Bullying: What Schools Can Do About It

Bullying is a serious issue that needs to be addressed and dealt with on a regular basis. It is hard to focus on learning when you are the victim of bullying. Your thoughts are preoccupied with worries such as "what if this happens" or "what if that happens". And when you cannot focus on learning, you do not learn to your full potential. And when you do not learn to your full potential, you could be hindered from accomplishing your dreams or reaching your goals.

Being bullied could cause students to have behavior problems, lose interest in learning, or cope in negative ways.

The following are steps schools can take to stomp out bullying:

*Have meetings with parents, students and staff about bullying behaviors and how to deal with them.

*Send out newsletters to parents, students, and staff addressing bullying behavior.

*Monitor bullies.

*Train teachers to recognize symptoms of abuse, and act as quickly as possible by involving a school counselor. By providing appropriate intervention students can be "[helped to fulfill] their highest potentials academically, personally, and socially." (Brown, Brack, and Mullins, 2008)

Thought Provoking Quote: To educate a person in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society. ~Theodore Roosevelt