With my project, I aim to establish a better, healthier school environment for all pupils by decreasing bullying. I have chosen this topic because I believe bullying to be the most significant problem that our school system is currently facing. Bullying causes much anxiety to the victims, interferes with their academic progress, and often may become the reason for the early development of depression or paranoia. On extreme occasions, bullying can drive victims to suicide. We should not avoid talking about this subject any longer. Bullying is a serious problem that must be dealt with immediately. Usually, children develop the idea that bullying is acceptable in pre-school and carry it with them through their educational careers. To prevent bullying from becoming a serious problem in later years, we need to teach our children tolerance from early grades.
What is considered bullying? Nansel et al. (2001) offer a helpful definition of the term: “a student is BEING BULLIED when another student, or a group of students, say or do nasty and unpleasant things to him or her. It is also bullying when a student is teased repeatedly in a way he or she doesn’t like. But it is NOT BULLYING when two students of about the same strength quarrel or fight” (2094-2100). To stop the problem of bullying, we need to determine the main reasons behind discrimination and intolerance among children; we must first try to understand where the anger is coming from. By exterminating any attempts at bullying at early stages, we can make children understand that this behavior is not nor ever will be acceptable. In this way, a more positive learning environment for all will be achieved.
To complete this project, I will use words like “The Relationship among Bullying, Victimization, Depression, Anxiety, and Aggression in Elementary School Children” by Wendy M. Craig, which provides a great overview of the problem and is easily accessible online. It addresses the problem starting with elementary school, which is especially helpful to me. I will also research the topic of domestic violence and other family problems as they are quite often the fundamental reasons that children become cruel and resentful towards other children who have better situations at home. The reverse case is also possible, in which a child from a relatively wealthy family bullies his or her less financially fortunate peers.
I will also use materials from the academic journal Aggressive Behavior that explore the origins of emotional instability and negative attitudes in children and adults. I like this journal’s articles for their informative value and detailed arguments. Particularly, I have chosen articles including “Bullying as a Group Process: Participant Roles and Their Relations to Social Status within the Group,” “Parents’ Social Problem-Solving Strategies in Families with Aggressive and Non-Aggressive Girls,” “Interparental Violence and Maternal Mood Disorders as Predictors of Adolescent Physical Aggression within the Family,” and “A Discipline-Mediated Model of Excessively Punitive Parenting” to use in my work. I will also incorporate several books on the topic of bullying, such as The Bully, the Bullied, and the Bystander by Barbara Coloroso and Bullied by Carrie Goldman.
The project’s ultimate goal is to understand bullying, identify the moment when the idea of bullying first enters a child’s mind, and combat the idea before it takes form. I hope that the materials I collect and use in my research will be implemented for further prevention of bullying at school. Once the project is complete, I will leave all the materials in the school for everyone to study.
The expected results of this project are an increased awareness of bullying and a greater resistance to bullying behaviors among preschoolers. If less than 5% of students from my class become a bully by the time they enter fourth grade, I shall consider my project a success.
Works Cited
Coloroso, Barbara. The Bully, the Bullied, and the Bystander, New York, New York: HarperResource, 2003. Print.
Craig, Wendy M. “The Relationship among Bullying, Victimization, Depression, Anxiety, and Aggression in Elementary School Children.” Personality and Individual Differences 24.1 (1998): 123-130. Web.
Goldman, Carrie. Bullied. New York, New York: HarperOne, 2012. Print.
Greenwald, Randi L., Lew Bank, John B. Reid, and John F. Knutson. “A Discipline-Mediated Model of Excessively Punitive Parenting.” Aggressive Behavior 23.4 (1997): 259-280. Print.
Nansel, Tonja R., Mary Overpeck, Ramani S. Pilla, W. June Ruan, Bruce Simons-Morton, and Peter Scheidt. “Bullying Behaviors among US Youth.” The Journal of the American Medical Association 285.16 (2001): 2094. Web.
Narayan, Angela J., Muzi Chen, Pedro P. Martinez, Philip W. Gold, and Bonnie Klimes-Dougan. “Interparental Violence and Maternal Mood Disorders as Predictors of Adolescent Physical Aggression within the Family.” Aggressive Behavior 41.3 (2014): 253-266. Print.
Pakaslahti, Laura, Irma Spoof, Ritva-Liisa Asplund-Peltola, and Liisa Keltikangas-Järvinen. “Parents’ Social Problem-Solving Strategies in Families with Aggressive and Non-Aggressive Girls.” Aggressive Behavior 24.1 (1998): 37-51. Print.
Salmivalli, Christina, Kirsti Lagerspetz, Kaj Bjorkqvist, Karin Osterman, and Ari Kaukiainen. “Bullying as a Group Process: Participant Roles and Their Relations to Social Status within the Group.” Aggressive Behavior 22.1 (1998): 1-15. Print.