Violence In Schools: Bullying In The United States

Bullying in US Schools

Recent events in the United States have thrown the state, and safety, of Middle and High Schools into sharp relief. Incidents of violence seem to be more and more frequent in our schools. Columbine is of course the most memorable of these media sensations to be witnessed by the public, but there have certainly been others over the past decade. This has inspired a great many investigations into ‘bullies,' their methods, and the effects on their victims. One study defined bullies as "youngsters who repeatedly use negative actions, such as physical or verbal aggression, against victims." (I. Pellegrini & Bartini M, 1999) What follows is an examination of some of these studies, and a pooling of their research and
One study reported the following statistics:
First, regarding the occurrence of bullying, victimization, and aggressive victimization in a sample of early adolescents, we found that 14% of our sample were bullies, 18% were victims, and 5% were aggressive victims. (I. Pellegrini & Bartini M, 1999)
They also stated that: Specific to school functioning, bullies' aggressive values and behavior are often at odds with the majority of students (who are nonaggressive) and the more general school ethos. This leads to aggressive youngsters being rejected by peers and being viewed negatively by teachers. (I. Pellegrini & Bartini M, 1999)

They found these statistics to be in line with other studies conducted that used similar means (other studies referenced in their study). However, a study conducted by the University of Illinois, reported by CNN (IV. Price & Reuters, 1999), found that the occurrences of bullying were far more common:
The study of 558 students in a Midwestern middle school found that 80 percent said their behavior included physical aggression, social ridicule, teasing, name-calling and issuing threats within the previous 30
A student might feel they are only ‘joking around' with another student, while that student might feel that they are being bullied. Though victimization complexes can play a part in perceived bullying, and therefore may color the results of certain studies, they are not our focus here. So how do we decide what constitutes bullying? Besides the definition provided in the introduction, one study asked students "three items that assessed bullying by peers ("gets picked on," "gets teased or made fun of," and "gets hit or pushed.")" (III. Schwartz & Proctor, 2000) Though any of these could be construed in many ways, they hold a common meaning for most students. "Gets made fun of" seems to carry an especially negative connotation. The understanding is that this is not just joking or roughhousing among friends, but non-consensual bullying. The forms that this can take are varied, and often stereotyped, such as the taking of a student's lunch money, verbal abuse (involving foul language or otherwise), teasing in the locker room, and so on. Intentional intimidation also falls into this