“I’m beautiful in my way, ‘cause god makes no mistakes.” Shouldn’t everyone believe that? Kids still get influenced by others making them feel small and hopeless. Bullying is a major issue in today’s society and should be taken seriously by everyone. Many types of bullying can occur to children and teens such as verbal, physical, or viral bullying. Bullying happens in schools, online, and even out on the streets. When kids are bullied they feel hopeless and alone, but with a little help from peers and organizations, they can defeat the bully and help change the world a little at a time. Nowadays, there are many organizations and programs that raise awareness for bullying and the effects. First, a look into the bully’s mind might help explain why they feel the need to torment others.

Many researchers came up with ideas on why kids bully. Based on research, teenagers don’t have a moral compass so their actions are based on personal feelings (Kersten). In a new book called “Lost in Transition: The Dark Side of Emerging Adulthood”, the authors asked 230 eighteen to twenty three year olds’ questions about moral decisions and the meaning of life and they found that right and wrong has almost no meaning to the young adults (Kersten). Bullying is a symptom that can start at a young age due to controlling aggression and children who have been abused or neglected don’t have help to manage their aggression (Gold). Children may think that the feeling of their aggression is wrong, but it doesn’t go away (Gold). Bullying has increased due to these symptoms and effects the kids who are the bullied.

The rates of suicide spiked among adolescent females and lowered among men (Teotonio). According to Robin Skinner, a co-author of a study with suicide rates with young males and females, “we need to understand what the situation is and what the situation is among males and females” (Teotonio). In a study in Canada, suicide related deaths accounted for 1.5% of all the deaths in Canada in 2008 which is noted that a big factor of this could be from bullying (Teotonio). Bullying could seriously affect kids all around the world at different ages. Kids ruin their education because they feel like school isn’t a safe place to be. They can also have emotional and physical pain and even sometimes they take their own lives because of the torment bullies put them through.

In a recent study of face-to-face and cyberbullying in sixth grade students, it shows comparisons of what kids encounter because of gender, their age, ethnicity, and having special education services. In 2007, 19 to 36% of kids were bullied out of a total of 42,717,537 10-19 year olds. One hundred and twenty four sixth grade students took a survey and resulted that awareness of bullying was bigger among sixth graders and their parents. The students were 81% Caucasian, 3% African American, 8% Hispanic, and 7% received special education services. The survey asked about technology use, demographic information, coping mechanisms, and the closeness of their relationship to their parents. Average technology use was 1.51 hours using a cell phone, 1.13 hours instant messaging and .76 hours on social networking site each day. In a scale between 1 and 7, the student’s average closeness to their parents was a 5.91. In this research, 35% of the students reported being bullied. Twenty five percent of them reported bullying another person and 5% admitted participating in cyberbullying. Sixty one percent of the students said they feel that bullying is a problem in their school and 32% said they feel that cyberbullying is a problem. This study also explains that students who have bullied others were bullied themselves around 2 times more than people who have never bullied. Supported by this research, students who have a distant relationship with their parents tend to have a higher number of incidences of bullying. This study gives a good analysis of bullying and what types of people bully or are bullied. (Accordino)

Raising awareness for bullying plays a huge factor on eliminating the problem. Many organizations around the country do everything to help bullying stop and a new movie helps show the world the dangers of bullying. In the new movie “Bully”, the directors give examples of kids getting picked on. For example, they have two boys in the film, one the age of 17 and one who was 11, who had killed themselves due to bullying, which gives the audience a sense of sadness while the parents are suffering from grief (Rea). A city councilman of Philadelphia, James F. Kenney, said “I want all the kids to see it, but I want school administrators and teachers to see it, too… The film shows you the long-term and really horrible effects that bullying has on a student’s day-to-day existence. Why would you want to go to school?” (Rea). He also sees “Bully” as a social and educational tool (Rea). This movie shows awareness for the extremeness of bullying and that school officials should do more about the problem. Also, The Bullying Prevention Program: Blueprints for Violence Prevention is an understandable approach that looks to prevent bullying and improves social climate of a school by making new rules and a monitoring system of the problem (Accordino). The National Center for Bullying Prevention promotes awareness and teaches effective ways to respond to bullying. Another organization that helps raise awareness is Stand for the Silent. They address the issue of school bullying with a factual and emotional methodology and students are shown first-hand the life and death consequences of bullying. Pop icon Lady Gaga is helping to change the world too with her program, Born This Way, to make more accepting society, where differences are embraced and individuality is celebrated. How to eliminate bullying and to respond to being bullied is the next big step to demolish this one step at a time.

Stand up for all the kids that have killed themselves and bring bullying to a stop. To stop a bully is the first step. If you see bullying around you, stop them. Stopping them will save a kids life and the bullied will see that someone cares about them and will feel more loved. Tell school officials what exactly happened and something will get done about the problem. Also, sometimes the parents are to blame for psychological reasons why bullies pick on kids (Gold). When you get older, make sure you nurture your kids the right way and tell them that bullying is not acceptable. How do you stand up to the bullies? Here are some tips. One, speak up for yourself. Be confident and love yourself and if somebody ever tries to bully you say “Hey, that’s not cool stop picking on kids.” This shows the bully that what they do to you doesn’t affect them. Walk away from them with your head up high. If you see the bully in action, step in! Step in between them and tell the bully to back off and to never bully anyone again. This will make them feel smaller in power. Step up, take charge and change the world one step at a time. “Don’t be a drag just be a queen, whether you’re broke or evergreen, you’re black, white, beige, chola descent, you’re lebanese, you’re orient, whether life’s disabilities left you outcast, bullied, or teased, rejoice and love yourself today ‘cause baby, you were born this way.” (Lady Gaga).

Work Cited

Accordino, Denis B., and Michael P. Accordinno. “An Exploratory
Study of Face-to-Face and Cyberbullying in Sixth…” American Secondary Education. Fall 2011: 14. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 01 May 2012.

Gold, Claudia Meininger. “How We Can End the Cycle of Bullying.”
Boston Globe (Boston, MA). 14 Sep 2009: A. 11. SIRS Issue Researcher. Web. 01 May 2012.

Kersten, Katherine. “Bullying Is a Symptom of Moral Decline.” Star
Tribune. 06 Nov 2011: OP.3. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 01 May 2012.

Rea, Steven. “Taking Up the Fight for Movie on Bullying.” Philadelphia
Inquirer. 08 Apr 2012: A. 1. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 01 May 2012.
Teotonio, Isabel. “Suicide Rates Spike Among Teenage Girls.” Toronto
Star. 03 Apr 20112: E. 1. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 09 May 2012.