Bullying in Schools: Complete Prevention is Possible

In 2001 the Kaiser Foundation, Nickelodeon and Children Now performed a bullying study (Talking With Kids About Tough Issues). The results were startling. A full 86% of children 12-15 reported being bullied at school. Statistics of other age groups were equally disappointing. This clearly places bullying as the number one childhood social issue, far above sex, drugs, smoking, and even peer pressure. According to CNN (Kids rate bullying and teasing as 'big problem' 2001), clear links to bullies and their victims have been defined among the growing problem of school shootings. Bullying is no longer a "right of passage" in school. It is a national epidemic with consequences which are beginning to be measured with startling findings with each new study.

According to Focus Adolescent Services, bystanders also play a role in bullying. Often an "assistant" will jump into the fray, assisting the bully. This can lead to the formation of gang violence, even in rural schools. "Reinforcers" are bystanders who encourage the bully by sensationalizing the event. This can happen by chanting "fight, fight, fight" or by something as simple as laughing at the event. Bullies read those social responses as reinforcing cues, often escalating the attacks. "Inactive observers" also contribute. Complete inaction is a passive reinforcement of the bullying behavior. Children may fear becoming the next victim or being labeled as a snitch, and as a result, they witness bullying and do nothing. This apparent lack of regard further victimizes the target of the bully, reinforcing that they deserve what they get and that the bullying is justly observed by their peers. The inaction also empowers the bully to continue; because the bully often derives his satisfaction from the terrorism of others, the idea that others are afraid to act is a great source of satisfaction.

What can we learn from the contributions of bystander reinforcement? We can derive that the greater the level of bystander reinforcement, the greater the victimization. Victims are terrorized, not only by the bully, but often indirectly by the bystanders themselves. In some cases this can make up the bulk of the social network a child is in, (i.e., the bulk of students in a school and even the school staff who did not intervene enough). The victims are outcasts from their social society, leaving them little chance to thrive. Often, the only source of social integration for bullying victims can be found with other outcasts. It is no surprise that such long-term victimization can eventually lead to a violent backlash. I am not suggesting that students and school staff who are murdered by an outcast student necessarily had it coming; only that violent backlash from bullying victims is no great surprise.

The bully him/herself is of no great immediate concern. It may be a surprising statement but the reality is that bullying must be addressed from a broader perspective. That is to say, one can and should try to discern the motivations of the bully, and actively support him/her, but at an appropriate time. The social injustices and incivilities of the bully should never be fostered to begin with. One can diagnose and discuss at minutia the causes and motivations of the bully. To do so in a practical application is lipstick on the pig, often leading to a delay in any real or effective action. It is obvious that primary consideration must be given to the victim of a bully, and that support, assistance and immediate inclusion into the social community of the victim is key to minimizing the victimization effects. First and foremost, the victim must receive the immediate time and attention needed. Victims should and indeed must never be allowed to become outcasts as a result of their victimization. To maximize the resources for a bullying victim, it may often be necessary for the bully to be temporarily removed so more resources are immediately available for the victim. At the root of all bullying is power. Power is a social construct and as such, for power to exist there must be a power holder and power observers. To observe the power of the bully is to empower him/her. The root of undermining the actions and motivations of the bully is to attack the perception of power. Removing the power observers is the single greatest element to the prevention of power attainment by bullies. Once this has been dutifully reinforced, only then should the bully him/herself be addressed.

The appropriate response by schools to bullying is less complex than such a large issue would appear to warrant. The victimization of public school children by bullies and social participants has gotten to epidemic proportions, warranting clinical concerns and is absolutely unacceptable in an environment where adequate control is possible. Dr. Jed Baker observed that "over 90% of children with Aspergers Syndrome are bullied" and as a result, Baker developed a remarkable program which completely eliminated bullying among Aspergers children in Millburn Public Schools in New Jersey, according to ABC News and Nightline. Is this program all that remarkable and can those results be duplicated in other schools? No it's not remarkable and yes, it works elsewhere. Bakers program is successful because it relies on the students themselves to do away with bullying, and bridges the social connection between the Aspergers children and the neurotypical students. In fact, many schools have developed similar programs for Aspergers children. However, the basic principals of this program have a relationship to bullying of all kinds. Removing "power observers" is key and it starts with education and peer participation. Adequate education of students in public schools about bullying is crucial. The current education of students is generally inadequate in several ways, often lacking these five fundamental principles:

1. All Students need to be made aware that they are already involved when they observe an act of bullying. Students can not avoid involvement and reinforcement of bullying through inaction, bystander reinforcement and assisting are all behaviors which contribute to the bullying behavior. All students need to understand that if they observe bullying, they have a responsibility to act, and that failing to do so will result in personal culpability.

2. All Students need to be told that someone who is being bullied is a "victim" because without a label, many students might not realize the severity of the incivility or injustice. Students do not necessarily empathize with those being bullied, especially when those people might be very different. Children should be taught through clear and unmistakable language that bullying victims are real people who are being hurt and deserve help.

3. All Students need to understand the importance of social inclusion for victims. Students need to be taught that students are at risk of being made to feel like outcasts and what that means. Personal responsibility to your community begins with the active understanding and social inclusion of others at risk of being outcast. This type of education can foster a type of social "volunteerism" benefitting those active students by giving them a sense of "being a good person". Remarkable numbers of students can and will step up if someone takes the time to explain what they can do to help. In a school setting, this type of social volunteerism is best implemented when there is a constructed system to recognize the efforts of the students who actively reach out to the bullying victim.

4. All Students need to understand that the exercise of these basic bullying responses can directly minimize the danger of deadly violence in their school. "Research by the Secret Service and the U.S. Department of Education involving 37 school shootings, including Columbine, finds that about two-thirds of student shooters felt bullied, harassed, threatened or injured by others." (psychologymatters.org). Students who see a personal benefit of greater safety for themselves are more inclined to act. Put simply, the more legitimate reasons students have to actively strip the observational power from bullies, the more likely they will.

5. All Students need to be taught to actively recognize the positive actions of other students who do report a bully or otherwise get involved. "Doing the right thing" should be rewarded by their peers. This is important because a simple "good job" by a staff member may not nearly approximate the value of their actions as recognized by their peers. Active construction of peer based recognition is invaluable and teaches moral lessons for all involved.

Disempowering bullies at an early age may thwart future incidents. Society as a whole has an inherent interest in early bully intervention because 60% of those characterized as bullies in grades 6-9 had at least one criminal conviction by age 24 (Olweus, 1993). As more data is uncovered, more and more indicators point to the lifelong detriment to everyone involved in bullying. There is a serious interest in attending to the social education of the bully. The education of the bully him/herself is quite different. The bully must understand how the victim is made to feel and that bullying does not equate to power, popularity or social inclusion. The act of power attainment by the bully must be thwarted on a case by case basis. The bully must be shown options which are empowering or beneficial to his/her specific needs while at the same time, made to understand how the act of bullying actually undermines the goals he/she has. This should be accomplished through social education and role-play. A simple punishment may not be enough to thwart future bullying. Punishment may simply challenge the bully to become more vigilant to terrorize others to a greater degree in an effort to attain greater power and not get reported. Time spent with the bully is the answer. Time spent working on social skills and self discovery is, at first, often viewed as more punitive but in the end, generally more valuable. Addressing the actual bully is not the first priority in effecting a successful environment free of bullying; it is however a necessary step to the process. The inclusion of peers to support the social value of the bully should be the last step. Often, the inclusion of a bully by his peers is new territory to be discovered and should be supervised. This is best implemented while segregating the bully from his henchmen, if any are easily recognized.

The very best news is that the fundamental approach to the problem of school bullying is at almost no financial cost for schools. It can be easily argued that the benefit of a basic bullying program is money in the coffers, because it actively works to fend off liabilities for the schools who actively participate. Schools with good bullying programs see a higher rate of graduation and less school violence. The benefits to students are obvious, creating a safer school environment and producing graduates who possess a greater sense of community responsibility and volunteerism.

One Source Reference: Olweus, D. (1993). BULLYING AT SCHOOL: WHAT WE KNOW AND WHAT WE CAN DO. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell. ED 384 437.