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Bullying as a Societal Problem

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Submitted By glenn25
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Bullying is defined as an act of repeated aggressive behavior in order to intentionally hurt another person either emotionally, verbally, or physically, bullying is characterized by an individual behaving in a certain way to gain power over another person. Bullies may behave this way out of jealousy or because they themselves are bullied. When they leave school, they will most likely carry on their bullying in the workplace.
A number of cases on bullying specifically in schools had already happened and reported. However, there are still cases where students and even parents do not report these incidents of violence in the schools probably because of time constraints on the part of the “working parent” or maybe because parents look at the event as “petty”.
In reality, cases of bullying and other forms of violence in schools should be viewed not just a “school” problem but as a “societal” problem. Bullying is now the number one non-academic issue that most educators face, and is one of the top concerns of many parents.
Bullying that happened during childhood has a great impact on an individual’s adult life. The idea that childhood bullying is not at all confined to childhood is becoming clearer and clearer as researchers follow affected kids throughout the years, peeking into their lives as adults. One study, for example, showed that kids who play the roles of bullies and victims grow up to have more mental health problems in adulthood – anxiety disorder, depression, panic disorder, and suicidal behavior. Now, the same team has extended their work, illustrating the many areas of adult life that can suffer as an apparent result of childhood bullying. It turns out that not only do bullied kids have more psychological problems, but they have problems in just about every other area as well – physical health, social relationships, education, and even employment. This fact has reinforced the fact that indeed, bullying is major societal problem. A given nation like ours must produce mentally fit adults – adults who will run the government and the country in general. The effect of bullying cannot be underestimated. The people, from all walks of life, not only those in schools must be made aware of its devastating effect on the individual and society.

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