The Facts About Bullying

The Facts About Bullying (by Michele Borba)

Bullying among our youth is a significant problem--and it is steadily increasing. Many experts fear bullying has become so widespread and common, adults are blinded to its extensive harm. Here are the facts:

* It is estimated that 160,000 children miss school every day due to fear of attack or intimidation by other students. Source: National Education Association.

* A survey conducted by the American Association of University Women reported that 85% of girls and 76% of boys have been sexually harassed in some form and only 18% of those incidents were perpetrated by an adults.
Young bullies carry a one-in-four chance of having a criminal record by age 30. Study by Leonard Eron and Rowell Huesman.

* American schools harbor approximately 2.1 million bullies and 2.7 million of their victims. Dan Olweus, National School Safety Center.

* One in seven students is either a bully or victim.

* 56% of students have personally witnessed some type of bullying at school.

* 15% of all school absenteeism is directly related to fears of being bullied at school.

* 71% of students report incidents of bullying as a problem at their school.

* One out of 20 students has seen a student with a gun at school.

* Mean behavior among kids is a universal problem. In a poll of 232 kids in kindergarten through 8th grade at a Connecticut elementary school, every child claimed to have been the victim of at least one schoolmate’s or sibling’s meanness in the previous month.

BULLYING MUST BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY. TOO MANY CHILDREN ARE
BEING EMOTIONALLY OR PHYSICALLY INJURED DUE TO MEANNESS.