Running head: SCHOOL BULLYING 1
School Bullying: A Comparative Review of the Perspective of Researchers vs. Educators
Candace-Eunice V. Bernard
Liberty University
SCHOOL BULLYING
School Bullying: A Comparative Review of the Perspective of Researchers vs. Educators
Bullying is an issue that has permeated society for centuries, but is recently gaining more
attention in the mental health profession. Bullying is defined as continually targeted actions
against a specific person (Smith, 2013). It is an issue that children of ages experience. Bullying
can be found throughout schools all over the world. Gifted Child Today (2010) described
bullying as a natural part of the school environment. Despite the wide prevalence of bullying,
researchers have yet to find a way to affective prevention approach. Grumm (2013) found that
one of the factors that inhibit effective prevention programs is the great variance between the
view of educators, researchers and mental health providers.
The Teacher’s Perspective
Ja’Corey Johnson is a 30-year-old Christian, African American male who grew up in
inner city New York. Mr. Johnson joined the military after high school and served for three
years. After completing his military service, Mr. Johnson earned his Bachelor’s in education.
While in the service, Mr. Johnson met and married a Japanese woman. He has resided in Japan,
teaching at varying Japanese schools for the past 8 years. He currently works at Okinawa World
Mission Christian School, located in Okinawa, Japan. He is the homeroom teacher for 6-8th
grade, and he teaches beginning and advanced English.
When questioned about bullying in schools, Mr. Johnson expressed that bullying is not
only a natural part of the school environment, it is also a part of society as a whole. Mr. Johnson
holds that the fall of man allowed darkness into the world. This darkness drives people to harm
each other emotionally and physically. The sin nature of man is the true root of bullying. It is
only through the grace of Christ that people begin to develop a true altruistic nature. In his view,
the only place that will be free from bulling is heaven.
Mr. Johnson has seen multiple forms of bully at all grade levels throughout his tenure as
an elementary and middle school teacher. Mr. Johnson identified that in all the schools he has
worked at the profile of the bully and the victim are remarkably similar. Both are children with
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low self-esteem and little parental involvement. The major factor differentiating the bully from
the victim is that the bully is under a continual outside pressure. Mr. Johnson found that this
pressure can be caused by a variety of factors, including abuse, pressure for popularity, or self-
image issues.
Mr. Johnson found that region did play a role in the level of bullying in schools. Close
knit, rural communities with strong parental involvement had less bullying the larger, more
diverse urban schools. Mr. Johnson also identified that the level of cyber bullying also decreased
in more rural areas. Mr. Johnson found that regardless of the region, the student punishments
remained the same. Students were typically only punished at school, without any significant
legal repercussions. Discipline could range from writing letters to the victim, suspension or even
expulsion.
Mr. Johnson stated that he has been a part of multiple school initiatives to reduce school
bullying. The Japanese government has taken the approach of global friendship and moral
development. Ethics and moral values are now taught in all Japanese public school curriculums.
The hope is that through this initiative all students will learn to respect and love each other. Mr.
Johnson feels that this is an unrealistic goal and an ineffective approach. Students will naturally
have differences and disagreements. He feels that the key to change is through helping students
respect themselves and others. He has found that change happens in both the bully and the
victim through developing a strong loving and nurturing relationship. Students are able to grow
in self-confidence and are less likely to act out in aggression when they feel the support of
others.
Mr. Johnson feels that there has been too much focus on the issue of bullying in the past
decades. He recounts how his mother would encourage him to become more resilient and stand
up to those who bullied him. He is a firm believer in the adage “sticks and stones may break
your bones, but words will never hurt you”. He feels that children today lack resilience.
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Resilience needs to be taught in the home, so that students know how to emotionally handle the
realities of school and the world.
A Comparison to Researchers’ Perspectives
Many of Mr. Johnson’s views closely relate to the findings of researchers. Researchers
have found that certain personality characteristics are predisposed to bullying. Studies have
shown that the majority of bullying victims have self-esteem issues (Smith, 2013).
Moon, McCluskey, and Schreck (2013) found that bullies are found in schools all over the
United States. The region of the school had little impact on the presence of bullying behaviors.
Research on the punishment for bullying coincided with the views of Mr. Johnson. The laws
surrounding bullying vary with each region and state. Some states found that bullying is only
criminal if it involves violence. According to Brank, Hoetger and Hazen (2012) emotional
bulling is only punishable by civil suits. In most scenarios, bullying is only directly punished
within the school walls.
Mr. Johnson’s views did differ from the research in several key areas. Mr. Johnson did
not acknowledge the severity of the bullying problem in the world today. He attributed the rise
of bullying to the fall of family values. He felt that families needed to spearhead initiatives for
change. Smith (2013) identifies bullying as a cultural issue needing a multidisciplinary approach
to change. Mr. Johnson also minimized the emotional damage caused by bullying. Smith (2013)
identified that sometimes bullying is so severe that children transfer schools to avoid bullying,
but the emotional damage is already done. Children retain have low self-esteem, depression,
academic struggles and more from their experiences.
Conclusion
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Though the views about bullying and its causes might differ, one fact remains. Bullying
rates are rising throughout the world. Bullying behaviors are impacting students, teachers,
families and communities. This rising statistic cannot be ignored. Bullying is a global issue, and
it will take a global approach to truly effect change. Actions must be taken to deter bully
behaviors and heal the wounds of the victims. This change will arise when communities become
more aware of the issue of bullying, and stand together to create safe learning environments for
their students.
References
Brank, E. Hoetger, L. and Hazen, K. (2012). Bullying. Annual Review of Law and Social
Science, 8, 213-230.
Grumm, M. (2013). Correlates of teachers' ways of handling bullying. School Psychology
International, 34(3), 299.
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Moon, B., McCluskey, J. and Schreck, C. (2013). School bullying and victimization.
Journal of Criminology, 2013 (2) Retrieved from
pageshttp://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.liberty.edu:2048/10.1155/2013/626317.
School bullying. (2010, Fall). Gifted Child Today, 33(4), 8+. Retrieved from
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA238178000&v=2.1&u=vic_liberty
&it=r&p=AONE&sw=w&asid=fa28aefcebdc1e7191de6c4f033af0c6.
Smith, P. K. (2013). School bullying. Sociologia, (71) Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com/docview/1316871236?accountid=12085.
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