Bullying,+A+Growing+Epidemic+in+Todays+Youth

Workshop 12, Monday, March 30, 2009

"I just want the bullying to stop. That is all I ever wanted. I used to love going to school. Now I hate it." ~Verity Ward, 9 years-old (Bullyonline.org)

The above quote describes exactly what 5 million elementary school and middle school students in the United States are wishing and hoping for on a daily basis (qtd. in Stewart 425). Bullying occurs throughout the world each and every day. Students are being the perpetrators of bullying and the victims of bullying. Students are afraid to attend school due to the threat of being bullied. Students are quietly bullying their peers over the Internet via instant message, Facebook, MySpace, or even text message.

In Bullying: Correlates of Verbally Aggressive Communication in Adolescents in John Stewart’s Bridges Not Walls, bullying communication is defined as “when one person attacks the self-concept of the person in order to hurt the other person psychologically” (425). This definition is a great description of what constitutes bullying, as well as why bullying occurs. The essay investigates a study regarding bullying and what correlates with the verbal and physical aggression associated with bullying, such as demographic correlates and media correlates.

Throughout the workshop, I will lead you to understand the different relationships found among how people bully versus why people bully. Verbal aggression and physical aggression will be discussed, and media clips will be used to support the differences between female aggression and male aggression. I will be sharing two transcripts of interviews I did: 1. bullying in the middle school that I completed with my 12 year-old brother 2. bullying in the high school that I completed with my 17 year-old brother. I will also be touching upon the issue of cyberbullying and some recent examples of this action. Finally, I will be discussing bullying prevention methods taught in school, and I will wrap up the workshop with a discussion and analysis of the essay as a whole.

Please review the essay, Bullying: Correlates of Verbally Aggressive Communication in Adolescents by Charles Atkin, et al. found on page 423 of Bridges Not Walls. Also, review the following video clips and article, and come prepared to share your thoughts, opinions, and personal experiences with bullying.

Female Aggression media type="youtube" key="VO_CGeNZnvM" height="295" width="480"

Male Aggression media type="youtube" key="xchH3ILk0gk" height="295" width="480"

Sometimes Bullies are Victims Themselves media type="youtube" key="WloPsjZoNbM" height="344" width="425"

Newest Growing Material Being Used to Teach Bullying Prevention []

Cyberbullying []