By: Ola Mohammed Huran

ID: U18103008

Department of Foreign Language and Literature

College of Fine Arts and Humanity

University of Sharjah

Fall 2019/2020 
 Bullying in the United States of America

Bullying is an act of mental or physical abuse, which is a very adverse act of

intimidation. It creates significant issues in society that can destroy and ruin people's lives.

Throughout the years, the bullying crisis has affected mostly school students, since most bullying

performed occurs in school, and is also known as peer victimization. Bullying can be verbal or

physical. Lately, however, cyber-bullying has also taken place on social media. The fact that

social media is accessible by almost everyone everywhere has created more negative outcomes

in terms of bullying. This research paper will discuss the phenomenon of bullying in the United

States of America. This paper will mostly focus, discuss, and study the two most common types

of bullying, which are cyber and school bullying. The paper will also include ideas and ways to

stop and reduce the act of bullying to support victims. Furthermore, the paper will also consider

how seriously to take the issue of bullying, such as the possibility of making it a crime. The

paper will also explore if there are other methods to reduce bullying.

The difference between school bullying and cyber bullying

Both types of bullying are mortifying and humiliating. A vast number of educators have

suffered from bullying over the years "According [1]to statistics reported by ABC News, nearly

30 percent of students are either bullies or victims of bullying, and 160,000 kids stay home from

school every day because of fear of bullying". However, victims are not only mentally affected,

but their whole future could be destroyed if they decided to stay at home for fear of bullying.

Also, they will not get the education they should get. Cyberbullying is identified as[1]" bullying

that takes place over digital devices like cell phones, computers, and tablets" (United States

government, 2019). Cyberbullying can be limited if parents are more concerned with their
children's activities on social media, so once they get triggered, their family will be the first to

know.

In contrast, School bullying[2] is" unwanted, aggressive behavior among school-aged

children that involves a real or perceived power imbalance. The behavior is repeated, or has the

potential to be repeated, over time", (United States government, 2019). Moreover, the bullying

victim is expected to fear school, begin to show refusing symptoms of education, such as lack of

interest in school activity and friends, skipping school days, and faking illness. This victim does

not want to confront the bully and is going to try to run away from it no matter what the

consequences are. School is where students should feel safe, equal, and to be able to share their

creative ideas well in a proper environment to learn and improve their skills with no fear or

worry of others' judgments.   

Who are the most targeted victims of bullying at school?

Several factors increase the chance of an individual being bullied. Some of these factors

are obesity or being underweight; new students joined a school, individuals who are shy and

weak to stand for themselves. Also, students with confidence issues, individuals with social

anxiety, and mental illness can be highly affected by bullying too. Additionally, people with

differences or abnormalities, in general, can be at high risk of getting bullied at school, for the

reason that students at school ages do not tend to understand that being different is very normal.

The results of these harsh actions show that victims begin skipping school, losing the ability to

share their opinions, and stop participating in the classroom, which leads to negatively affect

their academic performance. All of these facts determine that schools, teachers and parents

should focus on the bullying issue to find a solution to make school a safe place for every

student.
But why do they bully?

During the stage of transitioning from a kid to an adolescent, teenagers tend to turn their

attachments based on their mindset transition and perspective. Moreover, a new community is

very appealing during this phase. School is where kids boost their friendship circles mostly,

which defines it as the number one communicational zone for youth to find colleagues who have

similar personality characteristics and attitudes. On the other hand, the ones who are left alone

are mostly individuals with differences and who get victimized regularly.

The majority of classrooms are occupied by smart students who are shy and cannot

function well in social contexts. Besides, bullies make it harder for victimized individuals to

adapt and make new connections. However, popular adolescents in schools have many benefits

of being surrounded by many friends, so they do not get bullied. For that reason, they think their

group will always protect them.

In contrast, school students who are rejected based on their shy personality, they are most

of the time they turn out to be bullied by other kids at any phase. The educators' perspective and

mindset change in this stage of life, and this is where the idea of bullying starts and develops in

the educators' head.

Kids are used to communicating with people who speak the same language and have the

same cultural thoughts and perspectives. However, when they interact with someone who is from

a different culture, they see it as an unacceptable thing, and this is where judgments happen.

Unfortunately, these individuals do not tolerate or accept anyone different from them.
 Characteristics of Bullies

This paper will discuss the viewed points in the book [1]. The first characteristic of a

bully appears in middle school and elementary school. This type of bully acts like he owns

everything and can be a better school student and has a preferred character. The second typical

bully shows to have self-issues, has a poor sense of self, but tries to hide it through bullying

others, this type of bully spread rumors about the attacker to make the situation worse and hard

to get through. The third type of bully has many friends and well protected by them. This bully

thinks that his friends can save him and help him during the bullying incident; he is cruel

towards the victim, selfish, and unforgiving. The excitable bully does not function well in school,

keeps on blaming other kids for his failure, and does not have many friends because of his

criticism of others. The tortured bully is the one who was bullied before, and tend to cause harm

to others to feel more satisfied with himself, this kind of bully has low self-esteem and have been

struggling with family harassment The group of bullies also known as “good kids” target an

individual to bully and make him feel bad about himself, or wants to make fun of the victim so

they could sound funny. The last kind of bully has no empathy towards the victim. They attack to

feel better about themselves, to get people to trust them, and to have more power and fame upon

the school.

[1] Paraphrase, (coloroso p5p6&7).

Characteristics of cyber bullying.

What are the main significant characteristics of cyberbullying? The first characteristic is

that the victim may never acknowledge who the bully is, what he wants, or why the victim is

targeted, and who to share this issue with. On the other hand, cyberbullying has more viewers,
although they are hiding behind the screen. Furthermore, if the bully attacks through during live

stream or comments, whereas, if the internet attack happens in private chat, the victim can be the

only one who knows and witness it alone with no source of help. Then, they can hide it as well

and pretend as everything all right because seeking help seems too difficult for them. This

concludes that the cyberbully finds it easier to be harsh and rude behind the screen. Also,

cyberbully never fears if someone is watching or someone will try to be included in the situation

and stop it. Moreover, online bullies see it more fun because they get the response right away.

Final point, it is harder for adults to manage, control, or stop these attacks.

Stories told by victims of bullying.

Some victims of the bullying incident decided to share their stories with different

organizational websites, so other victims will be easy to identify before they fall on the harsh

cycle of bullying. [1] This is a day of Seth's life, Seth who is a 10-year-old said that he

approaches his mother for more lunch money, but the truth is, Seth did not need this huge

amount of money for himself and his desires. However, he appeared to be skinnier weaker and

more terrified than at any time in his life. He would get back home from school hungry and tired;

he could not wait to eat his first meal of the day. It turned out that Seth was giving his lunch cash

to a fifth grader, who was taking steps to beat and bully him if he did not pay for the bully lunch,

while the victim gained nothing.

[1]Most young schoolers do not accept the difference with love but bully. Bullying is

what happened to Norah. She is a 13 years old girl who just transferred from different customs

and traditions culture, she always felt like kids unnaturally gaze at her. She claimed that ‘’ she

does not have any friend’’. She tried to realize why they encounter her ‘one of the foreigners’ at
school. She struggled to answer the question a girl asked her is: ‘What are you like?’ It was a

considerable objection for Norah to answer this question and present herself at this age.

Do both genders get bullied in the same way, using the same style?

A[1] big part of growing up is when girls start to get treated differently from the other

gender by family, friends, and society. Does bullying differentiate between genders? A study

determined that the style of bullying among girls seems to be different from boys. The study

found that girls are bullied in the style of gossiping, spreading rumors, and using verbal bullying.

In contrast, boys are victims of physical harassment kind of violence, as beating each other’s or

starting a massive fight in big crowds. Stages of hopelessness and vast lack of interest among

victims of every kind of bullying are higher than non-victims, or the kids who only witness the

harassment without having a part in it whereas kids who do not seek help from family friends or

hotline numbers can suffer alone which puts then under higher risk of depression and suffering

from mental health issues. Victims of the horrifying harassment at the end are suffering because

they mostly find no help and no hope, which can lead to suicidal thoughts and attempts.

Bullying can cause suicide

Kids and teenagers are considering suicide as a solution to bullying. ‘’Suicide [1] is the

act of killing yourself, most often as a result of depression or other mental illness’’ (American

Psychological Association, October 2019). Suicidal thoughts require more attention to discover

the struggles before the crisis happens. One of the most important signs to acknowledge that

someone is having suicidal thoughts is [2], mentioning death all the time. As the learner begins

to suffer from having trouble eating, or the victim might start to eat too much or too little, which

are signs of emotional eating disorders. Also, other signs of suicidal thoughts can be withdrawal
from family, friends, and social contexts. The last sign to mention and can be the most crucial

one is self-harming. Self-harming is the most significant sign that happens when victims start

having thoughts of self-harm or attempting suicide but still hesitating. This action requires

immediate help-seeking, for example, transitioning the individual at high risk to a safe

environment, and moving to another school can be very beneficial.

How did the United States of America help the victims?

The higher rate of suicidal attempts in the United States of America is the main reason

why the US government has offered a hotline number for everyone who has suicidal thoughts.

Individuals who tend to suicide rarely benefit from social support from the family, friends, and

their surroundings regarding their depression levels. Unfortunately, when they try to heal

themselves and try to speak aloud their thoughts, everyone around would fight them, increase the

pressure, and their stress levels. This determines that they need professionals providing help and

a prepared place that can deal with a professional system.

Crisis Text Line provided. 741741.http://www.crisistextline.org Free, 24/7, confidential.

Based on 13 reasons why TV series, the website shows a lot of attention and support

from viewers who are oppressors where they start talking about their stories confidently.

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline DIAL: 1-800-273-8255. This number is also another

beneficial way to contact suicidal all over the globe to offer help. The lifeline and the text line

seem to get a lot of support and attention, especially in the USA, based on how many lives that

have saved and how many kids, teenagers, decided to take a step back and speak out.

Considering bullying as a crime

 Bullying is an abusive act that is unacceptable in any culture. However, child abuse,

domestic abuse is considered crimes, so when will we consider bullying as a crime? Bullying

should be considered as a crime because bullies can turn to murderers; they lead to control

everyone around them, not considering the consequences. However, bullying victims can be

affected mentally and physically, which puts them at high risk of developing depression or

suicidal attempts. Also, these childhood and adolescence events can shape the individuals'

adulthood outcomes negatively, personality, and quality of life. Additionally, bullying can harm

the affected student in different aspects of life, which should classify it as a crime.

Crimes are offenses against society similar to bullying causing long term harm to victims and

their family and friends, society as well. I believe that considering this harmful act as a crime can

limit the reoccurrence of it and hopefully prevent it.

Conclusion.

This research paper has discussed and studied the two types of bullying, cyberbullying,

and school bullying. Also, the paper included the different causes of bullying and the styles of

school bullying. Then, mentioning two stories of bullying survivors is crucial to show the terrible

effects of this act. Moreover, the paper suggested if bullying should be considered as a crime.

Additionally, I think bullying should be a crime and should be taken seriously with a sort of

punishment. Students should be provided with an awareness of the consequences of bullying on

the bullies and the victims. Finally, I chose the bullying topic in the United States of America

because the country has higher rates of bullying and suicidal attempts. This paper is trying to

suggest an effective solution to limit and reduce the act of bullying in schools and avoid suicidal

thoughts in school students.

 References

Who are the most targeted victims of bullying at school?

American SPCC, access date 26/3/2020, (https://americanspcc.org/our-

voice/bullying/statistics-and-information/).

But why do they bully?

(School Bullying : New Theories in Context ,Schott, Robin May,2014, New York :

Cambridge University Press. 129,130,132,136 ) .

Do both genders get bullied in the same way, using the same style?

Paraphrasing, (Sinem et al 1053, 1059 ).

Considering bullying as a crime.

Warning signs of suicide, Access date 2/2/2020, https://save.org/about-suicide/warning-

signs-risk-factors-protective-factors/).

Suicide prevention lifeline, 7/3/2020,

Suicide Prevention Organization, Access date 5/3/2020,

https://13reasonswhy.info/https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/

Crisis Text line Organization, Access date 2/2/2020, http://www.crisistextline.org

Bullying under the light of crime.

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