Bullying-- source #8

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Although bullying has existed for such a long period of time, the results of bullying used to be limited to name-calling and teasing and little fights. However, in the past few years, school bullying has become more prevalent and an issue to be concerned about. Bullied students, instead of standing up for themselves or seeking help, they have turned to violence as a solution. Violence involving suicide or through deadly crimes against their peers.Because of the high-profile cases, children, educators, and law enforcement authorities have become more involved with bullying. They are learning more about the terrible short and long term effects of bullying. Up until researching in the past few days about bullying, I assumed that all victims of bullying were of the same nature. However, this is not necessarily true. In fact, victims can range from students who are not in a well-known social group at school to students who suffer from health or learning disabilities. Furthermore, bullying can begin due to relationship conflict such as jealousy. For instance, Phoebe Prince became the victim of bullying at her new high school ins Massachusetts after moving to the U.S. from Ireland in 2009. Initially, she seemed to be adjusting quite well as she had dated two different boys from her new school. However, this in turn, resulted in other girls bullying her. In addition to one girl who had previously dated one of the boys, her female friends also gained up against Phoebe. Although the school administrators suspended at least one girl for the bullying against her, they did very little to stop it. They did not check in with her or make a big effort to make sure she was okay. In 2010, Phoebe could not stand any more of the suffering and therefore, committed suicide by hanging herself. This is such a tragic story not just because she was so young and a had a great life in front of her, but rather because such a tragedy could have been avoided. If school administrators would have spent more time with Phoebe, even if it was once every week, she would have felt like she had a support system. She lacked people to confide in and felt that the only way the threats and harassment would end was by ending her life.