Posted 11 months ago 
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Introduction
In the early seventies Dr. Dan Olweus, a Norwegian researcher became the pioneer of bullying research (Olweus, 2010 a). He has been studying this topic for thirty five years. His national bullying prevention campaign in Norway and Sweden attracted the Americans attention in the early nineties (Olweus, 2010 a) as they too became able to see the problem of bullying and sought prevention techniques. Schools all over the United States have used some form of Olweus prevention program. Over the years American schools have shown a decrease in some areas of bullying activities and an increase in others. Although, bullying has been occurring all these years it was not until the 21st century that some state legislations created laws to help protect the children rights to feel safe at school (Olweus, 2010 a).
Several schools have made efforts to eliminate bullying in their hallways and playgrounds by applying Olweus prevention program but bullying behavior is continuing to be a nuisance. The act of bullying can affect the victim by creating an uncomfortable environment at school, at home or wherever the act takes place that can instill fear within the person. Bullying takes on several forms including physical bullying, verbal bulling and psychological bullying. As society has become more tech savvy so have bullies causing bullies to follow their victims from the school grounds into their homes through cyber bullying. For the victim it may seem as though there is no getting away from such a troublesome situation. So, how do we approach the problem?
Problem Statement
Imagine a world where children of all races, ages and social classes could play and learn in harmony without violence. In a perfect world that would be a possibility but our world is anything but perfect. Everyday there is a child out there who is a victim of bullying. The reality is that bullying violence occurs in the hallways, locker-rooms, classrooms, lunchrooms, bus stops and playgrounds universally involving negative acts repeated over time (Ericson, 2001).
Bullying has been around since the beginning of time with the strong conquering over the weak. It is a very serious and complex social issue that usually involves repeatedly negative actions in the form of physical contact, verbal abuse and psychological abuse (Olweus, 2010 b). The issue of bullying is one I think highly of because I use to be a victim of its abuse. Bullying for me began in the seventh grade with a boy and his friends picking on me daily. He would verbally abuse me and through persuasion tried to socially alienate me from our other classmates. There was one account were he and his friends got physical with me. I learned how to ignore and conquer my bully some victims are not so lucky.
The first thought many of us may ponder is why do bullies bully? This is a question often asked and a true answer that is still unknown. However, many of us fail to think about how bullying affects the victim mentally, physically and socially. Many people wrote bullying off as something that happens in childhood. What if the victims of bullying can not easily get over their bullying episodes? What if the scars left by their tormenters leave them as damaged goods? The frequency of bullying is causing negative long term emotional and behavioral effects on its victims. Some people remain victims all of their lives allowing co-workers and loved ones to continue to deplete their self-esteem. These negative effects often accompany victims of bullying from adolescence through adulthood. People who are direct victims of bullying may experience withdrawal from family and friends, decrease in grades and activities, depression, low self-esteem, suicidal thoughts and other health problems (Olweus, 2010 b). Victims of bullying often suffer humiliation, insecurity and may fear attending school (Ericson, 2001).
There are no longer the boundaries of school hours or school yards when it comes to bullying. With the advancement of technology bullies are now able to torment their victims from the classroom to the bedroom via the internet. Globally, laws are being created in order to help the youth feel safer at school and to help combat the frequency of bullying. When bullying continues in a school environment without action it affects the entire atmosphere allowing fear and discomfort to be developed by others in the mist of the act. We must all become advocates of social change against violence to help ensure safer environments for students to flourish and learn.
Combating bullying cannot be done overnight. It is a tedious ethical process that takes the members of the school board, faculty, parents and students working together for the common cause of alleviating peer abuse by speaking out and taking a stand against an issue that causes long term mental health problems. In this Capstone I will explore the negativity of bullying and the harmful effects it has and the possible solutions to be enforced in order to reduce the frequency of bullying.
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