C.

Von Dem Knesebeck 1

Catalina C. Von Dem Knesebeck

Instructor Erin Rogers

Writing 2010

4B

The School System Response to Bullying

Bullying has been a part of an underlying issue in education. There have been many cases

that bullying happens mostly in school and​ ​controversies regarding what is actually considered

bullying for schools to be involved. Along with what the school is providing and doing about

bullying over the years. In the beginning, there wasn’t many bullying awareness since it hasn’t

been much of an issue compared to today. The argument was that there wasn’t enough awareness

on bullying and the lack of involvement and communication when it came to the issue. As time

passes, more and more people are being aware of bullying and its effects. Today there has been

more cases on bullying in school and becoming a very known issue. And today many start to

wonder what the school system is doing to prevent bullying and what there response is when it

comes to bullying. And one can see the variety if issues regarding the school system response to

bullying. There two main ways that people view how the school systems respond to bullying.

Some view that the school system is not doing enough about bullying, and emphasize a need of

more involvement and better communication. Others argue that the school system is doing all

they can do about bullying, and that there is only so much that they could do.

To understand why people have these views, one needs to look at the underlying issues.

The issue of bullying is increasing each year and the result of bullying are devastating. School

performances are decreasing and the students avoidance of school and the suicide rates are
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increasing. This brings the question on what the school system has been doing to prevent this

issue. Education is and has been a big part of living. Most of one’s life is going to school and

having an education. Most people would suspect that the school system would know how to

handle bullying and find ways to prevent it. However, the word “bullying” has been oftenly used

and at times have a misleading meaning of what it actually means. Because of this people have a

difficult time knowing what is considered bullying. And this brings up the question if schools are

doing enough to bring awareness on what is bullying and in dealing with the issue of bullying.

There is no doubt that school should be a place where students are safe and have the basic

right to attend school without being bullied. It is the school’s responsibility to prevent any harm

to students and provide support. In an article, from the School Psychology Review, titled

“Bullies and their victims: Understanding a pervasive problem in the schools” state that bullying

affects 15% to 20% of all students in schools today and to achieve the goal to end violence in

school environments and the issue of bullying is to addressed directly to school systems in the

United States. The School Psychology Review also states that when it comes to the response of

school personnel to bullying it is, “at best, disappointing”. They continue to explain that school

personnel do very little to intervene in the bullying cycle at school. More than 60% of the victims

report that schools respond poorly, with responses to try to put a stop to the bullying “only once

in a while or almost never”. The little action to intervene might be the reason on teachers not

knowing how to respond to bullying. In an article written by Alex Zimmerman and Patrick Wall,

titled “Schools’ Response to Bullying Is Questioned after Fatal Stabbing”, Zimmerman & Wall

states that some schools’ failure to input bullying reports or to respond forcefully to bullying is

partly on the school faculty uncertainty about what counts as bullying and how to best respond to
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it. Zimmerman & Wall goes on how schools are required to report bullying incidents, but is

called to question when it comes to self-reported data. About 70 percent of city schools reported

no incidents of “intimidation, bullying or harassment” and indicates “significant underreporting”

in schools. With such low reports, schools are showing the lack of response on bullying and with

school faulty being uncertain about what is considered bullying are not wanting to intervene. On

the contrary, an article written by Signe Whitson suggest that lack of response from school faulty

is not to blame and that school teachers are doing all that they can do. Whitson states that

teachers today have so much on their plates that “safeguarding kids’ emotional well-being is a

real challenge for them” and that getting a handle on bullying in schools is “a complex challenge

that leaves many Educators feeling overwhelmed and helpless”. Whitson continues by stating

that because of the lack of awareness in school settings, bullying is missed by adults 96% of the

time, however, this can change if educators and parents share a collective responsibility to create

a culture in which bullying is unacceptable.

When it comes to school climate and how it affects the responses of adults, bullying can

be viewed differently. It is known that schools have the responsibility for students to provide a

safe learning environment and to intervene when bullying and victimization behavior is

occurring. In an article written by the Journal of Educational Psychology, titled “Parental

Responses to Bullying: Understanding the Role of School Policies and Practices”, the Journal of

Educational Psychology states that when schools respond to bullying they have written policies,

adopted programs, or hosted speakers and events designed to create a safer environment. The

Journal also states that for schools to have a better involvement on bullying, parents are strongly

encouraged to contact the school when their child has been bullied, as that the school is often not
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aware that bullying is occurring. For this reason parents often have “unsatisfactory experiences

seeking help from school staff, either not getting a complete response or having school officials

not wanting to intervene” because of the lack of awareness. Some argue that due to the lack of

awareness and communication, schools are not doing enough and that there should be more

training for schools on how to deal with the issue of bullying. More often than they care to admit,

the teacher who downplays an incident of bullying is the teacher who simply has no idea how to

handle the problem in their classroom (Whitson, Psychology Today). That being said, teachers

who don’t know to handle a situation that involve bullying have not been trained to properly

intervene. According to the School Psychology Review, they state that in a report done by

Stephenson and Smith, 25% of teachers feel that it is sometimes helpful to ignore the problem in

school setting because bullying often occurs in the form of verbal intimidation, isolation, and

exclusion. And teachers may view these behaviors as ‘less serious than physical assaults where

the “damage” is easily visible’ and that the inactive social skills of victims may be due to how

teachers are less motivated to intervene. The School Psychology Review goes on to explain that

victims might perceive that teachers and other school personnel either will not be sympathetic to

their situation or will not be able to protect them. With that being said, the School Psychology

Review suggest that in order for bullying to be reduced significantly, schools must send a strong

message to students and staff that bullying is inappropriate. That when it comes to teaching and

training others about bullying it’s important to promote facts, not myths about bullying. The

School Psychology Review argues that schools must recognize that the problem is pervasive.

And that when the school system and the entire staff in school choose to “develop and implement

a comprehensive plan designed to teach prosocial behavior… and teach skills that promote
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positive interactions between students will change the environment in schools. To add to the

argument that schools should have training to improve communication and involvement, the

Journal of Educational Psychology suggest that there should be extensive training for students,

teachers, school personnel, and parent involvement. That training that involve teachers, students,

and parents can improve communication of bullying policies in schools.

A topic within bullying that is often debated on is suicide and the responses of the school

system. Some argue that bullying is a cause of suicide and some argue the opposite. According to

the School of Educational Psychology, they state that the effects of bullying contribute

substantially to the development of an unsafe environment in schools and a decline in academic

and social performance of students involved in bully/victim experiences. That being said, they

continue to explain that victims of bullying would be fearful in the environment in which the

bullying took place and that victims might respond with avoidance/withdrawn/escape behaviors

like skipping school, avoiding places at school, poor academic performances and running

away/suicide. When students fear for their safety and feel like they have little or no peer and

teacher support, it is not surprising that there is an increase in school avoidances. If students feel

like they have no support in the school setting, it is important to promote the idea that school is a

place where students are safe and is a safe haven. The School of Educational Psychology suggest

that fear has become a factor in school behavior of many students and that evidence shows that

avoidance of school activities and peers, poor academic performance, and suicide are linked to

bullying. They argue that students are unable to demonstrate “appropriate interpersonal skills and

fear the environment they are in”. And that some schools lack the response of teachers and

school officials that leaves the bullies with power to control the environment around the victim.
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With that being said teachers have the responsibility to prevent any possible harm to students in

the school setting. In an article from the American Journal of Health Studies, titled “High School

Health Teachers’ Knowledge of Adolescent Suicide” states that high school teachers work with

the population which are adolescents that have the largest ratio of suicide attempts to

completions and because of their role of being teachers they are in an ideal position to identify

those at risk for suicide. However, teachers are not properly trained in performing the appropriate

steps taken when a student threaten suicide. The American Journal of Health Studies claim that

teachers are not properly trained because of the lack of information about suicide in teacher

education programs. Many argue that the schools system should be responsible for the lack of

training that teacher have and the result of what is happening in school such as bullying and

suicide. In an article written by Izzy Kalman, titled “Why Schools deny that Bullying causes

suicide”, suggest that students that commit suicide is usually because of a current painful

situation that they did not know how to handle. Kalman explains further that the reason why

schools don’t think that bullying causes suicide is because of self protection. Since schools have

the responsibility to prevent bullying and that students have the basic right to attend school

without being bullied, has been authorized by law. Yet despite these laws, and despite the

anti-bullying lessons in schools, bullying continues to be persistent and students “continue to

commit suicide because they cannot tolerate being bullied”.

Bullying has been a part of a underlying issue in education. There are various aspects of

bullying and the responses of the school system on bullying that are highly debated. Among

these are the push and pull factors on what the school system is doing about bullying, what the

school system can do better and the link that bullying has on suicide. It is argued that schools are
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lacking of being aware along with reporting bullying. It is also argued that schools are doing as

much as they can and have so much already going on and to safeguard students well being is real

challenge itself. Many agree that there is a need for more involvement and communication from

the school system. Some believe that schools are not to blame for bullying and the result that

bullying can cause, while others believe schools should own up to their lack of awareness and

take responsibility. How the school system in general go about bullying in the future is unclear.

Despite all of the claims made, one thing that everyone can agree on is that bullying should be

properly handled and most definitely should not be ignored.

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Works Cited

Batsche, George M., and Howard M. Knoff. “Bullies and Their Victims: Understanding a

Pervasive Problem in the Schools.” ​School Psychology Review,​ vol. 23, no. 2, June 1994, p. 165.

EBSCOhost​.

Kalman, Izzy.​“Why Schools Deny That Bullying Causes Suicide.” ​Psychology Today​, Sussex

Publishers,

www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/resilience-bullying/201403/why-schools-deny-bullying-caus

es-suicide​.

King, Keith A., et al. “High School Health Teachers’ Knowledge of Adolescent Suicide.”

American Journal of Health Studies,​ vol. 15, no. 3, June 1999, pp. 156–163. ​EBSCOhost.​

​Lindstrom Johnson, Sarah, et al. “Parental Responses to Bullying: Understanding the Role of

School Policies and Practices.” ​Journal of Educational Psychology,​ vol. 111, no. 3, Apr. 2019,

pp. 475–487. ​EBSCOhost​, doi:10.1037/edu0000295.

Whitson, Signe.“What Parents Can Do When Bullying Is Downplayed at School.” ​Psychology

Today​, Sussex Publishers,

www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/passive-aggressive-diaries/201203/what-parents-can-do-whe

n-bullying-is-downplayed-school​.

Zimmerman, Alex. Wall, Patrick.​“Schools' Response to Bullying Is Questioned after Fatal

School Stabbing.” ​Chalkbeat​, 30 Sept. 2017,

www.chalkbeat.org/posts/ny/2017/09/29/schools-response-to-bullying-is-questioned-after-fatal-s

chool-stabbing/​.