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Benjamin Longman
ENGL 2010-008
Jim Beatty
04, April, 2016
Dont ignore me
Bullying is a problem that has plagued many people. Its victims feel alone and as if no
one cares about them. They constantly seek acceptance from people but these victims are
constantly ignored by their peers, and sometimes even their own school teachers and
administrators. Schools and administrators are influential in helping these victims overcome the
effects of bullying. Schools need to address the bullying problem and provide solutions, such as
engaging students in their work, that help the victims overcome bullying.
Bullying happens in many different ways and in many different places. Three ways in
which victimization takes place is overt, relational, and cyber victimization (Fite, P. J., Williford,
A., Cooley, J. L., DePaolis, K., Rubens, S. L., & Vernberg, E. M. 2013). Overt victimization is
the physical act of hurting someone such has hitting or shoving. Relational victimization is
diminishing a childs reputation with their piers by isolating them from groups or spreading
rumors about them. Cyber victimization is unique as this takes place either on line or via phone
and is not bound by school hours or school halls. There are a few gender and age differences on
when these form of victimization happen. For example overt victimization occurs mostly with
boys and decreases with age and relational victimization increases as children age and may
become more prominent in girls peer networks as they age (Fite, P. J., Williford, A., Cooley, J.
L., DePaolis, K., Rubens, S. L., & Vernberg, E. M. 2013). Studies suggest that victimization
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occurs in many locations within the school, but is most likely to take place in large areas where
fewer rules and constraints exist, the ratio of students to teachers is high, and adults are limited in
their ability to monitor and provide supervision (Fite, P. J., Williford, A., Cooley, J. L., DePaolis,
K., Rubens, S. L., & Vernberg, E. M. 2013). These locations are not hard to figure out. The
playground (for elementary school kids), the lunchroom, hallway, and large classes are all places
where this is the case. In fact in a study done by the cited authors above, found that reports of
bullying reported among a group of 2nd through 5th graders were 58.4% on the playground (Fite,
P. J., Williford, A., Cooley, J. L., DePaolis, K., Rubens, S. L., & Vernberg, E. M. 2013); which
makes t sense because when I was a victim of bullying it seemed as if the playground was a
forest full of different animals. I was deer being stocked by packs of wolfs all trying to assert
dominance among different packs by picking on me. It is not fair nor safe for children to be
bullied at school so it is imperative that along with what needs to be done in the home, schools
do their part with increasing supervision and putting in programs to help the victim so they can
be successful in school.
With the fact that bullying takes places were supervision is limited people will argue that
you cant increase supervision because schools are overcrowded and it would be more expensive
to have more teachers in a classroom and monitoring the halls. Also teachers and administrators
might think if I dont see it its not a problem and if I dont see it there is nothing I can do for the
victim. True that increasing supervision in crowded places might be hard to do, but teachers can
help the victim without even knowing they are helping the victim. An Article done By L.J.
Bennet found that successful students who had been bullied had engaging work and activities to
do in class to keep them engaged in their work and their minds off their tormentors (2009). This
Article took a study in which they asked successful high school students enrolled in AP style
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classes and succeeding in high school and incarcerated youth who had all been bullied a series of
qualitive data questions. The research found that these kids were successful because they had
three things, a place of refuge and safety, responsible, caring adults, and a sense of future
possibility (Bennett L.J. 2009). The administrators and Teachers can make sure school is a place
for students to receive all of these things at the school and not just the bullying.
To have a place of refuge victims need either a place to go or someone to trust. Schools
teachers and administrators can ensure this by making sure that there are clubs, sports teams, or
engaging after school activities such as study groups, so victims dont fear coming to school,
they start to enjoy it. L.J. Bennets article not only focused on successful students but
incarcerated youth that had been bullied as well. While interviewing them they said that they
found safety and satisfaction with gangs and other illegal activities because they felt teachers and
administrators didnt help them with their work and did not engage with them, which increased
their sense of not belonging in school and looked for outside sources to feel this void (2009). It
says Loss of a single, caring teacher, increased class size, and more lecture-driven pedagogy all
had an impact; school work became less differentiated, less interactive, less focused on
individual student needsboth harder (in its lack of adult supervision) and more boring at the
same time. The middle school structure also impeded the development of relationships between
students and any of the adults in school, in that there were simply too many students for each
teacher to look after (Bennett L.J.2009). One way to combat this, which this article states is to
keep their work engaging and help them see that it has a benefit for the future. One way to do
this is to have projects the students pick or find engaging that goes along with what you are
trying to teach. For example a student may not like doing a book report but instead of him or her
doing a book report of the teachers choice have him or her pick the topic that he finds interesting
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that goes along with what you are trying to teach. This makes it Imperative to have responsible
adults to go the extra mile as to help the victim even if they dont know who the victims are.
Teachers are very important in making sure that students are not only taught what they
need to know to be successful in life, but also act as the dominate adult figure and step in to help
the victim. However this is easier said than done. In a personal interview with a 7th grade
teacher from Robious middle school stated that. Teachers do receive training but it consist of
recognizing signs of bullying then sending victims and bullies to counselors and that students
dont come to the teachers for help unless there is an relationship (2016). Also he stated that the
kids have all heard the training before and dont care much attention. He stated that there needs
to be a change in how we go about teaching students about bullying as they dont pay attention to
the teaching programs we have in place now. He said that there needs to be new material on the
subject and that is something that needs to be implemented. Sometimes the most powerful way
to get to students is to make it local. Schools can take stories of students who have suffered from
bulling at that specific school who have been successful to share their stories, also they should
take stories of kids of their school who have not turned out so well and share their story so kids
can learn the negative effects of being a bully and that victims may learn to overcome those
affects. To be a caring adult we must show interest in the student and give them a vision for the
future.
Adults must help the victims see that there is hope for the future. That this is just a small
aspect of time. They have to be successful in the field they are in. As they see they are
succeeding in school, club, or sports team, they feel a sense of satisfaction and it feels the void of
loneliness and of uselessness. Teachers and administrators must point this out to the victims by
simply paying attention to each of their students and improvements they are making, and
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congratulating the student, and even if they dont know who the victims are, they should never
isolate the student and always make them feel that their work is appreciated. For me this was
huge as I was successful in school and as teachers encouraged me in my school work I realized
my potential and that these teachers encouraged my dreams and were helping me get there I was
able to ignore the isolating and depressing comments and found satisfaction in myself and my
accomplishments and I didnt need other peoples approval.
Schools can help foster the attitude needed to overcome bullying by providing programs,
engaging education and helping victims see that the future is bright. With these in place the
victims will start to. "Stem from a belief that they are not what they are called but what they
believe they can be, they will no longer believe the bullies. That of course the words hurt but
their lives will always be a balancing act that deals less with pain but more with beauty.(Koyzan
K. 2013). Bullying is a problem and we might not always be able to provide more supervision,
but as we focus on supporting the victim they will be able to rise from the ashes of their despair
and turn that pain and hurt to become motivated members of society and contribute strength and
love to are future generations.

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Bibliography
Bennett, L. J. (2009). What Schools Do To/For Kids Who Have Been Bullied. Curriculum &
Teaching Dialogue, 11(1/2), 275-292.
Fite, P. J., Williford, A., Cooley, J. L., DePaolis, K., Rubens, S. L., & Vernberg, E. M. (2013).
Patterns of Victimization Locations in Elementary School Children: Effects of Grade Level and
Gender. Child & Youth Care Forum, 42(6), 585-597. doi:10.1007/s10566-013-9219-9
Koyczan, S. (Producer). (2013 February). To This Day for the Bullied and Beautiful. Ted
Talks. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/shane_koyczan_to_this_day_for_the

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_bulied_and_beautiful.

Benjamin Longman