Bullying-- source #5

http://bullyonline.org/

After reading about Tim Field in my previous source, I went to the website he created that was mentioned in the article. This website opened my eyes to bullying in the workplace.  In order to minimize stress, the site suggested identifying possible problems by discussing who could be harmed and how, evaluating the risk, recording any problems, and reviewing the status of the situation regularly. This will help promote a safer, stress-free workplace.  Another aspect to the website helped me to understand the difference between harassment and discrimination. While harassment and discrimination is focused on gender, race or disability, bullying is often on ability to perform certain tasks, or the lack of competence. While the target of bullying may be capable of everything, the bully is constantly trying to impose their own social, interpersonal, and professional inadequacy onto their target. Furthermore, "The purpose of projection is to avoid facing up to that inadequacy and doing something about it, and - mainly - to distract and divert attention away from the bully's inadequacies, shortcomings and failings." The main point is the idea that bullying is the source of all harassment, discrimination, abuse, conflict, and violence. However, there must be separate policies because their are different tactics and aspects that must be addressed.

Bullying-- source #4

"Tim Field." Issues: Understanding Controversy and Society. ABC-CLIO, 2011. Web. 21 Apr. 2011.

This article comes from the subscription database- Issues: Understanding Controversy and Society. The article focuses on Tim Field, a graduate from Staffordhsire University who landed a computer programming job. Here, he began to experience a great deal of bullying which led him to a deep and difficult depression. After he made it through his depression, he started researching bullying. In addition to dealing with his own experience of being bullied, he tried to understand bullying on many different levels. In addition to establishing a bullying advice line, he established a website known as Bully Online which keeps track of bullying news, cases, resources, and policy development. He also established Success Unlimited, a publishing company targeting bullying matters; with this company, he was able to publish his books Bully in Sight and Bullycide with Neil Marr. Most significantly, he started the Field Foundation in 2002. the goal of the foundation is to assure and empower those who suffer from bullying. The focus of the organization is to work for a "world free of bullying through the development of insight and understanding of the human propensity for violence and violational interaction." Futhermore, it aims to help all of us become better people, to understand how bullying deeply affects everyone.  While he died five years ago, his work remainds important in all fields of bullying.

The Marketplace of Ideas- day 2

Today, I spent all of class blogging about the three sources that I have found so far. While I assumed these entries would be useless, they serve as a way for me to put all my information and research into my own words that I can later look back and use in my abstract paper. Furthermore, by writing these entries on the sources, I feel more familiar with my topic and information. I have a good understanding of what I have found and what information I still need to look into.

Bullying-- source #3/ #1 entry for independent reading book

For this semester, I chose to read Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult. This book had such a powerful influence on me and one of the primary reasons I decided to research bullying was in order to incorporate some of the same themes into my marketplace of ideas project. The novel is about the aftermath of a school shooting that took place at Sterling High School. The beginning of the novel starts with the shooting that occurs and takes the reader through the series of events leading up to the shooting, the shooting itself, and the trial. At a first glance, one may look at the shooter of the massacre and assume the absolute worst. Yet as the novel unfolds, it becomes clear that the shooter, Peter Houghton was a victim of himself, of bullying. The bullying started on the first day of kindergarten when he got on the bus. Instantly, he was tripped as he walked down the aisle and his new Superman lunch box throne onto the highway. This bullying continued up to the shooting when he suffered public humiliation after his romantic interest in a classmate, Josie Cormier was revealed. Because Peter is bullied, he tries to escape this reality by turning his aggression into video games. He in fact, creates a game in which he can shoot people in a school. Peter lives such a difficult life as his once friend, Josie no longer stands up for him. He is constantly suffering and reasons that he committed such a terrible deed because the people caused him to be the way he became. Furthermore, a psychologist reasons that Peter was suffering from PTSD due to the bullying that constantly took place. During the shooting, the doctor testified that he was going in an out of a dissociative state, which prevented him from thinking logically. Nevertheless, Peter is convicted of eight counts of first-degree murder and two counts of second-degree murder and is sentenced to life in prison. There is no doubt in my mind that bullying drove Peter to commit such a deviant act.

Bullying-- source #2

http://www.jaredstory.com/bullystories.html

I came across this website and was struck by the immediate cycle of bullying that it presents. Bullying-->depression-->suicide. This cycle hit hard for the family of Jared Benjamin High's family.  Jared committed suicide at the age of thirteen. He developed depression as a result from bullying at school in addition to an attack by a bully in school. Jared developed depression because of the people around him- the harm they caused on him.  While the website itself presents a grief project, there are many stories about Jared, conducted researched about bullying, depression, suicide prevention and advice to help those who have been through bullying, depression, or a loss due to suicide. On the website, there was video from E! network that was aired April 21, 2010 regarding Jared's story and an investigation of bullying. When Jared was beaten up at the baseball field, the bully and him were both suspended for three days. The administrators considered the incident a fight. After the fight, Jared showed signs of depression; he lost all of his energy and motivation for school. His family immediately noticed this change and tried to talk some sense into him. One afternoon, Jared killed himself in his house. This terrible outcome could have been avoided if the bullying did not exist and if the incident with the physical assault was handled differently.  

Bullying-- source #1

http://www.tolerance.org/bullied

When I decided to research bullying, I looked through my notebook where I was reminded of the documentary film we watched that shows one student's journey through bullying which is called Bullied. I found the quick quiz we did regarding facts and myths about bullying and then realized that there is an entire site dedicated to not only the documentary film, but also bullying in general. I learned that the purpose of Bullied is to assist teachers and counselors to create a safer school atmosphere for all students. While the student in the film, Jamie, is bullied due to his sexual orientation, the film is to help everyone. Students who view the film must realize the terrible effects that bullying can have on people as well as the importance of standing up for classmates who are being teased.  After being reminded of the film's intended purposes, I found a great deal of information about bullying in general. The viewers guide of the film said that "Bullying happens when someone is subjected to negative actions from one or more people and has a hard time defending himself or herself." Furthermore, bullying can come in several forms, such as teasing, mocking or verbal abuse, punching, pushing or physical abuse, spreading false information,  excluding a particular person from a group and going against a person. I also learned that nearly one-third of American teens are involved in bullying; whether a person is bullying or being bullied, this is a troubling number to me. At DHS, I have not witnessed serious physical or verbal abuse, yet there is no doubt in my mind that it exists and is taking a toll on students everyday. Just as shocking as this statistic is that only 10-20% people who try to help the students who are being bullying. Although I have not seen serious bullying occur at DHS, when I think of bullying occurring right in front of me, I cannot help but think I would feel empathy and would want to do something to make it step.  T.C. Largaespada, a social worker at youth shelter, said “I’ve often wondered about the kids who watched [the bullying] happen—why they didn’t say anything, how they felt about what was going on?” This quote resonated me because it just makes me frustrated and upset that people do not want to help out peers who are being bullying. Although I do not witness a great deal of bullying, it is clear that bullying exists. Therefore, we must find ways to stop it, to make school a safer place. The viewer handbook provides action steps for educators to take in order to stop bullying.  If we see or hear any trace of bullying taking place, we must stop the bullying instantly, and additionally, offer guidance to any peers on how to intervene rightfully. If we see or learn a series of bullying occurring, it is important for the staff of school to discuss the behavior and agree on a course of action.  These small actions can help to make school a safer and happier place for everyone.

The Marketplace of Ideas- day 1

Today in class, I decided that I want to look at bullying. I started to put together an outline of the different aspects I would like to examine. At this point, I would like to narrow my research into three different areas. One is bullying as a whole including facts versus myths, statistics, and what it is. Another area I plan to look at is the effects of bullying, more specifically case studies, such as Seung-Hui Cho and excerpts from  Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult in addition to the emotional aspect. The last area I intend on looking at  is anti-bullying efforts. This would be specifically for the markeplace of ideas and the "action item".  Today, I looked at  different information regarding the documentary film, Bullied. In addition to general information about bullying, it provided advice for educators in order to prevent bullying. The last website I came across is one that came into existance after the result of Jared, who committed suicide as a result of being bullying. The website includes his story and others and also posts a video from E that investigates bullying. I plan to view this video tomorrow in class.