Bullies are people with the prevailing antisocial behavior of getting under others skin and converting them to be their helpers (Besag, 2009). How and why on earth would one child bully another? Well, someone can be wondering what they gain by making others their subjects.
Bullying can exist in different forms which including physical, verbal, covert and cyber bullying. Physical bullying involves the use of force such as manhandling fellow students, beating them up, hitting them with objects, tripping them and damaging of their properties. Verbal bullying includes name-calling, stereotyped remarks and hurling of insults. Covert bullying includes spreading of rumors against other children and mimicking embarrassingly. Cyber bullying is the use of technology surreptitiously to harm people’s reputations and takes in form the form of making defamatory comments on social media.
A majority of people tend to believe that bullying is old-fashioned and does not exist. These people fail to think outside the box since they may not have experienced it first hand or happened to a person close to them. This is absolutely incorrect since the bullied students in schools fail to realize their full potential because of fear of bullies. This increases their risk of getting depression and feelings of loneliness and isolation. Those who are bullied fail to think properly and as such fail in their assignments and examinations since they are full of anxiety at all times, experience nightmares and even may contemplate suicide in extreme cases where they fail to attach any meaning to life beyond being bullied (Rigby, 2012).
Bullied children not only fail to attain their dreams in school but also in life. Their self-esteem gets so low that they will always fear to take the next step since they fail to seize opportunities and think everything is a threat to them. Research has shown that young dults who were bullied in their childhood displayed a high propensity for being impoverished in their lives, struggle to hold on to regular jobs and depicted an antisocial relationship with fellow young adults in the form of withdrawal behaviors.
Those who bully others as well are not off the hook yet since their lives as well will be hampered in a way or another. They get into fights most of the time and vandalism of property. These acts land them in undesirable scenarios with the school authorities and risk being thrown out of school before completion.
Their later lives as well will be full of troubles as they will try to bully everyone including their children and workmates. Authorities will be hot on their heels because of vandalism to property and they may spend their lives in jails. Such kind of acts will result in isolation and hatred and they will feel disconnected with the rest of the people making them depressed and contemplate suicide (Marr& Field, 2006).
When bullying is eradicated and children realize that the schools they attend are free from this act then they divert their attention to learning rather than attempting to be safe. This enables them to realize their potentials in full and beyond what they may conceive. A free learning environment brings the best out of students.
It is high time that people open their ‘third eye’ to this vice and wake up from the uninformed thought that bullying does not exist to the reality that it is responsible for the death of major talents and abilities in people. Everyone should take an initiative to ensure that schools will be free of bullying. Teaching children on the effects of such acts on their lives and those of others will go a long way in stamping out this vice.
References
Besag, V. (2009). Bullies and Victims in Schools: a guide to understanding and management. London, UK: Touchstone.
Marr, N & Field, T. (2006). Bullycide, Death at Playtime. New York, NY: McGraw Hill.
Rigby, K. (2012). New Perspectives on Bullying. New York, NY: McGraw Hill.