A Bullying Nation

Over the past year the United States has tragically faced the loss of many young adults and teens who suffered from severe bullying within their own school systems. Many of the cases dealt with the victim’s sexual orientation, or what others judged to be their sexual orientation. The most recent tragedy being, Tyler Clementi a young man from Rutgers University, jumped off a bridge after his roommate secretly filmed Tyler and his partner having sex and posted it on the web. This past April, eleven year old Carl Hoover killed himself due to the bullying he felt he could not escape in a Massachusetts school system.

Bullying is preventable, yet it is still not being taken as serious as it should be in some school systems across this country. In 2009 the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network did a study of 7,291 middle and high school students and found that 7 out of 10 students of different sexual orientation felt unsafe because of it, and 9 out of 10 gay, lesbian, or bisexual students were actually harassed for it.

Every school in this nation needs to start implementing programs into their curriculum, such as the Welcoming Schools, that teach young children about family diversity, respecting others with different sexual orientations, and the effects of name-calling and teasing peers. Bulling causes a large sense of fear among students, which can most definitely conflict with their education and life as whole. School systems need to step it up and start training their staff, to use certain mechanisms when bullying is seen or heard of happening. Action needs to be taken by every adult who walks into that school; it is their responsibility to respond to something that is unquestionably wrong. The “No-blame approach,” is said to be an effective strategy among some schools in this country that specifically handles the bullying between students directly. It is an intervention technique that does not point fingers or corner the bully, but allows for everyone involved to sit down and talk about the victim’s distress, as well as possible solutions. This approach is mainly used in middle and high schools when name-calling or group bullying is happening. Peer support efforts are another way school systems can help end bullying. This approach gathers groups of students who are neither victims nor bullies to stand up against bullying. Students can take action in many different ways: refusing to watch bullying, reporting bullying incidents, initiating conflict resolution strategies, using distraction with either the bully or the victim

Along with implementations into school programs, passing laws like The Student Non-Discrimination Act, needs to happen to further stop the abuse going on between students across America. This law forbids students from discriminating against other students for their sexual orientation and forbids schools from ignoring any signs of it being done. It needs to be made aware that these tragic suicides involve everyone, not just the bully and their victim; it is the responsibility of the school system to take charge and handle these situations properly so they do not erupt into a tragedy.