On the afternoon of April 9, 2010 I found myself in a meeting with Kerri Evans, the assistant principal of Pleasant Ridge Middle School, and my son Nicholas. I was there because my son had become a victim of verbal abuse. It was shocking to learn that bullying had become such an epidemic in our school system. "Nearly 1 in 3 students is involved in bullying" (Hertzog, 2010). .
In a perfect world there would be no bullying. Kids wouldn't get shoved into lockers, and they wouldn't be beat up in the hallway. Students wouldn't talk about another student behind their back because of their shape, size, race, or religion. In a perfect world this wouldn't happen, but at that moment in our imperfect world it was happening to my son. The question is, why does it happen and what can we do to stop it? "According to a 2009 federal survey of school crime and safety, 32 percent of middle and high school students said they'd been victimized during the academic year, compared with 14 percent in 2001" (Tyre, 2010). Bullying was making its way into my home and affecting my life. It was then that I realized that bullying was a problem that needed to stop. Bullying in schools is escalating and becoming a bigger and bigger issue, and we must take action to eliminate it. .
According to Problem-Oriented Guides for Police Series: Bullying in Schools "bullying has two key components: repeated harmful acts and an imbalance of power" (Sampson, 2002). Although bullying occurs in many other places, school is where bullying is most prevalent and most concerning. In schools, physical bullying is more common among boys. This is because boys are much more aggressive than girls. However, verbal bullying such as gossip is much more common among girls. "Physical bullying is more common among boys, and teenage girls often favor verbal and emotional bullying" (Teenage Bullying, 2009). .