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Suffering In Silence

Suffering in Silence
"Every-day I would go to bed and cry myself to sleep. Their words ringing in my ear, "mush" "china" "savage" "fat" "ugly" "bitch," and all the laughter that followed, all the pointing. What do bullies get from all this? I never did understand. It didn't make them any better than I, but did ruin my life in school. No one believed me that this was happening, even the PE teacher would just laugh with the kids." (Celestine, 2004)
This story is just one of many cries for help posted on a forum for children and teenagers who have experienced bullying. Children across the country are feeling the harmful and sometimes fatal effects of bullying; Legislative efforts are needed as well as school wide programs to address the needs of victims and stop bullying behavior.
Bullying is defined as Repeated exposure, over time, to negative actions from one or more other students. Negative actions can include physical, verbal, or indirect actions that are intended to inflict injury or discomfort upon another (Olweus, 2005). States and school districts must solve the problem of bullying by creating policies against bullying and harassment, and creating comprehensive programs to stop this problem where it starts, in our schools.
Bullying is not a new concept, what is new is the growing awareness that uninhibited bullying can have serious consequences. "Bullies identified by the age eight are six times more likely to be convicted of a crime by the age of twenty four and five times more likely than non bullies to be convicted of a serious crime by the age of thirty" (Maine Project, 2004). Their victims battle thoughts of suicide or life long depression. (Boone, 2003) These are frightening thoughts, although it's not quite as frightening as the fact that between July 1, 1992 and June 30, 1999, 323 school-associated violent deaths occurred. (CDCP, 2003) The key words here are "violent deaths" and "school related". Meaning these...