Molly Loeffelholz Terah Slawnikowski Ben Kucinski “Bullies thrive wherever authority is weak.” –Unknown-

The Statistics 71% of students report bullying as being a problem in their school.

 5% of students admit to seeing a student with a gun in school.

 Out of all high school drop outs, 10% of students drop out because of excessive bullying?

 An estimated 160,000 students miss school every day due to fear of attack or intimidation by other students.

What is Bullying  A form of intimidation or domination toward someone who is perceived as weaker: a symbol of power imbalance  Negative behavior/attacks are often repeated and grow in intensity.  Bullying can be defined as physical or verbal attacks, making threats, spreading rumors, and excluding someone from a group.

Types of Bullying  Physical: fighting  Verbal: name calling, slurs dealing with Race and sexual orientation, gossip  Cyber: attacks on sights like facebook, involving name calling, pictures. It also can be done via texting or other electronic devices.

Bullies vs. Bullied Bullies…  Often have problems at home  Use bullying as a form of control  Bullies show low levels of empathy  Do not control emotions well Bullied… o Often someone of a different race, religion, sexual orientation, or size o Students with better grades o People with mental disabilities o Friendly people who are likely to stick up for others who are bullied

Effects of Bullying Bullies…  Likely face depression, especially if they face the severity of their actions  More likely to abuse substances: drugs, alcohol, etc.  Increases likelihood of future encounters with the law  Are more likely to struggle with relationships and can even be abusive Bullied…  Depression and anxiety  Changes in sleep and eating patterns  Loss of interest in activities  Health complaints  Decreased academic achievement  More likely to miss/skip school and even drop out  Retaliation: In 12 of 15 school shooting cases in the 1990s, the shooters had a history of being bullied  Cutting, and even suicide

Effects of Bullying: Video  u8W8ss&feature=related u8W8ss&feature=related

School faculty and Bullying  Teachers should intervene and care about their students, but here are some of the reports of faculty “intervention.” January 2010, Phoebe Prince age15, committed suicide because of excessive bullying. After the death, a faculty member who had worked in the library that same day recalled seeing Phoebe being harassed but did nothing. It was said that the bullying of Phoebe was “common knowledge” in the school.

 A 1991 study found that parents and teachers greatly underestimate the frequency of bullying.  The same study showed that 71% felt that they intervened often or most of the time. However, the students saw this happen only 23% of the time.

Protecting the Students  When it comes to laws formed in Indiana in order to prevent bullying in schools, Indiana is given a B+. However, the trouble comes when teachers do not enforce laws and rules which emphasize the importance of students’ rights to feel safe at school.