Bullying and Cyber-bullying: A New Compounding Dynamic in our Public Schools that Can No Longer be Ignored

Bullying has become a rampant plague, to the detriment of education, because of the effects on the safe and learning school environment.  The once common statement “that’s just kids being kids,” has begun to be retracted as we have seen a dramatic influx of violence directly related to bullying within the school walls.  Bullying in the form of simple verbal and physical harassment, along with modern technology in the form of cyber bullying, has quickly caught the nation’s attention.  An in-depth look into the effects that bullying within our schools has revealed youth depression, increased truancy rates, decreased academic performance, “bullycide” or suicide driven by bullying, and sudden acts of serious or deadly violence.  Recognizing such issues, a massive push to reestablish the safe and learning school environment is in the forefront of many school systems across the nation.  Although a bullying situation might be dealt with at school, the offender is likely to continue the attacks through email, text messaging, or social websites away from school.  This bleeds back over into the school setting, causing anxiety, fear, and duress of the victim, leading to an inability to concentrate on the learning aspect of the school environment.  The latest phenomena to the detriment of a safe and learning school environment is the compounding dynamic of bullying in school and cyber-bullying away from campus, which can no longer be ignored.