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week_8_assignment_3.docxRunning Head: ANTIBULLYING POLICY 1
ANTIBULLYING POLICY 7
Antibullying Policies in the United States
Lauren Riley
Strayer University
May 27, 2017
Position in Favor of this Policy
My position in favor of the Antibullying policies is that it should be encouraged and be implemented. There are many concerns from the public regarding the bullying in schools. The controversy surrounding the Antibullying policy in some schools within the United States has faced various viewpoints and interests. A lot of focus has been given to drug and alcohol use among school-aged students and those who carry weapons to schools. No one was concerned in recognizing the importance of school bullying. Victims of the bullying go to schools every day, and face harassment, taunting, as well as humiliation. Studies have revealed that about 25 to 35 percent of children do encounter some forms of bullying in their lifetime.
The public has expressed and made comments concerning these policies. Bullying harms the vulnerable individuals especially the young children. There are cases of physical and the non-physical forms of bullying in schools within the United States of America. Bullying in the schools is an enormous problem all over the world not just United States alone. It occurs in three forms i.e. the verbal, physical, and the emotional bullying. There is a need to inform the public, more so the school community, including the teachers and the students or the pupils so that they stop before they can change someone's life for the worst.
Bullying is a common practice across the nation, and it can cause a devastating impact on students during their times at school. It forms part of the problems that students' face while at school. Bullying occurs to every person regardless of the race, gender, or even the class to which your family belongs.
Response to the Argument in Favor
My argument is be based on the positive and the evidence arguments. The reasons for arguing in support of the Antibullying policies are because of the verbal, physical, and the emotional aspects of bullying. Bullying can have adverse impacts on individuals. This usually leads to the damaging effects on the mental health in addition to the well-being of those being bullied. The physical type of bullying is a significant unwanted physical contact through abusing the victim. The strongest positive argument is that physical bullying can occur in the form of kicking, punching, shoving, among many others forms. Most of the individuals who are involved in bullying usually target those who are younger than they are. The reason for this is that they take advantage of their sizes thus making it easier for them to boost their own ego and making themselves appear stronger.
Often times bullying turns physical since it is an easy thing to do, provided the perpetrators are powerful enough. Many people use physical bullying and other forms of bullying when they seem to be have low self-confidence. Many of the victims who have been bullied have turned to suicide or have died due to physical injuries from being bullied.
Verbal bullying refers to the slanderous accusations and statements that are targeted at the victims. This is aimed at bringing them down and making them feel bad. Verbal bullying can be presented in the form of using foul language, tormenting, and the process of harassment. The perpetrators also easily use verbal bullying because the individuals involved do not automatically rely on their physical strength but they applies their verbiage while conveying the hurtful messages. On the other hand, emotional bullying can be any form of bullying that result in damages to the well-being and the emotional appeal of the victim. Emotional bullying can be achieved through the spread of terrible rumors and ganging up on others. The strongest evidence argument is that bullying leads to committing suicide among the victims. An example, in this case, is in Massachusetts where a student by the Phoebe Prince of age 15 years committed suicide after being overwhelmed by her peers in the high school (Birkland, 2011).
Position Against the policy
Despite being helpful in some occasions, especially when it comes to an effort of reducing the bullying incidences in the schools, some of the Antibullying policies are not worthy to be implemented nor put into practice. There are concerns from individuals regarding some Antibullying policies in some schools. My position on this issue is based on the relationship between the students and the teachers. Usually, there is some sort of favor in schools with some teachers being closer to the students or pupils and cannot punish or report any bullying cases done by the students (Jones & Augustine, 2015).
There is no evidence of clear procedures regarding this policy and the investigation of bullying cases sometimes becomes challenging. Despite the fact that this policy is in fact in place, most of the heads of schools fail to assess the awareness, as well as the scope of the bullying problems at school through using the students and the staff survey. Most students are resistant to reporting these cases thus making this policy to be useless.
This policy cannot be effective if teachers do not provide classroom activities as well as lead discussions that are related to bullying and violence. The classroom activities that these teachers fail to include are those that involve the harming of other students. The students do not participate in the establishment of the classroom rules against bullying and the steps that they can take if they witness any case of bullying within the school institution. Teachers also fail to encourage their students to have the habit of cooperation through the assignment of projects that need collaboration. This collaboration is helpful because it teaches the students ways of compromising and asserting without the demands.
Argument against the Antibullying policies
The argument against these policies, based on the evidence argument, is because some of the schools, for example, at Hamilton School District; the Antibullying policy aims to go an extra mile to protect some groups of the students. The strongest evidence argument regarding this issue is that there is no equal treatment in this school concerning the fight against bullying. For example, people in this school who lead the local chapter of the PFLAG expressed their desire for the groups in the homosexual and lesbian community at Hamilton Schools to be provided with special status as well as be identified as the groups that required extra protection afforded by that status. My argument is that no kind of special treatment or grouping should be allowed during the fight against bullying. The reason being is that it is critical to allow special treatment in order to ensure a full implementation of the Antibullying policy (Gene, 2012).
References
Birkland, T. (2011). An Introduction to the Policy Process: Theories, Concepts, and the Models of Public Policy Making (3 ed.). Armonk, NY: Sharpe, Inc.
Gene, W. (2012, April 18). Viewpoint: Equal Treatment Needed in Hamilton Schools' Antibullying Policy. Retrieved May 26, 2017, from http://ravallirepublic.com/news/opinion/viewpoint/article_9f4890c2-89c1-11e1-971f-001a4bcf887a.html
Jones, J., & Augustine, S. (2015). Creating an anti-bullying culture in secondary schools: characteristics to consider when constructing appropriate anti-bullying programs. American Secondary Education, 43, 73-84.
