Morales-Cuevas | 1

Ambahr Morales-Cuevas

Mrs. Indira Hood-Esparza

Humanities

03 / 06 / 18

Bullying Is A Problem To The Academic Environment

All across the U.S, bullying is a problem that has affected kids of all ages in any

environment and its culture. “1 in 4 and 1 in 3 U.S. students say they have been bullied in

school.” (Stop Bullying). There are a lot of kids that have suffered from bullying all across the

US, and it’s constantly growing. “Most bullying happens in middle school, and it’s usually verbal

and social bullying.” (Stop Bullying). Bullying is usually seen in middle school, and it’s frequently

verbal and social. “5.4 million students stay home on any given day because they're afraid of

being bullied.” (Stomp Out Bullying). This is a harmful problem, because it makes kids afraid of

wanting to go to school, and they start missing days, which then affects the environment where

they are being taught, and that can lead to other students also being affected. Bullying is a

potentially damaging problem to the academic culture, because kids develop a fear against

speaking up, which affects their low grade-point average, and they become vulnerable.

Kids of all ages develop a fear against speaking up when they have been victims of

bullying. There are certain reasons for why victims do not speak up against bullying, and many

of those reasons are fairly similar. “Not only do they risk becoming the bully’s next target, but it

seems that all too often when students report on bullying, a reversal occurs and they become

the ones who are in trouble.” (Fraser, 1). Victims of bullying tend to get their tables turned, as

the bully places the blame on the victim. Not only does this bring down the victim, but it shows

that the bully might also be in pain or at fault. “The bully gives away his shame by denigrating

you and, as a result, a bully will make you experience shame about your own inadequacies.”

(Burgo, 5). This shows that both sides are affected, in some way or another, by bullying. For the
 Morales-Cuevas | 2

bully, it might not be as direct like the victim, but they do have some emotional pain by what

they might be going through at the moment. This is called the Lance Armstrong effect, and Dr.

Joseph Burgo also explains the connection between this method and the tactics that bullies use

on their victims. By doing this, he says, “Schoolyard bullies eploy identical tactics, spreading

vicious rumors and recruiting followers in order to persecute their victims.” (Burgo, 9). Through

this, knowledge, Dr. Joseph Burgo explains that both people, the bully and the victim, are both

filled with guilt and shame that might push the other to act towards the anger or shame they

feel.

Students’ emotions also contribute to their academic achievements, which have shown

to drop when dealing with bullying and the damage it leaves. A study made by UCLA

psychologists said, “The students who were rated the most-bullied performed substantially

worse academically than their peers.” (Wolpert, 2). This indicates that bullying might be a

contributing factor to students not doing their best, or the same, as other classmates. “The

students who are doing poorly are at higher risk for getting bullied, and any student who gets

bullied may become a low-achiever.” (Wolpert, 3). This also relates back to the previous

paragraph, making the connection that victims / students don’t say anything or act against

bullying in fear of being labeled or being caught in the “victim-blaming”. “Everyday, more than

280,000 students are physically attacked in schools and one out of ten students who drops out

of school mentioned repeated bullying as a factor.” (Barrington, 3). These statistics show that

bullying causes a major change and impact on a child’s willingly to graduate, or even just pass a

class. This is becoming tougher on the students, making them afraid and in pain at having to

stay in class for another minute.

Victims of bullying are constantly in fear of when they are going to get picked on again,

making them vulnerable at all moments in time. “Bullies are in a fight from vulnerability an

cannot tolerate anything that would signify weakness in them. They project onto others what

they are most defended against themselves.” (MacNamara, 5). The reason why bullies tend to
 Morales-Cuevas | 3

project certain anger or jealousy on the victim is because they might be missing that part of

them or they do not find themselves feeling a certain emotion like everyone else. “Bullies will

always hit the nerve you expose the most. What this means is that as soon as a bully finds what

triggers you, they will utilize it over and over again.” (Colaianni, 6). This tells us that students

tend to be the most vulnerable because they tend to have the same exposed “trigger”, which

then gives the bully the ability to manipulate that trigger however they would like. “They also

found that childhood exposure to bullying may partly be a symptom of pre existing

vulnerabilities.” (American Psychiatric Association, 2). This shows that from an early age, the

more children are exposed to bullying, the more they have pre existing vulnerability, which can

then become a target in their future. Not only that, but bullying can also last well into adulthood,

as a study shows that, “Kids who had been victims only (who never bullied others) had greater

risk for depressive disorders, anxiety disorders, generalized anxiety, panic disorder and

agoraphobia as adults.” (Walton). This shows, that bullying indeed, affects the victim later on,

when they become adults. It affects them mentally, and they can them develop various different

disorders.

However, some studies indicate that Bullying is not damaging to students, and makes

them a tougher person, willing to fight back. “Children who returned hostility appeared to be the

most mature.” (Debyshire). This could indicate that bullying is actually a contributing factor to

children’s maturity levels. “A study has shown that youngsters are more popular and more

admired by teachers and friends if they return schoolyard hostility of any kind.” (Debyshire). It

seems that returning hostility and standing up for themselves has a good impact and also helps

reduce vulnerability and bullying. It seems, that bullying could actually be a contributing factor to

getting rid of the problem, as research shows that it increases maturity levels in children, and

lessens vulnerability between the target and the bully.

In conclusion, bullying tends to affect students and their environment, damaging the

culture around them. Not only does this cause problems for the victim, but even the bully, and
 Morales-Cuevas | 4

the bystanders are affected as well. Their mental stability tends to decline as they feel insecure /

scared of being at school, scared of talking out loud and guilty of their actions. This is damaging

for all kids, and shows that schools should be taking action to put several rules and

punishments into place to stop this growing problem.

 Morales-Cuevas | 5

Works Cited

Fraser, Jennifer. “Why Don’t Kids Speak Up About Bullying?” The Edvocate, May 19, 2016
http://www.theedadvocate.org/why-dont-kids-speak-up-about-bullying/

Burgo, Joseph. “All Bullies Are Narcissists.” Atlantic Media Company, The Atlantic, November
14, 2013.
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/11/all-bullies-are-narcissists/281407/

Wolpert, Stuart. “Victims of Bullying Suffer Academically As Well, UCLA psychologists report.”
UCLA Newsroom, August 19, 2010.
http://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/victims-of-bullying-suffer-academically-168220

Barrington, Kate. “How Does Bullying Affect A Student’s Academic Performance?”

PublicSchoolReview.com, May 18, 2016.
https://www.publicschoolreview.com/blog/how-does-bullying-affect-a-students-academic-
performance

Walton, G. Alice. “The Psychological Effect Into Bullying Last Well Into Adulthood, Study Finds.”
Forbes Magazine, Forbes, February 21, 2013.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/alicegwalton/2013/02/21/the-psychological-effects-of-bullying-last-
well-into-adulthood-study-finds/#46994ac71592

“The Issue Of Bullying.” STOMP Out Bullying.

http://www.stompoutbullying.org/information-and-resources/about-bullying-and-
cyberbullying/issue-bullying

“Facts About Bullying.” StopBullying.gov.

https://www.stopbullying.gov/media/facts/index.html

Derbyshire, David. “Why It’s Not Always Bad To Be Bullied: Learning To Fight Back Helps
Children Mature, Says Study.” Daily Mail Online, Associated Newspapers, May 24, 2010.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1280625/Bullying-good-children-Study-finds-fight-
popular.html
 Morales-Cuevas | 6

MacNamara, Debora. “The Vulnerability Problem of the Bully.” Neufeld Institute.

https://neufeldinstitute.org/the-vulnerability-problem-of-the-bully/

Steele, Ann. “The Psychological Effects of Bullying on Kids & Teens.”

MastersInPsychologyGuide.com
http://mastersinpsychologyguide.com/articles/psychological-effects-bullying-kids-teens

Colaianni, Paul. “The Everyday Bully and Bullying Behavior.” The Overwhelmed Brain, March 8,
2018.
https://theoverwhelmedbrain.com/bullying-behavior/