On this occasion I will begin my
analysis of an academic journal titled “Bullying in School: An Overview of
Types, Effects, Family Characteristics, and Intervention Strategies” which was
written by Paul R. Smokowski and Kelly Holland Kopasz. According to the journal,
“one in three children” is affected by bullying within U.S. schools. However,
the journal notes that the National School Safety Center has “called bullying
the most enduring and underrated problem in U.S. Schools.” In fact, a recent
national survey found that “nearly 30% of the students surveyed reported being involved
in bullying […] as either a perpetrator or a victim.” In reality the aforementioned
statistic translates to approximately “3,708,284 students reporting bullying
and 3,245,904 students reporting victimization.”
Before reading this article it was
really hard to put into perspective and visualize the different bullying
percentages given by different resources. However, now that a physical number
has been given it is hard to understand why the problem is being overlooked. As
mentioned within this article, bullying is “underrated.” As a result, perhaps anti-bullying
strategies should focus on helping parents and other adults identify bullying.
The problem of bullying cannot be addressed if it is not first identified and
accepted as an existing problem.
The journal notes that a power
imbalance is a feature typically found within bullying relationships, with “the
bully being either physically or psychologically more powerful [than the victim].”
The journal states that bullies may use bullying as “a means to establish
dominance or maintain status.” Although the journal provides various examples of
bullying including, name calling, physical assault, threatening, stealing,
vandalizing, slandering, excluding and taunting, the journal notes that “regardless
of which behavior is chose, bullying is marked by intense intimidation that
creates a pattern of humiliation, abuse, and fear for the victim.”
In my opinion, the struggle for
power is not the problem. Competitiveness is what has driven humanity to progress
and improve. The problem begins when the struggle for power gets out of hand. When
the power struggles transforms into bullying, healthy competitiveness stops and a
unproductive monopoly begins. As a result, just as forming and maintaining a
monopoly is illegal, so should maintaining a bullying relationship. This does
not mean that all incidents of bullying should be treated as heinous crimes,
but rather that each bullying case should be treated seriously and be responded
to independently according to its own circumstances.
