Cyberbullying

In 2017, the National Center for Education Statistics reported that approximately 20% of youth ages 12-18 were victims of bullying at school.  Bullying examples included rumors, insults, a student being pushed, a student threatened with harm, and the list continues.  As an educator, I unfortunately face instances when a child bullies another child.  I am educated and equipped to help the children in the situation if it occurs in the library.  What frightens me is that a lot of bullying incidents happen on the school bus, in the bathroom, on the playground out of ear’s reach of teachers.  As well, I’m concerned that 20% is on the low end and I think the true percentage could be higher.  I wonder if this survey was administered to all students in the United States.  Students deal with a lot in today’s society.  The aforementioned study only included “school” as in on the bus, in the classroom, etc.  It doesn’t begin to identify if students are bullied in other ways, especially cyberbullying.  With the use of cell phones and devices, students are around their peers more than while they are just at school.  This leads to many instances of cyberbullying through email, text, and social media.

According to research from 2016, nearly 1/10 students (middle through high school) have sent a sext.  This isn’t surprising and I actually thought it may be higher regarding the widespread use and ownership of cell phones by teenagers.  What surprised me is that this rate significantly increased if a young person was simply asked to send one.  It increased and nearly 6/10 young people sent a sext when propositioned or asked to send one.  This shows how young people can be easily influenced or pressured into activities they may not intend to engage in through normal circumstances.

Bullying lasts long beyond the playground.  There are workplace bullies and “queen bees” who want to see coworkers fail or removed from positions.  Of advocacy groups for bullying I saw in the resources, there was even a “Workplace Bullying Institute” and this was something I never knew existed.  While I have never felt personally threatened by a colleague, I know some of my colleagues have.  As educators, we must complete modules each year for topics like blood borne pathogens, proper use of a fire extinguisher, and bullying (in regards to the children we work with daily).  It is good to know resources are available to adults who have felt threatened or bullied in the workplace.

Interestingly, as October is Bullying Prevention month, my guidance counselor and I are co-teaching this week in the library.  With our older students (2^nd-4^th grade), we are going to cover topics related to substance abuse because it is Red Ribbon Week.  Also, we are going to cover bullying, what to do if you are being bullied, and how to avoid being a bully.  We are going to show the Brain Pop, Jr. video (which was mentioned by AASL), but we are also going to use some of the videos seen here!  We will be reading You’re Mean, Lily Jean and Llama Llama and the Bully Goat to our younger students (K4-1^st grade).  We will also use some of the videos previously mentioned.  I found it so interesting that one of the resources from AASL mentioned guidance counselors and librarians teaching together for the topic of bullying and I am engaging in this activity this week!

Resources:

U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. (2019). Indicators of          School Crime and Safety: 2018 (NCES 2019-047), Indicator 10.  Retrieved from                 https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=719

Patchin, J. W. (2019, July 17). Youth Sexting in the US: New Paper in Archives of Sexual              Behavior. Retrieved from https://cyberbullying.org/youth-sexting-archives-sexual-behavior

Workplace Bullying Institute: Retrieved from https://www.workplacebullying.org/