I need help responding to this week discussion board by:

Emmanuelle Benard

Letter to a congressperson

Dear Congressperson,

I am writing in regard to the current state of affairs concerning school bullying in both the physical and the cyber realm. Bullying is a pervasive problem across America and needs to be addressed. The news is full of recent incidents concerning school bullying across the state and country: a recent study reports that bullying has increased in New York schools this past year by 10%, and a recent civil rights lawsuit has arose in which New York parents claimed the elementary school and city education department were party to years of racism and bullying. These are only two pieces from the plethora of incidents concerning bullying reported in recent news.

Children are in school to be educated, and the fact that the way that schools address bullying often only occurs as a response to a witnessed incident doesn't stop the issue at the source. I am of the opinion that employing a more proactive approach to the bullying epidemic is necessary to nip the problem in the bud.

"Comprehensive programs that operate on multiple levels tend to be most effective in reducing aggression and preventing bullying in schools" (Kassin, Fein, Markus, & Brehm, 2021). In the same way that many schools have semester-long, year-long, or two-year long courses that cover the basics of sexual education, physical health, and home economics, it would be prudent to consider implementing a standardized class in school curriculums that educates children about the basic principles of psychology (particularly social psychology). The curriculum will also teach children valuable lessons about developing self-control, which is directly correlated with the aggression that manifests in bullying, and should also dive into healthy interpersonal relations with regard to bullying so that children can have a better understanding of what bullying is, what causes it, how to recognize it, and how the issue will be addressed.

With regard to the method of addressing the bullying, I think that implementing a standardized method of response to bullying incidents that "immediately follows the aggressive behavior, is strong enough to deter the aggressor, and is consistently applied and perceived as fiar to the aggressor" should be put into place; this methodology should be implemented in all circumstances when a faculty member is made aware of a bullying incident no matter the size or nature of the bullying, so that children understand the clear progression of events that ensue after an aggressive bullying interaction.

Not only will this most likely make bullied children feel like they will be cared for when they come forward, but also it will deter children from engaging in aggressive acts of bullying due to the clearcut standards of response.Social learning theory shows that we learn from the examples of others as well as from direct experience with rewards and punishments. Models influence the prosocial, helpful behavior...[and] affect antisocial, aggressive behavior. " (Kassin et.al, 2021). School faculties should be educated with regard to social learning theory and modeling behavior so that they can not only be sure to address correlations between material being taught and bullying, but also so that teachers can be good models themselves for their students.

References:

Kassin, S. M., Fein, S., Markus, H. R., & Brehm, S. S. (2021). Social Psychology (11th edition). Cengage Learning.