Understanding, Controlling, and Stopping Bullies & Bullying

Forty percent of U.S. students voluntarily report being involved in bullying � as bullies or as victims � according to the results of the first national survey on this subject. Bullying is increasingly viewed as an important contributor to youth violence, including homicide and suicide. Case studies of the shooting at Columbine High School and other U.S. schools trace the multiple murders to bullying incidents.

In a survey of 558 students in a Midwestern middle school, 80 percent of the students had engaged in bullying behavior during the previous 30 days, verbally or in cyberspace by teasing, name calling, spreading malicious rumors, ridiculing, and leaving students out of social activities deliberately, or even physically by damaging belongings, aggression, extortion, beating, and use of deadly force.

Given that most bullying goes unnoticed and unreported, Americans have been slow to react to this behavior that is taking over our schools. Other countries deal with mean people while, in the United States, take-charge insolence, no matter how threatening, is rewarded in schools, in business, in sports, and in everyday life. Often those who stand up to a bully suffer retribution so that their only defense seems to be to turn to violence themselves.

School is a prime location for bullying, and its effects can last a lifetime. Bullying is one of the most underrated and enduring problems in schools today and is a reality in the lives of all children, whether they are bullies, victims, or witnesses.

In this book, you will learn why bullying occurs and get at the root causes for it, why some children are victimized and why others are vicious, how to develop an anti-bullying policy, how students, parents, and teachers can work together to stop it before it goes too far. You will learn about cyber bullying, racist bullying, sexist bullying, phone or note bullying, gang bullying, teacher bullying, and sports bullying. You will know how to evaluate the bullying problem in your school, develop anger management and conflict resolution skills, develop awareness of the problem, learn victim role playing and assertiveness training, and how to provide better supervision of key areas of the school where bullying often occurs.