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Bullying in Schools: Can It Be Stopped?

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Submitted By ljbrat61
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Bullying in Schools: Can It Be Stopped?

Even though schools face cost issues in education of staff and anti-bullying enforcement, bullying is a serious problem that is not being properly addressed. With the shootings at Columbine High School in Colorado, where on April 20, 1999 two students started a massacre where 12 students and one teacher were killed, and suicides in multiple places, it’s clear that bullying causes tragedies. All of the events, in some way, are related to bullying. In recent years, there has been more media coverage of incidences of bullying and its repercussions. There was a girl in Massachusetts named Phoebe Prince that after being bullied for months went home after school on January 14, 2010 and committed suicide by hanging herself. She just couldn’t take it anymore. Prior to this, the school where she went did little in the ways of anti-bullying education.

According to the U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, “In 2007, about 32 percent of 12- to 18-year-old students reported having been bullied at school during the school year and 4 percent reported having been cyber-bullied”(“Indicator 11”). Our children are dying due to being bullied at school. My own children have gone through being bullied at school. My twelve-year-old was bullied to the point of being physically injured. As a parent, I find this unacceptable.

The following graph shows these numbers: Figure 11.1. Percentage of students ages 12–18 who reported being bullied at school and being cyberbullied anywhere during the school year, by sex: (Indicator 11) [pic]

There are anti-bullying laws in many states. Some of the state laws are very basic and some are more comprehensive. Massachusetts has adopted more of an encompassing anti-bullying law, that puts more emphasis on faculty and staff education and

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