Bullying
By: Rebecca Steimel, Julie Finney, Lauren
Dorman
Bullying: Why is it
Important?
Each day an estimated 160,000 students in the
USA refuse to go to school because they dread the
physical and verbal aggression of their peers. Many
more attend school in a chronic state of anxiety and
depression. It’s reported that 6 out of 10 American
youth witness bullying at least once a day.
We hope that by reading this disturbing information that you will see
why it is very important to be an advocate for bullying and help put a
stop to it. One of these students could be your child!
Bullying: Facts
• One third of teens reported
being bullied while at school
• 44 percent of middle schools
reported bullying problems,
compared to just over 20
percent of both elementary and
high schools
• Females and white students
reported the most incidents of
being the victims of bullying
• Only about a third of bully
victims reported the bullying
to someone at school
• 7 percent of students have
avoided school or certain places at
school because they were afraid of
being harmed in some way
• 8 percent of students were injured
or hurt with a weapon at school,
and males were more likely than
females to be victims
• Students with disabilities are more
likely to be the victims of bullying
• Over half, about 56 percent, of all
students have witnessed a bullying
crime take place while at school
Story 1: Carl’s Story
Carl was an 11 year old boy who committed suicide because of excessive
bullying in school about being gay. Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover hanged
himself in 2009 because he was bullied on a daily basis. Bullies would
repeatedly call him gay after school. His mother Sirdeaner Walker
pleaded to the school to address the problem and they did nothing about
it. One day after school she found Carl hanging from an extension cord,
just before she was about to leave for a meeting with the school about the
problem. Carl’s mother Sirdeaner is now an advocate for bullying. She
has started the website stand together, where people go and sign up to
take the pledge to stand together against bullying. As of now there are
185,982 people who have taken the pledge to stand together.
http://www.standtogether.tv/
Please Click on the link to watch
Carl’s story!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2O6x7gVxrw
Story 2: Sarah Lynn Butler
Sarah was a 12 year old girl from Hardy Arkansas who committed suicide in
2009 because of cyber bullying. Sarah had just been voted Queen at her
school fall festival. Sarah like many other teens had a myspace account. Her
mother was a friend on her myspace and she would often get on her
daughters account to make sure she was being safe. Sarah’s mother started
seeing mean messages saying that she was a slut. The last message that Sarah
read on her myspace page “It basically said that she was easily forgotten, and
that she was just a stupid little naive girl and nobody would miss her.“ Sarah
wanted to stay home one day when her family was going out to run errands,
when they family returned home they found that Sarah had hung herself and
left a suicide note saying that she couldn’t handle what people were saying
about her anymore.
Please click on the link to read Sarah’s Story!
http://www.kait8.com/Global/story.asp?S=11566204
STOP BULLYING!
These two stories are heartbreaking stories about young
children who took their lives because of being bullied.
These are not the only stories out there about young
children committing suicide because of bullying. There
are tons of other stories similar to Carl’s and Sarah’s. We
hope that by reading these stories that you understand the
importance of bullying and what it can do to people. We
also hope that you find a special place in your heart for
bullying and that you will become an advocate for
bullying!
References & Resources
http://www.kait8.com/Global/story.asp?S=11566204
http://www.standtogether.tv/
www.americanspcc.org/lp/bullying-01/
www.bullyingstatistics.org
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/MindMoodNews/story?id=73
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