Statistics

Although we all believe bullying is bad, perhaps we don't understand how widespread it is. In a recent article in the Oregonian, "Stand Up To Bullies, Create a Culture of Respect" Oregonlive.com, Hanif Fazal pointed out that 1 in 5 self identified gay students attempt suicide.

He names examples where racial minorities were bullied and harassed, he also cites statistics from the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCES Web Tables 2011-336). The alarming result of that study point out that 28% of students were being bullied in the 2008-2009 school year. That means their learning, social development, and self esteems were stunted that year.

The reports I have read suggest that the pervasive nature of cyber bullying has only heightened that alarming percentage in the last two years.

As a portland area teacher. I have seen it, I have witnessed it, and I have worked to end it in my classrooms. It is a difficult beast to cage as it happens when adults aren't there. It happens online where we aren't looking. It happens in the lunch line where we are doing our best to make sure the dietarily restricted (such as diabetics or students with allergies) aren't tipping over their day with bad choices. And it happens when we kneel down to help a student one on one.

Cutting teachers means more students in each class. More students means less supervision. And I would argue in that unfortunate scenario I don't see bullying being stopped unless we educate our children and our students to be advocates for themselves or others.

A silent bystander is a bully too. Stop the hurt. Say something!