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English 111
11-21-15
Putting an End to Bullying
Bullying has been sweeping the nation for the last couple of
years and no one has seemed to have noticed it. People need to
open their eyes to see what is happening in schools. Can they not
see the harm of bullying? They need to get a reality check and
see what problems bullying is causing. Bullying without a doubt
is horrible to be a victim of. No one has really made an effort
to stop this and it continues to hurt the children.
The devastating effect of bullying is inhumane, but it can
come to an end by punishing the bullies for their mischievous
acts and by introducing programs in schools that can help prevent
bullying. Bullying occurs throughout schools and causes
devastating effects on innocent children. Not only does it affect
the child that is being bullied, but it affects their parents,
siblings, friends, and the entire community they live in. Studies
show that bullying causes depression, isolation, absenteeism, an
aversion to risk taking and poor academic performance (Ollove). A
lot of these effects hold the children behind because children
wont want to take risks, will do poorly on education, or isolate
them from other people. One effect that is very important to take

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notice on is death. There are many students who commit suicide
to escape bullying. About 4,000 teen suicides occur from bullying
every year (Dalton). Suicide should never be the answer for
escaping bullying. Many children who have been, or are being,
bullied know that there is no escape from it. Bullying takes
place at school, on the computer, or in local areas. They find
that the only way to escape bullying is death because no one will
bully them once theyre dead. Also the fear of attending school
frightens the victims of bullying. Each day an estimated 160,000
students miss school for fear of being bullied and 10 percent of
students who drop out of school do so because of bullying
(Dalton).
Bullying can take its toll on people and cause that person
to commit suicide. Kenneth Weishuhn was a student who lived in
Paulina, Iowa and was bullied for revealing his true sexual
orientation to his close friends. Kenneth was 14 years old and
attended South OBrien High School as a freshmen. After he came
out everything went downhill for him. He was bullied and received
threatening phone calls, which lead to him committing suicide. He
was found in his garage hanging from the ceiling (Toppo).
One way to make sure bullying stops is to create laws that
punish bullies. Punishing the bullies shows them that what
theyre doing is wrong and has consequences. They have to know

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that it is wrong to tease and harm another student. By
establishing laws that punish the bullies there can be justice
served. Many states are presently considering passing laws
against bullies. With the Signature of Andrew M. Cuomo, governor
of New York, legislation to confront the long-festering problem
of bullying moves from the capital and back to schools,
communities, and homes where the power to act has always resided.
With the new State law, which takes effect next year, Albany has
more clear responsibility (Schools Have Work to Do).
If other states are actually passing these laws, then whats
stopping other states from doing so? Its possible that the law
may eventually need to be toughened to add criminal penalties for
cyber bullying, including jail time (Schools Have Work to Do).
This sounds perfect to the ears of the victims of bullying. By
adding criminal penalties these bullies will shiver at the
thought of bullying another child.
Not only can bullying be prevented by passing laws, but it
also can be prevented by adapting programs in schools that help
teach and prevent bullying. Many of these programs have been
achieving great success with lowering bullying in school. In 2010
one program that has been working in Richardson, Texas is RTime. R-Time gathers up kids from a class and pairs them up
with another student, so that they can get to know each other.

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The program occurs once a week in every classroom. After a year
of using this method the percentage of bullying went from a 48
percent to a 8 percent (Weiss). Another program that is being
used around schools in Massachusetts is No Name Calling Day.
This program is very effective. The objective of the program is
to not use profanity towards any one in school (Khadroo). Many
students dont realize how words can hurt until they have been
said (Khadroo).Programs like No Name Calling Day. and R-Time
show us hope that it will come to an end.
Nearly everyone has been bullied once in their lifetime and
they understand the devastating effect it has, but it can come to
an end by punishing bullies for their mischievous acts and by
introducing programs in schools that can help prevent bullying.
Bullying is increasing in every school and has yet to be put to
an end. This needs to be heard by everyone, so they can
immediately spread the word about these situations that are
occurring. The brutal effects have been continuing without anyone
paying attention. By passing laws that punish the bullies there
will be a decrease in bullying and also adding programs that help
prevent any of this from continuing. Without a doubt bullying is
very harmful to not just the victim, but everyone who is
involved, so thats why bullying should be put to an end.

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Works Cited

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Dalton, Rick and Virginia Wilkins. The Way to Stop School
Bullying: Student Mentors. Christian Science Monitor. 28
Oct 2011: n.p Sirs Issues Researcher. Web 18 Nov. 2015
Khadroo, Stacy Teicher. One Schools Anti-Bullying Idea: No
Name Calling Day.Christian Science Monitor. 28 Apr 2010:
n.p. Sirs Issues Researcher Web. 18 Nov 2015.
Ollove, Micheal. Bullying and Teen Suicide: How Do We Adjust
School Climate? Christian Science Monitor. 28 Apr 2010:
n.p. Sirs Issues Researcher. Web. 18 Nov 2015.
Schools Have Work to Do. Buffalo News 11 Jul 2012: n.p. Sirs
Issues Researcher. Web. 18 Nov 2015.
Toppo, Greg Should Bullies Be Treated as Criminals? USA Today.
13 Jun. 2012. Web. 18 Nov. 2015
Weiss, Jeffrey. Richardson Program Wards Off Bullying By
Strengthening Bonds Between Students. Dallas News. 11 Oct.
2010. Web. 18 Nov 2015.