by Ishmael Sutton
According to dosomething.org over 3.2 million students are victims of bullying each year. Fifty-six percent of students have personally witnessed some form of bullying at school. Also, Seventy-one percent of students report incidents of bullying as a problem at their school. Bullying can cause depression, low self-esteem and self-harm. Bullying is known to be a serious issue all over the world.
Ways to prevent bullying are getting professional help such as counseling or seeing a therapist.When one sees a student bullying another student deal with the students individually at a later time. When one sees someone in a bullying situation intervene and speak up or pull them away from the situation.
Many students at Athens have experienced bullying firsthand. One student, who wishes to remain anonymous, tells about his experience with bullying. He used to get bullied in middle school and responded by attempting to fight the bully back in self-defense. He was emotionally beat-down. He also went to the principals for help, but they did nothing.
“It’s a mind game, you have to be strong mentally and emotionally,” said the anonymous source.
The main people that could help and was there for him was his parents. He was always in the counselor’s office. The bullies apologized to him at some point, but it never changed what the bullies did and how it affected him.
“One time in middle school I was looking out the window, and the whole class started chanting for me to jump out the window, then they all got suspended,” said the anonymous source.
He feels angry but also sorry for the person when he sees someone getting bullied. He tries to help prevent bullying by stepping in and pulling someone away from a situation involving bullying.
He suggests to anyone to get help immediately if you see someone getting bullied or if you are the one being bullied. He also revealed that at one point bullying caused him to bully others to let out frustration and anger.
The most important thing he learned was to never be afraid to get help. He is now in a “stand up to bullying” club where they think of ways to prevent bullying.
“Bullies feel low about themselves so they bully others to make themselves feel better,” said the anonymous source.
Some ways to help students who have been bullied or prevent bullying are suggesting to peers to join an anti-bullying club. Having students practice speaking up and intervening can help prevent bullying, rather than being a bystander. Also, educating students on how to recognize bullying and helping students create healthy but effective ways to reject negative comments can help prevent bullying.
