“Bullying"
Did you know that 1 in every 4 teenagers are bullied somehow in public schools every day? School bullying nationwide is a growing problem. Unfortunately, it would not be likely that it could be stopped 100%, but it is possible that you can prevent others from being harmed at your school. If you do this, you can make a difference, and you can possibly save lives.
There are bullies everywhere. They can be children or they can even be adults. A bully is someone who repeatedly intimidates, harasses, discourages, saddens, or harms someone. Though these people come in all shapes and sizes, they seem to be found mostly in public schools, whether it's elementary, middle, or high school. Studies show that 25-35% of teens encountered some type of bullying in their lifetime (Melton et al, 1988; Nansel et al, 2001). Most of the states of America have some type of laws on bullying, while six of them don’t. Even though there are laws, school bullying still seems to be an ongoing issue. To the bully, it may be just joking around. But to the victim, and in fact, it's NOT just joking around.
A frequently asked question by many is why do teenagers bully? Well, in a lot of cases, teens who bully can be in bad home environments. They can be verbally or physically abused at home, and anger and sadness gradually builds inside of them. They find away to take it out on people, and they usually take it out on people who they know won't stand up to them. That’s why you see a lot of bullies pick on the quiet people who appear to have low self-esteem. But once that happens, a lot can go wrong. If the victim gets bullied repeatedly, they can develop depression. And that's when they can become unsafe to themselves or to others.
When a teenager gets bullied for a long period of time, they can have disturbed thoughts. Some teenagers get so troubled that their actions can be almost impossible to comprehend. In extreme cases, someone, between the bully and the victim, ends up...