Bullying

Bully is a huge problem throughout the United States. Not only because it is prevalent in every school but because it have gotten much worse in the 21^st century. Kids can’t just go home from schools to escape bullying; it follows them wherever they go. Since kids carry a cell phone with them at all times and if they aren’t on the phone they are on the computer it makes it almost impossible for kids to escape from this bully. With bullying taken to the next level it makes kids result to new methods of coping with this harassment including suicide and running away.

            The 15 year old girl Phoebe Prince who committed suicide after being picked on by many older girls for dating one of their boyfriends. She was harassed to the point that she decided to end her own life. Since her suicide her parents have established a scholarship fund with all the donations that were sent to the family. They want to be able to provide other kids with the chance to have a better future. There has also been an increased awareness, as a result of Phoebe and others recent suicides, as to what schools can do to prevent this epidemic from continuing.

            I think that bullying will be at any high school in America, but the extent to which bulling exists will be different with each school. I believe that bullying is not as much of a problem in Deerfield as it is at other schools, or even the middle school. I think that our administration is very strict with the majority of their policies and, as a student, knowing that anything that crosses even the smallest line will get you in trouble definitely limits bullying.  If even one wrong thing gets posted on Facebook, there is anonymous tip, or one punch is thrown, kids are immediately taken to the dean.  It is true in most schools throughout the country that cliques are quite common. Deerfield does have cliques but I don’t think they are a problem. While most people have their core group of friends they are not confined to those limits.

            I think that Challenge Day is a good potential solution to break stereotypes. Having an assembly that is more interactive and is different than “7 Reasons to Leave a Party” would help our society way more than the usual “don’t do drugs” assemblies our school is accustomed to.   Our school does have Snowball which I think is a lot like Challenge Day. I am one of the Teen Directors and the idea of it is to get to know people outside of your comfort zone that you normally wouldn’t interact with. Simply being able to see other people that aren’t necessarily like you as people too prevents bullying. Instead of picking on someone who is different then you, you are able to see that they are a person just like you and they deserve the same respect. Snowball is a program our school district has that isn’t utilized by the students. It has a bad reputation of being a “rehab program” which it most certainly is not. Although I don’t see bullying at our school as being a problem and program that takes kids out of their comfort zone and allows them to interact with new people only decreases bullying.