is O.K.. In an interview with William Pitt on NPR, Pitt said, "They, by and large could care less," and, "The headmaster knew what was going on and didn't care. The teachers knew what was going on and didn't care." (Martin). Pitt also said that they just could've cared less." (Martin). Mr. Pitt is referring to the same school that Phoebe Prince attended when she committed suicide. Pitt had attended the same school, and was bullied in the same ways. He even had a knife put to his neck, and asked if he wanted to die.

The child suicide rate is devastating, and if we can do anything at all to prevent this we should. In the case of child bullying there is steps that we can take. Successful programs are in place, and we are learning from them. Norway has a program for this "Olweus Bullying Prevention Program," and it has been used in the United States. Another system that seems to work is to empower students to resolve the problem. They find that when other students intervene, the bullying stops in about 80% of the case (Martin). We also need to educate everyone in the school environment along with the parents (Martin). It is important to take bullying seriously, not disregard the act as something normal and allowable (New). We need to identify what works and what isn’t working. Parents need to work with their child, to help them deal with this, and support them. Schools need to have an effective program in place, and everyone needs to be in contact with each other (Brown). As things are found that work, they need to be shared with others (Brown). The CDC need to become involved, and become a link for the communication of this. Child suicide at this young of an age isn’t even considered worth tracking the numbers by the CDC (Solórzano). The CDC said that suicide at this young of an age is very infrequent (Solórzano). On the day Carl killed himself, his school had a reported intervention, and it for un-known reason didn’t work (Solórzano). If this goes unchecked, the future will be more violence and an increased social. We can deal with this now, or try and deal with adults, and will create even bigger social issues. We now see the problem, we see what works and we can make an effort to help. This is not the past and we can't keep dealing with it by hiding the problem, and telling a child they are on their own.