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Bullying as a Highly Problematic Social Phenomenon
Bullying is one of the most widespread social problems of the contemporary society, which takes a form of aggression and assault towards children from the side of peers or adults. Physical, verbal, sexual, and emotional abuse are the most common forms of bullying, which harm millions of children all over the world. Bullying is one of the continually dangerous problems, which damage social prosperity and overall health (Barkan, 2014). Bullies often use their power in order to dominate and control others through humiliation. Primarily, bullying takes place at school when the dominance of elder students is obvious and they use it to put pressure on children. In general, this problem creates tension in the society and ruins a principle behavior of many children. Moreover, there were cases, when bullying led to suicide.
The outcomes of the problem are dramatic, which leads to significant changes in the development of children suffering from bullying. In addition, bullies also have a negative effect on personal behavior further in life. Victims of bullying suffer from depression, loneliness, and sadness. Children may lose interest in their hobbies or anything they enjoyed doing before abuse took place. In addition, there is a decreased level of academic achievements, which can lead to the drop out of school. Bullies, in their turn, may suffer from alcohol abuse, vandalize school’s property, involve into criminal activity, and start abusing their relatives.
The problem is an alarming one for social workers, teachers, and parents of children suffering from bullying. As long as the outcomes of the problem are significant, it is necessary to take action. In addition, the discussed problem has a long history, which means that society still has not invented an appropriate preventive measure. It can become a serious threat to the welfare and sustainability of the future generations. In order to think about techniques and methods of solving the problem, it is necessary to start from identifying its historical development.
History of Bullying
Bullying has not always been a social problem; however, it has a long history worth discussing in order to see the roots of this social issue. Bullying started to evolve in the 18th century in the form of verbal harassment. It was hard to understand the issue and recognize it. Bullying as a social phenomenon started to develop in the 19th century. Physical bullying led to isolation, aggression, depression, and even death. However, it was viewed as a common stage of a teenager’s development. It must be the reason, which led to the development and evolution of the problem. Otherwise, it is possible to assume that bullying would not be ruining the lives of millions of children today. By the end of the 19th century, newspapers started to pay attention to the rising problem, which worried parents and schoolteachers. However, the first critical case was that of a soldier who suffered from bullying and died because of abuse. Before the case, everybody used to consider bullying as a normal social behavior, which did not intend to harm anyone. The preventive measures started being developed only at the end of the 20th century when psychologists began researching the problem. However, psychologists tried to create a system of preventive measures only after the case when two teenagers came to school and shot their classmates who bullied them.
Nevertheless, bullying at school continues to evolve and takes new forms spreading with the help of Internet. Cyberbullying is a contemporary term of bullying, which uses the Internet as a helpful method of spreading information through social networks. As long as the technological era goes through its stages of evolution, bullying develops too. It means that it is hard to design effective measures, which will prevent children and teenagers from abusing their peers. However, it is necessary to think about an appropriate system, which will help to reduce the number of children suffering from bullying.
Personal Theory Aimed to Overcome the Problem
As long as bullying is a serious problem, which involves many participants, it is necessary to design a program to curb it in several directions. Teachers and administrative personnel as well as parents and students should be involved in the process of combating bullying. All these stakeholders should be interested in participation in the program aimed at reducing bullying. Teachers should be the ones detecting bullying, which should continue the involvement of parents and students. Students can help in creating anti-bullying forces and informative sources for parents. They can tell their parents about the latest technological devices and applications on cell phones, which can spread bullying. Teachers, in their turn, should be the ones setting positive expectations about the reduction of bullying. Activity is the source of changes for students and educational sector in general.
Secondly, parents should also participate in the prevention of bullying. It is necessary to evaluate the first signs of suffering from bullying in the child’s behavior. Ripped clothes, nightmares, or sadness can become serious issues indicating that a child is a victim of bullying. If there are any of these signs, parents should teach their child how to behave. Children should learn how to ignore and develop appropriate ways of coping with bullies. For example, they should avoid being alone at school or respond to bullying with the same violence. In addition, reporting on bullying can be an effective measure if every student is ready to report without fear of facing bullying. In the majority of cases, it is a problem which psychologists should try to solve in order to make children brave. In these terms, it is possible to claim that there all chances to stop bullying.
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