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“Kids Will Be Kids”
Linda M. Davis
English Comp. 1
Kathy Campshure
Research Paper
May 9, 2012

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I like learning, but I don’t know if I can get myself to go to school. I don’t want to
do anything. I don’t know any of the kids. The bus is noisy and full. My mom and dad
are pressuring me to go to school. They are bothersome and hovering over me too
much. Here goes another day. My nerves are eating me up inside. Here comes the
wildfire hatred.
“Do we have to see this loser again?” “Why don’t you go hang yourself?” “You
are a geek!” As he grabbed my head and circled, I could feel the pain. BANG! BANG!
BANG! My head was pounding. “What’s this?” He grabbed my lucky green lantern.
“Thanks, Dork!” Ouch, my shoulder, it still hurts from yesterday. Push after push after
push after push after push. “You are worthless Dork!” Punch, punch, punch, punch,
punch! As I felt the fingers around my neck, I couldn’t breathe. Feeling the coldness of
the bus floor, the dirt flew in my eyes and it was hard to see. As the tires of the bus
squealed, I raised myself up from the dirt floor.
Does this scene sound familiar? Hopefully not, but bullying in all different kinds of
forms has increased over the years, unfortunately, sometimes resulting in death. What
is bullying? Is this a serious situation? Does this kind of situation happen world-wide or
just locally? Is it just high-density and high-stress situations? Can there be help? How
can this be prevented? Can Wisconsin citizens turn their heads and ignore this problem
of epidemic proportions?
Let’s start with the first question. What is bullying? Bullying is defined as a person
or persons intending to hurt, frighten, or tyrannize those who are smaller or weaker.
Chronically, they are intentionally harming others and very repetitive. They enjoy and
strive for power, and they take pride in their aggressive behavior. There are all kinds of

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bullying such as: cyber, sexual orientation, religious, verbal, social, physical, and
relational, and the earlier the bullying starts, the more likely the chance that a child will
resort to taking his or her own life.
Cyber bullying consists of using the Internet or other digital technology to harm
others. Cyber bullies can send hurtful messages consisting of texts and e-mails. They
can create hurtful web sites and videos 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and 365 days a
year to be shared with a very wide audience, anonymously. Sexual orientation bullying
consists of physical, verbal, social, and relational bullying that is geared to same sex
relationships. Religious bullying consists of intentionally doing harm to others based on
their religious beliefs. Verbal bullying consists of continuous negative insults and name
calling. Social bullying consists of peers that refuse to socialize, or the student becomes
the subject of negative gossip. Spreading rumors, name-calling, excluding others, and
embarrassing others are all forms of social bullying. Physical bullying consists of
continuous pushing, hitting, and kicking along with any physical contact. Relational
bullying consists of peers that refuse to form relationships. This can be as innocent as
ignoring someone, to physically doing harm to someone. All of these types listed can
happen with either boys and girls and can cause lasting harm.
Next, let us look at “How serious is bullying?” Some people say, “Boys will be
boys” or “Kids will be kids.” It is all part of growing up and being a kid. Some parents call
it “growing pains”. But this year, over 5 million American kids will be bullied at school,
online, on the bus, at home, through their cell phones and on the streets of their towns,
making it the most common form of violence that youth in this country experience
(Hirsch). Nationally, 8.2 million students are bullied each year and 1 million are cyber-

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bullied. About 160,000 students stay home from school on any given day because they
are afraid of being bullied (“Lt. Gov. Den & Attorney General Biden”). In Massachusetts,
they conducted a survey. They asked teachers what bullying behavior would be.
Alarmingly, these are the answers:
The next three questions are presenting in the following graph:
Graphs based on information from source Hodson, Lopez, and Roscigno.
Clearly, there is a problem among young people.
Where does this kind of problem typically occur? In one notorious case, Phoebe
Prince became the victim of bullying at her new high school in South Hadley,
Massachusetts after moving to the U.S. from Ireland in 2009. In addition to being a new
student, Prince had briefly dated two different boys at the high school. She was
subjected to bullying from at least one girl who had previously dated one of the boys,
and her friend had dated him too. At least one girl was suspended from school for
threatening and harassing Prince, but school administrators did little else to stop the
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
1 2 3
Physical
aggression/contact
Verbal teasing/abuse
Other
0.96
0.97
0.98
0.99
1 2 3 4 5 6
Students can be profoundly
affected by online bullying
That online bullying can spill
over into the school
Be very traumatic for victims

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bullying. On January 14th 2010, after suffering continued harassment and an attempted
physical assault, Prince went home and committed suicide by hanging herself
(“Bullying”).
Similar cases have been reported from other countries. Thirteen-year-old Kelly
Yeomans of England was driven to suicide in 1997 when a group of boys in her
neighborhood subjected her to relentless bullying due to her weight. Fourteen-year-old
Canadian girl Dawn-Marie Wesley hung herself in 2000 after three teenage girls
repeatedly harassed and threatened her. One common link in all these cases is that the
victims--and most of the bullies--are teenage girls. This reflects an alarming shift away
from traditional ideas about bullying, which was long considered to be something that
occurs only between boys (“Bullying”). A Rutgers student threw himself off the George
Washington Bridge after a gay tryst was posted on the Internet by another student
(Johnson). If this list is not enough, go to any local news website and start ‘Googling’.
Undoubtedly, this is a widespread problem and it could happen in your own town next.
What happens to the victims? The victims can suffer health and learning
disabilities. They may show signs of depression, ongoing sadness, withdrawal from
others, and loss of interest in their favorite activities. They may have sleeping and
studying difficulties, along with emotional and eating disorders. The list goes on and on.
They might engage in reckless behavior. They may lash out at others, being bullied
could lead to assault with a deadly weapon. Or they may get extremely depressed,
injuring themselves, or ending their lives. The warning signs are: making comments that
things would be better without them, acting out feelings of despair, indicating they can’t

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handle things anymore, saying goodbye to people, giving away favorite possessions,
and showing an interest in death or dying (“Bullying Statistics”).
Finally, the prevention of bullying is a team effort. Everybody has to get involved-
-teachers, helpers, assistants, and parents--literally, everyone associated with your
school. Anti-bullying awareness should be mandatory. Being trained to recognize the
signs of bullying is the first step in mediating student conflicts. Counseling should start
at grade school age to raise awareness. There should be institutional support for
teachers to intervene when they witness bullying, and policies put into place that would
help the victims. As a direct result of Megan Meier’s suicide, Missouri legislators
unanimously passed a bill known as “Megan’s Law” that outlaws use of the Internet for
purposes of harassment (“Bullying”).
The Massachusetts legislature enacted one of the toughest anti-bullying laws in
the nation on May 3rd, 2010 as a result of Phoebe Prince’s suicide. Among other
measures, the bill required every school district in the state to submit a comprehensive
anti-bullying plan by the end of 2010 (“Bullying”). Massachusetts also set up a center at
Bridgewater State College that offers training to schools, teachers, administrators,
parents and children on electronic bullying. They now hold intervention workshops
(Hodson,Lopez, and Roscigno 8). The Education Department is putting more emphasis
on bullying and harassment policies when they involve gay, lesbian, bisexual, or
transgendered students along with religious bullying (Johnson). There is also “The
Bully Project” by Director Lee Hirsch, which is available at:
http://www.moviefone.com/movie/the-
bullyproject/10058552/main?sem=1&ncid=searchusmovi00000016&s_kwcid=TC|15224|%2Bbully%20%
2Bthe%20%2Bmovie||S|p|19535327755 PressCtrl+Clicktofollow the link.

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In addition to these programs, there is a suicide prevention hotline at 1-800-273-
TALK (8255).
The issue of bullying has not only surfaced in state legislatures, but it has also
captured national attention. After the state of New Jersey became the leader in anti-
bullying legislation in January 2011, President Barack Obama announced his
administration’s plans to address the crisis. They have also developed a new website to
help deal with this issue, www.stopbullying.gov. In recent years, many celebrities,
politicians and the public have been standing up against bullying (“The Bully Project”).
Can Wisconsin citizens turn their heads and ignore the problem? The answer is
‘NO!’ All it takes is for one person to stand up and be the difference. Go out and find
that new kid standing over there by himself; stand up for him. Everything starts with one
and builds up, and soon we have an army. If we all do this together, we can change the
world. Students need a safe place to learn, free of any threats. Students need to
maintain balance in their lives. With the help of the government, celebrities, and caring
people around the world, we can cure the epidemic of bullying. Wisconsin has
implemented the Positive Behavior Intervention Support (PBIS) along with a larger anti-
bullying program which identifies bullying behaviors, and teaches the children positive
remedies.

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Works Cited
"Bullying Statistics." www.bullyingstatistics.org. N.p., 2009. Web. 7 May 2012.
Bullying." Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection. Gale, Cengage Learning, 2010. Gale
Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 11 Apr. 2012.
Document URL
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displayGroupName=Reference&disableHighlighting=true&action=e&windowstate
=normal&catId=GALE%7CAAA000030847&documentId=GALE%7CPC3010999
030&mode=view&userGroupName=northeastwtc&jsid=b2cb2156249451783c08
4b09de742ae4
"The Bully Project." www.fox11online.com. N.p., 2012. Web. 1 May 2012.
Hirsch, Lee, dir. Bully. 2012. Film. <www.moviefone.com>.
Hodson, Randy, Steven H. Lopez, and Vincent J. Roscigno. "Supervisory bullying,
status inequalities and organizational context." Social Forces 87.3 (2009): 1561+.
Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 11 Apr. 2012.
Document URL
http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/ovic/AcademicJournalsDetailsPage/AcademicJournals
DetailsWindow?displayGroupName=Journals&disableHighlighting=false&prodId=
OVIC&action=e&windowstate=normal&catId=&documentId=GALE%7CA198804
583&mode=view&userGroupName=northeastwtc&jsid=cd035ce3878a30049e1a
93229c19f752

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Johnson, Fawn. "Education Department Takes Aim at Anti-Bullying." National Journal.
(2010): n. page. Print.
Lt. gov. denn & attorney general biden announce improved anti-bullying legislation.
(2012, Mar 02). Targeted News Service, pp. n/a.
http://ezproxy.nwtc.edu:2048/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/9260
51417?accountid=4328