How Can High Schools Prevent Bullying?

  

        All I remember was the look on my friends face as the other students called him names and made him feel stupid for being Jewish. They picked on him constantly.  He looked defeated. And the other kids just laughed at him. Nobody should ever have to feel that way. 

Image from ADL of a boy being bullied by his peers. 

It is no secret that bullying happens in high schools all around America. Bullying occurs in many forms such as face-to-face bullying or cyberbullying. Either way, it still has the same effects and there is no reason it should be this common in high schools. We, as a population, are way too advanced to not have put a stop to bullying already. High schools are not doing enough to prevent bullying. 

What can High schools do?

Bullying was just swept under the rug in previous generations and people were told to “get over it”. This is not effective and will only increase the amount of bullying that occurs. The amount of bullying would significantly decrease if schools started teaching their students about inclusion. According to Lesley, kids need to get together to discuss their differences and build an understanding of their peers. If students were to do this they would not feel the need to bully since they would be educated about the importance of including everyone. If high schoolers were to talk about their differences and what makes each of them special, bullying would remarkably decrease. 

Image from King's Oak School promoting anti-bullying. 

Will it even work?

One might say, “there is nothing you can do to stop bullying, it is going to happen no matter what the schools do”. This claim could not be further from the truth. In an article titled, School and Community-Based Approaches for Preventing Bullying, the author states that there are significant reductions in victimization when teachers spend just a few minutes a week coaching students and holding them accountable for their actions. Just imagine how much bullying would decline if teachers spent more time educating their students about the importance of being kind to one another. This article went into more detail about how teachers can do so much more to try and end bullying for good. Students spend half their day with their teachers so if teachers kept preaching about the importance of ending bullying, it would eventually subside. 

One main way that Lesley thinks would put a stop to bullying is to teach students to approach problems from different perspectives. This way, students are being empathetic and understanding towards others. Overall, this would decline the amount of bullying going on in the schools. Nobody would make fun of their peers if they were taught to put themselves in their shoes and try to feel how they are feeling. The main point Lesley was trying to make was that students need to be more empathetic which means understanding the feelings of one another. If students were taught to be more empathetic they would realize how much bullying hurts others’ feelings. 

Another telltale way that high schools can eliminate bullying is to increase the punishment. If the punishment were more extreme then highschoolers would be more afraid to bully other students. For example, suspension or even expulsion from school as a punishment would severely decrease the amount of bullying going on in schools. One may argue that it would be hard to prove bullying is occurring. While this may be true, there are some ways to tell for sure. Such as, if someone was being cyberbullied. Everything can be traced online and nothing ever truly gets deleted. It wouldn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out who was doing the bullying online. 

What else can high schools do?

Schools can also put a stop to bullying by creating a safe place for students to report it. Stopbullying.gov believes this is a big reason that students are afraid to speak up. If students are afraid to speak up then the bullying will just continue. Making a report system that is private and easy is very important and would significantly decline the amount of bullying in schools. A report system can be anything from a trusted teacher to an anonymous website that students can report bullying on. This may cause students to abuse the use of the website by reporting things that are not bullying but even if it just helps a few students get justice, it is worth it. 

It is without a doubt that bullying takes lives everyday. Cyberbullying.org has done research to prove that school bullying rates have increased 35% from 2016 to 2019. There is absolutely no reason bullying should still exist in highschools when people across America have so many ways to end it. If schools around America implemented anti-bullying in their classes, bullying would decrease without a doubt. It is time for high schools across America to come together and put a stop to bullying altogether. It has gone on for too long. For more information on how to stop bullying visit stompoutbullying.org to learn more. 

Bullying can only be stopped if everyone works together.