Verbal Bullying at School: How It Should Be Stopped Thesis

Bullying and Diversity of its Forms

This presentation is aimed at examining the problem of verbal bullying. This paper highlights some of the best practices that can be used by teachers in order to address this problem. This information should be considered by future educators because they will need to protect students who can be victimized by other learners. More importantly, they need to design policies that can shield students from verbal bullying. So, this information can be of great benefit to them.

Verbal bullying is the use of words to intimidate or humiliate a person. It can take form of insults, teasing, taunting, and so forth. This activity can have various adverse effects on a person; in particular, this behavior can lead to inferiority complex. Additionally, he/she may find it difficult to establish social relations with peers. In turn, would-be educators should understand how to eliminate bullying in different settings, especially schools.

Background and key facts

• More than 50 percent of learners have observed bulling in school
• At present, there are 2 million bullies and 2.7 victims of this abuse in American schools (Facts & Statistics, 2009).
• In more than 60 percent of all cases, school shootings occur because students want to take their revenge on their bullies (Facts & Statistics, 2009).
• In more than 15 percent of all cases, absenteeism is caused by bullying (Facts & Statistics, 2009).
• Bullying undermines the academic performance of learners.

Overall, this evidence indicates that this problem should not be overlooked because of its scale and impacts that it can produce students. Currently, there are several strategies that can be applied by teachers. In particular, educators can take some of the following steps:

1. They try to stop bullying as soon as possible since this strategy is important for minimizing the victimization of a student.
2. Additionally, educators try to provide support to those children who are more likely to be affected by verbal bullying. In some cases, educators can assist them in overcoming problems which can make them vulnerable. For instance, teachers can help children overcome speech impairments because such students can become the victims of bullying. Finally, teachers enable them to develop coping skills.
3. They also focus on the identification of potential victims; this is why they rely on such methods as surveys and emotional tests that can show if a person faces bullying.
4. Additionally, they implement various interventions to stop bullying. For instance, they may require bullies to write essays showing why insults are not acceptable. Moreover, they can apply various disciplinary actions such as suspensions if bulling does not end.
5. They usually work with parents of bullies because this behavior may indicate that these students may suffer from some emotional problems. For example, they can be the victims of abuse.

Overall, it is possible to adopt multiple perspectives on this problem. In particular, one can focus on the typical characteristics of bullies and their victims. Researchers can focus on those personal characteristics that may lead to such confrontations. Furthermore, educators may pay attention to the attributes of the school environment. For instance, they focus on the policies on bullying and attitudes of teachers. Apart from that, teachers often focus on disciplinary actions against bullies. The key problem is that these strategies may not change the values and attitudes of students who resort to insults, threats, or teasers. This is one of the issues that should be addressed.

Ways of addressing this issue

Overall, educators believe that the prevention of bullying is critical for minimizing the victimization of students. In particular, it is possible to identify several best practices:

1. At first, a teacher should identify the rules that are set for students. They should know that the use of insults, threats or teasers is not permissible inside and outside the classroom because they can deprive students of their dignity (Set Policies & Rules, n. d.). Provided that these rules are enforced by teachers, learners will feel more empowered.
2. They should highlight such values as tolerance that should guide the behavior of learners. This policy is effective for minimizing bullying which originates from prejudices and stereotypes. Additionally, one should speak about such a quality as empathy for people who may suffer from some disabilities. This behavioral trait is important eliminating various forms of verbal bullying such teasing. This goal can be achieved if educators and parents try to shape the values of students.
3. Additionally, it is critical to make sure that various school employee take steps in order to stop bullying. In this case, one should not speak only about teachers. Such stakeholders as nurses, administrators and even janitors need to stop and report cases of bullying. This strategy is vital for the timely identification of possible risks.
4. Finally, educators should help the victim of bulling see that he/she is not an outcast. In many cases, these students believe that reporting such incidents can be compared to cowardice. Furthermore, these children can decide that they should avoid contacts with their peers. This assumption can result in the alienation of these students.

The second strategy is supposed to address specific cases of verbal bullying. The main principle is that teachers should act consistently. In other words, they should respond to such problems immediately; moreover, they should it every time when they observe such cases.

1. They should focus on empowering the victims of bullying. In particular, these people should not believe that they are deficient in any way (Support the Kids Involved. n. d.). This step is important for minimizing the isolation of these students. One should keep in mind that these students may decide not to go school. This is one of the pitfalls that should be avoided.
2. Educators should not consider only disciplinary actions against bullies because this strategy does not always lead to the improvement in the behavior of these students. Instead, it is more important to explain why a certain behavior is not acceptable.
3. They should encourage these students to work on the assignments that can help them understand why verbal bullying is not acceptable.
4. It is also vital to communicate with the parents of both bullies and their victims.

Admittedly, bullying can exist in various schools, but the strategies that have been described can be critical for reducing the occurrence of such cases (Dupper, 2013). Overall, it is possible to state that bullying is one of the main problems that educators should consider in order to improve the experience of students. The proposed strategies are supposed to develop a system of safeguards that can shield the victims of abuse. Apart from that, these policies are supposed to change the attitudes of people who resort to verbal bulling. These are the main strengths of these strategies.

Reference List

Dupper, D. (2013). School Bullying: New Perspectives on a Growing Problem. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Facts & Statistics. (2009). Web.

Set Policies & Rules. (n. d.). Web.

Support the Kids Involved. (n. d.). Web.