Bullying: It kills

"Get back in the car, you're not coming with me."
"And seriously, like, I don't want to be a bitch, but she's like the fugliest girl I have ever met in my life."
"It's not cause she's Asian, it's cause she's annoying!"
"I'm not sitting next to some random emo."

Ja'mie King is back on screens again. While she is definitely entertaining to watch and hilarious and is mainly supposed to be viewed as a satirical character, the series offers strong commentary on a prevalent social issue of bullying and this is largely due to the realism of it all. However although it's meant to be satirical, the sad truth is that it's real. 

Bullying happens. All the time.

A recent article from the Sydney Morning Herald says that "from statistics given, it is likely a child will be bullied at some stage at school" and "federal government research shows one in four schoolchildren are bullied, mostly from students under 15." (Dalitz, 2013)

Mount asserts that the reason bullying occurs is that the bullies "initially have some social acceptance and popularity as they are perceived as being powerful and able to do what they want to do" (Mount, 2005, pg. 127) as well as relating it to problems that might be happening at home. He splits bullies up into different categories: physical, verbal, rational and reactive victims.

Bullying behaviour can already be identified in as early as preschool which is a concern as children are so young. Consequently it can become a regular and daily routine and "bullying behaviour in childhood is a significant predictor of aggressive behaviour in adulthood" which will further lead to them "lack a sense of remorse and refuse to accept responsibility for their behaviour." (Mount, 2005, pg.127) Therefore, it is necessary that this behaviour be combated and corrected when identified early on. 

Bullying has become a national issue, if not global, and there are definitely action being taken on a national spectrum to deal with this issue. There has even be the first national Bullying, Young People and the Law Symposium which has pushed for bullying offenses.

However we still hear about terrible situations in which a child goes beyond the suicidal thoughts and take their life because they are unable to cope with it all. The tragedy of it all is how one human being is able to do so much that committing suicide is the only way out. 

Ken Rigby, professor at the University of South Australia, says that although there is attention given to bullying and addressing this, it is unclear as to which strategy work best and that "non-punitive methods, such as the "method of shared concern" are reported as being no less effective than the use of direct sanctions." (Dalitz, 2013)

Although it can be commended that attention is given to bullying, it is fundamental that there are stronger programs in place, especially in schools to effectively reduce bullying in schools. Not only this, schools need to make an effort to identify early on and tackle the issue before it escalates.

Bullying kills.

References

Dalitz, J. (2013, September 16). 'No blame' strategies work, but only vigilance beats the bullies. Sydney Morning Herald, Retrieved from http://www.smh.com.au/national/education/no-blame-strategies-work-but-only-vigilance-beats-the-bullies-20130915-2tsrh.html 
Mount G. R (2005) Bullying, Journal of Police Crisis Negotiations, 5:2, 125-129, DOI: 10.1300/J173v05n02_11