Juana Pedroza
English 1010
Allison Fernley
If you turn on your television to watch the nightly news most of the time at least once a week you will most likely see some type of story regarding bullying. Bullying has become what some may call an epidemic. What should be done about the epidemic and how should bullies be handled though ? The question at hand has many different answers from everyone and although it might not interest everyone it should as it will effect everyone in the end whether you know anyone affected by bullying or not.
Federman, Eli “Bullying Is Bad, But Criminalizing Bullying Would Be Even Worse”
Forbes.com, Forbes October 23, 2013 Web October 27, 2013
In “Bullying Is Bad, But Criminalizing Bullying Would Be Even Worse” Eli Federman shares his thoughts on punishing bullying in Americas judicial system. Federman is an executive at www.1sale.com and graduated from the City University of New York School of Law where he also served as executive editor of law review. His article began with the interesting arrest of two teenage girls being arrested for the suicide of another teenage girl in Florida recently.
Criminalizing bullying is not the right way to handle the epidemic states Federman. He argues that America already has the highest incarceration rate which costs $ 60.3 billion in budget expenditures. He goes onto explain that there are many other reasons why people commit suicide and that of the millions of bullied children only a few commit suicide. Federman believes that the bullying epidemic should be handled differently beginning with schools and parents becoming more involved.
In Federmans article the standpoint that he takes is not really emotional and almost seems very non-empathetic when he refers to only a few children committing suicide out of million. He does provide good evidence though on America’s incarceration rate which he obtained from

Wikipedia and other statistics he provided were also from credible sources. Considering he has studied law the legal stance as far as negative outcomes and conflict with criminalizing bullying makes his article more persuasive.
Federmans article has affected my thinking in many ways I believe he does have a point with budgeting incarceration of bullies and also how it could negatively affect Americans constitutional rights. America’s financial situation is not as healthy as it should be which would only worsen if we had to put all the bullies in jail. I also disagree because I think the government should not be overlooking these non-victimless crimes when they don’t even overlook other less severe crimes or victimless crimes.
Aguiar, RJ “Bullying 2.0”
Advocate.com, April 02, 2013 Web October 23, 2013
In “Bullying 2.0” RJ Aguiar explains how bullying has evolved since the childhood years of many adults. Now Cyber bullying has become an issue which is nearly impossible to stop due to the anonymity of the internet. He also goes onto explain how he believes that he believes schools have done well with addressing bullying but that social networking sites and other media outlets such as TV. Networks should get more involved as he thinks that not all the responsibility should be put on schools because children are not at school all the time. Aguiar believes this issue realistically will always exist but everyone can take a part in stopping it which would help enormously.
In Aguiar article he is persuasive in that everyone should take part in stopping bullying and acknowledging that it is an issue. He does not provide evidence that schools are doing well on their end though it almost seems as it’s just his opinion. I believe it would be more effective in getting his naysayers attention if he provided more facts and statistics. He does cause empathy though at the beginning of his article when he states he himself was a victim of bullying as a child.
I agree and disagree with Aguiar in many aspects. First, I do believe some schools are effectively tackling bullying but it is not as black and white as he puts it there must be schools that are not

doing as well as the good actions of one school cannot speak for all others. I also do believe that school shootings and some teen suicides caused by school bullying are evidence that some schools don’t have the training needed yet to combat bullying. I do agree that we cannot put all the work on schools though as of course bullying doesn’t just happen at schools and educators primary duty is not to teach a child right from wrong it is to educate them.
Marc Brackett and Diana Devicha “School Anti-Bullying Programs Ineffective” www.courant.com. The Courant, September 06, 2013, Web October 23, 2013
In “School Anti-Bullying Programs Ineffective” Marc Brackett and Diana Devicha share their opinion on how the budgeting used for anti-bullying in schools is money that is being wasted.
They go onto explain that while schools are addressing bullying they are not addressing the underlying problems which is why their efforts are ineffective. They believe that if schools incorporated emotional skills into children’s education it would help more than just trying to put rules in place without really teaching kids why it is important.
In their article I believe that Brackett and Devicha were persuasive, they did provide some statistics without sources of where they obtained them from which makes it seem less real.
Brackett is director of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence and consultant to Facebook to reduce online bullyingthough which makes him more believable and Devicha is a developmental psychologist who writes about children, teens and families. They are more believable due to their positions.
I do agree with Brackett and Devicha that children should be taught why bullying is wrong and maybe emotional skills should be incorporated into their education. I also do believe it is the children’s parents’ responsibility to teach their children emotional skills though. I guess you could say it’s something that I agree with and disagree with. They do make a good point though that it is something that a child should be educated in whether at home or school.
Morse, Ken “Bullying Starts At Home”

Mycitizennews.com, Citizen News October 18, 2013, Web October 28, 2013
In “Bullying Starts At Home” Ken Morse argues that children learn bullying, usually from home.
Whether it is taught or encouraged, he believes the parents are the culprit behind bully’s behavior. He goes onto say that maybe parents should even be arrested when a bully is caught at school. He also believes that bullies come from abusive homes. Whether the abuse is directed towards the child, neighbors, anyone who comes near them and etc. the child then learns from that he explains
I don’t believe that Morse was very persuasive in his article because he did not provide any evidence in his writing proving that children who are bullies are exposed to abuse in their own homes. He did use examples though that could cause sympathy. He could have put some statistics in his writing though as I’m sure there are some statistics. He could have also used a more detailed account of a victim if he wanted to cause people to feel more emotional about the piece.
I agree and disagree with Morse. I do believe that some bullies are most likely exposed to abuse in their life I don’t think that all are though. I also don’t agree that parents should be arrested because their child is a bully. If the parents of a bully are found to be abusing their child in some way then I do think they should be arrested if there is evidence of such abuse.
Bazelon, Emily “The Problem with Bully”
Slate.com, Slate March 29, 2012, Web October 29, 2013
In “The Problem with Bully” Emily Bazelon argues that the documentary “Bully” oversimplifies bullying by leaving out important parts of the victims stories. She goes onto explain how one victim Tyler Long, who committed suicide had mental issues and disabilities that were not mentioned in the documentary. She also goes onto include the victims public suicide note from the police report which did not mention being tormented or even mentioning bullying at all in his

life. Emily concludes by arguing that the documentary “Bully” by Lee Hirsch should have included more information as to give the public all the facts and let them form their own opinion.
The author of “The Problem with the Bully” Emily Bazelon is author of “Sticks and Stones”, senior editor at “Slate” and is also the Truman Capote Fellow at Yale Law School which I believe makes her a credible person. She also describes in her article how she contacted the director/producer of the documentary she is criticized to which she was given no clear answers and a given a very generic statement, this I would say gives her more credibility than Lee Hirsch.
With the facts that she provides and evidence provided her argument seems more valid. I believe that she did a very good job on convincing her audience that if they were a part of Lee Hirsch’s’ audience they were not given the whole real story.
I could say that this article has made me give thought to the stories of some bullying victims being possibly blown out of proportion. I still do believe that there are cases in which a bully and their abuse might be the main culprits of a victim’s death wish. There are most likely other situations also though in which its just facts being hidden from the public to pull at their heart strings. This article makes me curious though as to how many cases exactly have been misportrayed in media.
Bennett, Jessica “From Lockers to Lockup”
Mag.newsweek.com, Newsweek October 4, 2010 Web October 29, 2013
In “From Lockers to Lockup” Jessica Bennett follows the story of Phoebe Prince a teenager who committed suicide after being bullied. Bennett goes onto question if the bullying really was the issue as to why the teen committed suicide explaining that the teen had previously attempted suicide before the bullying had begun. She also describes how Prince had also been a bully

herself in the past and describes how the alleged bullies’ lives have changed for the worse since being charged with felonies. They have been kicked out of school, lost scholarships, and been harassed nonstop also. Bennett argues that criminal prosecution is not the right way to go about resolving bullying.
In her article on bullying I believe Bennett did a very good job as far as being credible she provides facts from credible sources. She also does well with describing the alleged bullies and their how their lives have changed, and could cause many to feel sorry for them. Bennett provided good information on both ends of the story which also made her seem as though she does care and is open to understand both sides.
I believe from reading Bennett’s article I have seen the other side of what happens after children are publicly shamed as bullies and the consequences that they get without the judicial system. I still do question though why should it go to that extreme? Why is the non-stop bullying just becoming somewhat of a circle first the bully, bullies others and then they get bullied etc. What about the situations though in which bullies don’t get any type of punishment because they are never thrown out on national television as an evil person? It does cause sympathy though and has now made me see the bullies as victims of the epidemic…somewhat.
McBride, Kelly “Bullying is not on the rise and it does not lead to suicide”
Poynter.org, Poynter. October 25, 2013 Web October 29, 2013
In” Bullying is not on the rise and it does not lead to suicide” Kelly McBride explains how she believes journalists and media are at fault for providing unsupported information to the public when it comes to bullying. When they do so she explains they are not doing what they should be actually doing which is researching for more than just what a sheriff, politician and etc. might

have said, they should be looking for facts. Basically in the whole picture of things these journalists that go along with whatever makes a better story are making the problem worse because they are causing people to not see the underlying problems of bullying which is preventing the problems from being solved.
In McBride’s article she provides facts from credible sources which make the piece credible. Her writing though seems to be an attack towards journalists though. I think her writing would have benefited from her being more sympathetic, as the subject is quite sensitive. I do think though that she did well with getting the idea across that sometimes journalists just want a good story.
I can say that McBride’s article somewhat made me reflect that in some situations journalists do take advantage and will just give people what they want, which is a juicy story right ? In part I think that we all have that in us though we all want to know what going on and we all want a good story, we also want someone to blame though. Maybe journalists are among the list of people who can be blamed for bullying not being solved.
In conclusion the research I have put together above has taught me that there are so many other views on the subject than I myself had thought of. I believe that the answer to my question is that all of the options should actually be combined to set up a system where the more repetitive the bullying the more severe the punishment and we should also be implementing preventive action before all else. What laws are being put in place as of right now to take action on bullying ? The question itself would have so many answers as each state has their own laws regarding bullying some being more strict than others. Although there is such a wide range of laws regarding bullying in America we should all care about bullying though whether there are suicides involved or not and if there is anyone that we ourselves know involved.eventually bullying will

effect us all as the children being taught in our schools today will be the future generation and I myself can only hope that they are taught to be the best people they can be…not bullies.