Bullying and being bullied have become a part of life for a considerable proportion of American high school children, according to the largest study ever which examined attitudes and conduct in the USA. The study, created by the Josephson Institute of Ethics, reports that 47% of high school kids said that they were bullied to the point of becoming "seriously upset" over the last 12 months, while 50% admitted to bullying somebody. 43,321 schoolchildren responded to the survey. According to the Institute, their findings have a margin of error of no more than one percent.
Read More...
I think youre exactly right, Darell, about the connection between bullying and play deprivation. Heres another piece of evidence: studies showing that todays young people have less empathy and are more narcissistic than earlier generations. (See this article from the Boston Globe: http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2010/10/17/the_empathy_deficit/.)
As you point out, dramatic make-believe play in early childhood develops empathy. Its not hard to see why. Pretending that youre someone else, rather than yourself, is in fact the precursor of the universal standard of morality–treating others as you would yourself want to be treated. It all starts with imagining what its like to be that other person.
As the mother of an 8 year old boy, I am distressed with this new definition of bullying. Bullying is NOT getting into a single fight, or having some jerk push you into the lockers. Bullying is one person or persons who single out a another person or persons and over a sustained period of time and intimidate, threaten, or physically/verbally abuses them. Though I do NOT condone bullying, I do think there is some amount of crap everyone has to take when growing up- it makes each person stronger when they learn how to deal with jerks- and well all know we have to deal with jerks for our whole lives.
Why wouldnt we have a huge increase in bullying, what is happening in our civil … or uncivil society more than rudeness and bullying. Disrespect and abuse of power are rampant, and the people in authority are paid to let this dysfunction escalate because it lessens the ability of average people to communicate and work together politically.
100 years ago we have strong big families. Then we spread out to have the nuclear family and portable jobs, now we do not even have nuclear families, we just have a bunch of isolated people who are very easily stressed out made sick and ineffective for themselves and their country by this constant uncertainty and stress.
Theres a great documentary called Unnatural Causes: Is Inequality Making Us Sick that shows the science on this.
Bullying is a direct reflection of homelife. Whether your kids are bullied, bullys, or just plain 'ol kids, parents should be involved. I'll say the last word again — INVOLVED. I volunteer with a Boy Scout troop. About half of the parents of kids in the troop, I couldn't tell you what they look like, much less tell you their names. And it shows in the kids. You can really spot the kids that have parents the least bit involved vs the one's who don't.
The New epidemic?? Bully-ing is not new sorry… what is new is the sugar coated, nobody loses, do everything for em' child rearing we have going on for the last 20 years. We have a generation of 20 year old that weren't even taught the coping skills to deal with having lost a little league or soccer game…ofcourse they can't cope with bullying, what did we expect???
Im sorry to read about the kids committing suicide but in my day bullying was part of growing up. I was bullied from grade school up to high school and I survived. I disagree that its the school districts responsibility to raise these children, I do agree if violence becomes a factor then yes they should intervene, call security or 911. Also teach them how to stand up and defend themselves. Im so tired of reading about parents playing the blame game, its not mine or the neighbor next door to monitor your childrens activities, most have cell phones, teach them to call you or 911 if the situation becomes violent. As a parent I make sure I know my kids friends and their parents. If a problem arises in school I have the school set up a meeting with the parents of the child or children who are harrassing mine, problem addressed and resolved, if not my next point of contact is law enforcement. No matter how busy your life is your children must come first, dont expect society to do it for you. GET INVOLVED IN YOUR CHILDS LIFE!