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Josh Leon
Agostini
English 101
10 November 2010
Teen Bullying: What Can Be Done
Teen bullying has become increasingly prevalent throughout today’s society and has even
resulted in some detrimental effects to the emotional stability of the abused. However, to prevent
this issue, school administrators, parents, and students alike must be aware of the severity of the
situation but must also adapt and implement some anti-bullying methods within their everyday
routines.
"Cyberbullying Is a Menace to Educators." Does the Internet Increase Crime? Ed. Stefan
Kiesbye. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2010. At Issue. Gale Opposing Viewpoints In
Context. Web. 10 Nov. 2010.
The author, in the essay “Cyberbullying is a Menace to Educators” (2010), argues that
cyberbullying has proved evasive as it has had the most dramatic effect on those who were on
the receiving end of the harassment. The author supports his/her argument by emphasizing the
fact that cyberbullying has become a health and safety issue and that the issue has become so
severe that the government has become actively involved in the fight against bullying,
persecuting those who have apparently harassed those who later committed suicide as a result of
the abuse. The author’s purpose, however, is to urge schools and the government alike to take on
a more active role such as disciplining students who have submitted offensive material to
websites and enforcing the definition of harrassment from a federal standpoint. The author writes
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in a semi-formal tone for school administrators, those who partake in the education system, and
also political figures.
This is a credible source because it is peer-reviewed and published in a well-known
database. Unfortunately, there is no information about the author. I foresee myself using this
information in my final research paper because it emphasizes the push for government and
school involvement in bullying cases and to also take on a more active role and try to incorporate
prevention and intervention methods which could ultimately diminish the severity of cyberbullying and bullying in general, which is a concept that I am incorporating in my paper; the
need for government and school involvement.
Ferrell-Smith, Finessa. "Bullying Puts Teens at Risk." Teens at Risk. Ed. Auriana Ojeda. San
Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2009. Opposing Viewpoints. Gale Opposing Viewpoints In
Context. Web. 10 Nov. 2010.
Finessa Ferrell-Smith, in the essay “Bullying Puts Teens at Risk” (2009), explains the
problem of school bullying and discusses the serious and sometimes lifelong consequences that
effect all parties involved whether it be the bully or the victim. Ferrell-Smith supports her
explanation through a credible examination of the link between bullying and school violence
while also analyzing the link between bullying and suicide as well as other negative effects such
as female harassment and its effect on long term relationships. The author’s purpose is to
emphasize that this type of adolescent victimization can result in a multitude of consequences,
but the author also expressed the need for strong prevention and intervention programs in order
to minimize the effects of school bullying. The author writes in a formal tone for school
administrators, teachers, counselors, students, and parents.
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Again, this is a credible source pulled from the Opposing Viewpoints database. FerrellSmith is a researcher and sociology professor at an university, and the journal article is peerreviewed. I foresee myself using this information within my final research paper as way in which
I can express some of the short-term and long-term consequences of adolescent bullying and
emphasize the severity of the situation as it can result in a multitude of violent actions such as the
Columbine shootings of 1999. This resource is rather beneficial to my paper because it address
the link between bullying and various other topics such as suicide, violence, and academic
underachievement, which are all long term effects for all parties involved. This resource
ultimately expresses the severity of bullying which will help me to better persuade my audience
into practicing anti-bullying tactics in order to avoid such disastrous effects.
Gibbone, Anne, and Mara Manson. "Bullying: Proactive Physical Educator's Contribution to
School-wide Prevention." JOPERD--The Journal of Physical Education, Recreation &
Dance 81.7 (2010): 20+. Academic OneFile. Web. 9 Nov. 2010.
Anne Gibbone and Mara Manson, in the essay “Bullying: Proactive Physical Educator's
Contribution to School-wide Prevention” (2010), argues that it is an educational necessity to
increase awareness of bullying issues and develop best-practice applications to prevent or
address bullying. Gibbone and Manson support their argument through the recognition of
fundamental concepts of victimization and by addressing issues such as cyberbullying trends,
anti-bullying management and school-wide intervention. The authors’ purpose is to draw
awareness and stress the importance of implementing anti-bullying prevention methods within
the school system so that children shall not have to endure humiliation, oppression, and
harassment. The authors write in a formal tone for school administrators, students, and anyone
with a stake in the education system.
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This essay is a peer reviewed article, written by two education professors. They use
research from other sources in their article, and present a balanced and realistic approach to the
problem of bullying. I foresee myself using this resource within the final product of my research
paper because this essay addresses important issues regarding bullying within today’s society
while also discussing an idea that could potentially minimize school violence and victimization.
However, the essay is also helpful due to the fact that it stresses the importance of incorporating
bullying prevention and intervention methods within the school system.
Jennings, Daniel G. "School Violence Is the Result of a Lack of Ethics and Discipline in
Schools." Juvenile Crime. Ed. Andrea C. Nakaya. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2005.
Opposing Viewpoints. Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 10 Nov. 2010.
Daniel Jennings, in the essay “School Violence Is the Result of a Lack of Ethics and
Discipline in Schools” (2005), argues that bullies are not the cause of school violence but rather
the schools that fail to execute any disciplinary action against bullies and fail to instill ethical
behavior in students are to blame. Jennings supports his argument through his own personal
experiences in which he states that although he was picked on terribly in school, he had no desire
to shoot his classmates and instead refrained from the use of violence due to the fact that his
parents had raised him with strong ethical values in which he was taught that the use of violence
is unacceptable and continues with the theme that kids who have learned strong ethics will do
what is right and refrain from engaging in bad behavior. The author’s purpose is to basically
convey the message that adults must teach kids ethics and discipline if they want kids to behave
in an acceptable manner; which is basically Jennings’ only solution to solving the “bullying”
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issue. The author writes in a formal tone for school administrators, teachers, school counselors,
and parents.
This article is peer-reviewed, and provides a good source of pathos for my paper with
David’s personal experience. His credibility lies in the fact that he was the victim of bullying. I
foresee myself using this information in my final research paper because it emphasizes the need
to establish discipline and ethics within the minds of adolescents, which in reality is a
cornerstone in getting kids to behave in an acceptable manner, but also because the information
provided could be used as a suggestive method within my paper as one of the ways to lessen the
frequency of bullying within the school system.
Srabstein, Jorge C., and Bennett L. Leventhal. "Prevention of Bullying-related Morbidity and
Mortality: a Call for Public Health Policies." Bulletin of the World Health Organization
88.6
(2010): 403. Academic OneFile. Web. 9 Nov. 2010
Jorge C. Srabstein and Leventhal Bennet, in the editorial “Prevention of Bullying-related
Morbidity and Mortality: a Call for Public Health Policies” (2010), explains that students
involved in bullying are more susceptible to experiencing a vast range of psychosomatic
symptoms, which include drug and alcohol abuse, self-inflicted or accidental injuries, suicide,
and running away from home. Srabstein and Bennett support their explanation by collecting
logical statistics which highlight a wide spectrum of logical morbidities that affect individuals
involved in bullying whether they are victims, bullies, or just innocent bystanders. The author’s
purpose is to emphasize the fact that bullying is rather hazardous to one’s self as it can relate to
emotional and physical trauma, or death, but also to reinforce the idea that as bullying is rather
detrimental to one’s health; mass prevention and intervention campaigns should feature full
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community awareness and should rightly inform about the nature and dangers of bullying. The
author writes in a formal tone for school administrators, students, parents, and whole
communities who have been affected by bullying or fail to realize the dangers of it.
The World Health Organization carries a lot of credibility. Just the fact that this
organization has published an article about bullying and how it affects health will add support to
my argument. I foresee myself using this information within my final research paper because the
author emphasizes the fact that bullying is a health risk and states that due to its ability to force
people to experience psychosomatic symptoms, that higher levels of reform and prevention
strategies should be ratified in order to limit its ability to disturb the emotional stability of
society.
Star, Letitia L. "Gay Teen Suicide Is Common." America's Youth. Ed. Jamuna Carroll. Detroit:
Greenhaven Press, 2008. Opposing Viewpoints. Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context.
Web. 9 Nov. 2010.
Letitia Star, in the essay “Gay Teen Suicide is Common” (2008), explains that the suicide
rate for homosexual youth is much greater then that of their heterosexual counterparts due to
anxiety, depression, and bullying which all are a result of their sexuality. Star supports her
explanation through the documentation of first-hand accounts of people who have experienced
the detrimental effects to one’s emotional stability as a result of being bullied about their
sexuality in which she states that gay teens who are often bullied and harassed tend to feel very
alone and worthless and in turn result to more harmful practices to “ease the pain.” The author’s
purpose is to express homosexual culture within adolescents as it pertains to bullying in order to
help gay teens and questioning teens from engaging in some detrimental activities but also to
help society understand homosexual culture as well and hopefully prevent future bullying. The
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author writes in a semi-formal tone for teens who are gay or questioning their sexuality but also
for those who are associated with homosexual harassment.
This source is important to my paper because of its focus on harrassment of gay teens,
which has been a prominent topic in the news lately. Although the source was published in 2008,
it is very relevant to the current news coverage. Because of the heightened rate of suicide for this
group of teens, some research about this should be included in my paper. I foresee myself using
this resource within my final research as a method in which I plan to emphasize the severity of
bullying and relate bullying to a massacre through my incorporation of the six recent suicides
due to gay bullying. Ultimately, this source will help convey bullying as a societal hazard and
also help my audience understand the nature of those who are being bullied whether they are
gay, questioning, nerdy, minority, etc.
"What Educators Need to Know about Bullying Behaviors." Phi Delta Kappa. 91.10 (2010):
66+. Academic OneFile. Web. 9 Nov. 2010.
The author, in the essay “What Educators Need to Know about Bullying Behaviors”
(2010), argues yet explains some common misconceptions surrounding bullying such as “the
class bully is disliked amongst their classmates” and “once a victim, always a victim.” The
author supports their argument by analyzing the common misconceptions and then refuting them
with logical evidence which often disregards the fallacies as quite a few of the theories tend to
portray an opposite meaning from that which was originally believed. The author’s purpose is to
emphasize the fact that if educators want to better comprehend the dynamics of school bullying
then they will need to recognize that predicaments between the victim and the bully are not the
same in all cases. The author writes in a semi-formal tone for school administrators who are
seeking better ways to control bullying.
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Because this source’s target audience is teachers, this is an excellent source for my
research; my target audience is teachers and administrators. I foresee myself using this
information within my final research paper because this essay ultimately emphasizes the fact that
no bullying case is the same, no matter how much the situations resemble one another, because
the needs of the victim and the bully differentiate from one another. The need to understand that
the problems of the victims and bullies are not the same is a key factor in understanding bullying
as a societal hazard and preventing it, which again is what my paper is about; I need to persuade
my audience to understand this concept so that they can better adapt some anti-bullying methods.
Wright, Vivian H., et al. "Cyberbullying: Using Virtual Scenarios to Educate and Raise
Awareness." Journal of Computing in Teacher Education 26.1 (2009): 35+. Academic
OneFile. Web. 9 Nov. 2010.
Vivian Wright, in the essay “Cyberbullying: Using Virtual Scenarios to Educate and
Raise Awareness” (2009), explains that society is morally obligated to draw awareness about the
effects of cyberbullying and to develop educational opportunities to better inform and help teach
multiple audiences about the effects of bullying. Wright supports her explanation through a firsthand account in which she conducted a study separated into three phases which would help
develop a more comprehensive understanding of cyberbullying. The author’s purpose is to
ultimately develop a better understanding of cyberbullying and its effect on society in order to
help others to comprehend the magnitude of the situation and better approach the matter in a
more positive and beneficial way. The author writes in a formal tone for educators, school
administrators, students, parents, school counselors, and mental health professionals.
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I foresee myself using this information within my research paper because this paper
ultimately strives to identify cyberbullying as a societal issue and hopefully prevent it in the
future. This is an idea that my paper incorporates; drawing awareness of the issue, identifying
probable causes, and then providing some anti-bullying methods in which I will attempt to
persuade my audience to adapt. In the essay, Wright conducted a three-part survey in which she
concluded that the use of scenario development indicated that simulations that are created in a
virtual environment tend to be more effective and powerful when trying to convey and
comprehend the detrimental effects of cyberbullying, which is ultimately another method which
could be suggested in the final research paper.
In conclusion, I feel that my research has provided a great deal of information about the
effects of bullying and has presented several ideas about how this problem can be addressed
more effectively. Although I am supposed to research both sides of the issue, I could not find any
articles or other sources that did not recognize bullying as a significant problem. If I could find a
credible source that discounted the effects of bullying, that could help me to address opposing
views in my paper. However, I think that my sources reflect a wide range of possible solutions to
the problem. So, throughout the research process, my view on the topic has remained the same:
the effects of bullying have become a societal hazard and require immediate action to prevent it.
As teen bullying grows ever more prevalent throughout today’s society, the demand to contain
and control the brutality of the practice increases as well. Only through awareness,
understanding, and the adaption of anti-bullying methods can society prosper and prevent
bullying.
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