In any given school population, 25% of students are involved in bullying behavior either as a perpetrator or victim. Social scientists have determined that most school shooters were victims of bullying. 63% of students surveyed indicate that they would learn more if bullying wasn’t occuring in their school. Teachers intervene only 4% of the time. Studies show that there is very little variablity in these measures when surveying suburban, urban, private, or public schools. Bullying needs to be addressed systematically in order to be effective; it takes a system to crack a system.
There are many schools that have shame about bullying, wanting to believe that it is happening in the other schools. Consequently, they deny and minimize the problem resulting in students being shortchanged and in effect, placed at risk of having their safety, relationships and learning compromised. There are a number of schools that have visonary leaders willing to do what it takes to address this difficult and insiduous problem.
Research shows that a systematic approach of establishing adminstrative policies, anti-bullying curriculum for the students, training for the teachers and parents, and educational support groups for vulnerable students serves to address the totality of the problem. Splinter approaches such as just incorporating zero tolerance administrative polices don’t work. The most important and crucial ally in creating safe and healthy school climates are the students themselves. In any given school population, 75% of the students are innocent bystanders. They are the ones in the best position to confront and report the bullying, while supporting the victims. They need us to acknowledge the problem first, before we are in a position to help them do the same.
Schools are suppose to be a safe place to learn about academics, relationships, sports, etc. and our students can’t do this if they don’t feel emotionally, socially, and physically safe. We as adults have extortion, slander, and assault and battery laws to protect us at work, what do we have for our kids? As our society becomes more violent, so do the consequences of ignoring this problem. We need to advocate for our children and make sure our schools are doing what it really takes to make our learning institutions a place for learning reading, writing and arithmetic, not survival skills.