Drawing: Sujeong
School bullying is a serious problem worldwide. It's not a new problem. Our parents and grandparents can recall bullying incidents from their school years. Yet, bullying continues to be a problem.
Find out more about bullying behavior at this PBS site:
Bullies: What is Bullying?
Send your ideas.
Drawing: Sung Hwi Chung
A bully can think of all kinds of ways to make another person feel hurt, afraid, uncomfortable, or just plain miserable. It can be physical, verbal, or emotional. Often bullies torment a victim over a long period of time, increasing the victim's sense of fear and distress.
Go to CBBC Newsround to explore your own ideas about bullying. You can take a quiz, analyze bullying dilemmas, and more.
Send your comments:
Drawing: Seo, InJi
A new term, cyberbullying, refers to a new trend in school bullying. School bullies post hurtful things and photos on Websites, in e-mails, and in cell phone text messages to torment their classmates.
Watch a video about cyberbullying made by a young teen:
An online article in USA Today discusses this troublesome trend:
Schoolyard bullies get nastier online
Photo taken of the USA Today print issue
Read what students who have suffered from cyberbullying have to say in this online ABC News article, School Bullies Take Teasing Online.
Send your opinion.
Sadly, some students are so traumatized by being bullied that they become very depressed.
Miserable and unable to communicate their dilemma to anyone, they feel their situation is hopeless and sometimes commit suicide.
Drawing: Mi Hye Ahn
Dawn-Marie's story:
Dawn-Marie, a 14-year old girl in Canada was relentlessly bullied by three teenage girls who were her classmates.
She committed suicide and left a suicide note in which she said she was taking her life because of the bulllying and named the three girls. Later, the girls were tried for bullying.
A documentary film was made to document this bullying incident. The film tells Dawn-Marie's story and explores in depth the consequences of bullying and the link between school bullying and victim suicide.
Quote from film cover:
"No one heard her cry for help."
Read a plot summary of the film: Rats & Bullies.
Send your thoughts.
Drawing: Sun Ah
Read this CBS news report to learn about the trial of the three teenage girls who continuously harassed and threatened Dawn-Marie who never asked for adult help while being bullied.
B.C. girl convicted in school bullying tragedy
Update: Watch this video to learn more about the consequences of this tragic bullying event and how people felt about the court case.
Send your comments.
Drawing: Lim Ju Hee
What makes a person bully others? Find out more about what makes a bully tick at Bullies: Who's a bully? on the PBS It's My Life Website for school children.
Go to this PBS site and click on "Bullies" to listen to what some school children have to say about bullies.
Learn more about bullies.
New studies on bullying find that bullies have often been victims of bullying themselves and that victims sometimes become bullies themselves. To learn more, read Vijai P. Sharma's article Profiles of Bullies and Victims in Mind Publications.
Read this article:The Effects of Being a Bully
*2011 update:
Bullying: How it affects those who bully.
Send your opinion.
Drawing by In Ji Seo
Dr. Phil, a well-known TV personality offers people advice for solving problems in their daily lives. He said he wants to help people stop bullying.
He talked about what motivates some children to bully other children, how victims of bullying can fight back, and what students, parents, and teachers can do to stop bullying in their schools.
He gave advice to a young girl Katie, who didn't understand why she was being bullied in her school and to a concerned mother who asked how to stop bullying in her daughter's school.
On his online site, Dr.Phil.com, he showcases some bullying cases. Work with a classmate. Read about one of the cases on this page. Think about what you have learned about bullying in our bullying project and discuss the situation.
Send your thoughts.
Drawing: Eunjin Kim
Teens in Michigan tackle bullying at an anti-bullying conference
Photo: article in Lansing State Journal
In class and online, we read a Lansing State Journal article, Teens Tackle Bullying at Diversity Conference. The article reports on a school anti-bullying conference held on March 21 in Lansing, Michigan.
The conference aimed to help middle and high school students facing hurtful bullying situations. We learned that about 12,000 students from 37 schools in mid-Michigan attended workshops such as "Bullying hurts all of us."
A community in England tackles bullying at an anti-bullying conference
Last year in East Sussex, England, a whole community took steps to stop bullying. More than 100 community members—young people, teachers, education professionals, police, and health professionals—attended a conference to plan strategies for stamping out bullying in their community. To learn more about this community effort, read this BBC online article:
County-wide bid to tackle bullying.
Send your ideas.
A Message from Andy Tomko
"My name is Andy Tomko and I am “The Recovering Bully.” For a long time in
my life I was a bully!
I was the guy you did your best to avoid so you wouldn’t get hurt, physically or emotionally.
I was the guy your mother warned you about. I was the guy you would cross the street to avoid when you saw me coming."
Information about Andy
Andy Tomko used to be a bully, but now he is a professional speaker who often goes to schools to talk about bullying.
Andy is joining us on our blog discussion. Look for his comments to postings. He has agreed to answer all your questions about what he is doing to help young people deal with bullying.
Andy's blog: The Recovering Bully Talks
Send your question.
Happy slapping is a craze in which people, often young people, slap a stranger who has no idea this is going to happen.
The attackers use a cell phone to film the attack. Then they pass the video from cell phone to cell phone, and sometimes even post it on the Internet.
Concern about this fad is rising because some of these attacks have been violent. Many people consider this a new kind of bullying and fear it will become a problem in schools.
Two BBC online articles discuss this phenomenon:
Does happy slapping exist?
Concern over spread of slap craze
Send your ideas.