Bullying is one of the problems encountered among US teenagers, particularly in schools. A recent case of bullying made a 12-year-old girl to commit suicide in New Jersey (Schmidt & Schmidt, 2018). Mallory committed suicide in June 2017. According to the Washington Post, Mallory had been a student at the Rockaway District School. Mallory had once been a lively cheerleader as well as a gymnast. Allegedly, her schoolmates began taunting her by teasing, snubbing and even shooing her from their lunch table. Her grades had begun to deteriorate and became disinterested in school activities. Although her parents had reported the matter to the school administration, no action was taken to the group of sixth-grade girls that tormented her. Mallory also received intimidating messages on her social media platforms from the bullies. Eventually, Mallory took her life.
Reportedly, the anti-bullying laws in New Jersey were toughened after another student committed suicide at Rutgers University in 2011. The student had found out that his roommates had been spying on him using a webcam and posting his private affairs on social media (Schmidt & Schmidt, 2018). Members of the public had been concerned about the rising cases of suicide among students in the state. Nonetheless, despite the state tightening the laws on student harassment and bullying, more incidences of suicide emerged.
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A section of researchers argues that the school administrators or the existing laws may not cause the problem rather; the upbringing of children may be a significant contributory factor. The school administrators do not interact with the students all the time, and hence it is difficult to monitor the behavior of the students. It is common knowledge that not all schools condone students harassing their peers. Even if bullying incidents are reported to the administration, it might be a challenge to establish whether the said students committed the offense. Not many students would admit their wrong-doing for fear of repercussions.
Experts posit that parents have a central part to play in shaping the ethical conduct of their children. If parents teach their children good morals from a tender age, it is likely that the children will display good conduct everywhere. In the contemporary world, people have a busy lifestyle hence spend minimal time with their children. It is likely for children to pick up undesirable behavior from other avenues if parents stay away from them. Children often encounter several media platforms such television and social media. Some of the content from such sources is uncensored, and most probably, young people would come across violent graphics.
The best time that parents can have time with their children is during dinner. Most of the time, everyone would have returned from work. Parents can use the time to follow up on the progress of their children and even advise them. According to Meier and Musick (2015), children who spend dinner with their parents are happier, healthier and engage in less risky behavior. Meier and Musick researched the impact of dinnertime on the wellbeing of teenagers. The authors established that 73 percent of teenagers who rarely had dinner with their parents reported abuse of drugs in comparison to 55 percent of teenagers who ate dinner regularly with their parents. Although the difference is not very significant, it points out that parents ought to spend time with their children. Bearing in mind that the study only investigated the impact of dinnertime on the wellbeing of adolescents, it gives a hint of the difference that would be seen should parents create ample time to talk to their children.
When parents have dinnertime with their children, they ought to use that opportunity to counsel and guide them. Bullying would be curbed for instance if the whole community would have been involved. When incidents of bullying happen in schools, the school administrations often find themselves at the receiving end. Parents sometimes fail to notice that the school administrators cannot be with the students all the time. Even if some students were to harass others, the school administration would not notice. Administering punishment would rely on speculation. Some of the punished students might even decide to ambush their victims and cause grievous harm to them.
According to the Schmidt & Schmidt (2018), the amended anti-bullying laws in New Jersey require that staff members are trained, and bullies are reported quickly. Additionally, the schools are required to monitor, investigate and record episodes of bullying. The students who are found to have bullied other students are either suspended or expelled. Some scholars are of the view that since the available measures have not worked, there is a probability that they will not be effective even in the future. Suspending or expelling some students might create another social problem. Some students might become rebellious and even drop out of school. As much as one problem would have been solved, another more serious would be created.
Summarily, bullying is not a new social problem in US schools. Some adults even remember instances when their peers when in school harassed them. No school rules allow students to bully others, but still, such incidents happen. Experts suggest that for such occurrences to stop, the whole community ought to be involved. When parents are invited during to attend the school meetings, the school administrations should tell them to spend time with their children and teach them good morals. Parents have great influence in shaping the morals of their children. The first people that children listen to are their parents.
References
Musick, A. (2015). Opinion | Is the Family Dinner Overrated? . Nytimes.com . Retrieved 13 February 2018, from http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/01/opinion/sunday/is-the-family-dinner-overrated.html
Schmidt, S., & Schmidt, S. (2018). After months of bullying, her parents say, a 12-year-old New Jersey girl killed herself. They blame the school. . Washington Post . Retrieved 13 February 2018, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/08/02/after-months-of-bullying-a-12-year-old-new-jersey-girl-killed-herself-her-parents-blame-the-school/?utm_term=.4016a6b729e0
