Taking+Action



With nearly 40 percent of American youths affected by bullying, it’s clear this is a major problem for teens today. Bullying can take many forms, and can even happen on the Internet or in a text message. Regardless of the form it takes, the result can have long-lasting repercussions and needs to be stopped.

Some bullies are looking for attention, or try to make themselves feel more important. Bullying can lead to their target feeling scared, embarrassed, hurt, and can even cause their target to not want to go to school or even venture outside. Bullying will continue unless people step up and take action.

Is bullying a crime? Some are trying to make it one?
For years Kirk Smalley's son, Ty, struggled with a bully at school. When asked, "When you say he was being picked on, how was he being picked on?" Smalley replied, "Name-calling. Ty was always pretty small for his age, and he'd get shoved, pushed here and there."

His father says he was a typical kid with typical grades who took the abuse for two years. On the day Ty finally decided to push back physically he got into trouble. He was suspended from school. For Ty, it was too much to bear. On that day, last May, he killed himself. He was 11 years old.

There are no federal guidelines schools must follow to deal with bullying. Each school or district develops its own policies. But, Smalley is working to make bullying a crime. What is your opinion?

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How do you think you and/or others can step up and put a stop to bullying?
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 * WHY STOP BULLYING?**
 * Bullying interferes with learning in school and may lead to increased absenteeism and dropout rates.
 * Students feel less safe and less satisfied in school when there are high levels of bullying in the school.
 * Bullying children may become bullying adults and are more likely to become child and spouse abusers.
 * The longer bullying lasts, the harder it is to change. Bullies identified by age 8 are six times more likely to have a criminal conviction by age 24.
 * Bullying may be linked to other delinquent, criminal and gang activities, such as shoplifting, drug abuse, and vandalism.
 * The targets of bullies grow socially insecure and anxious with decreased self-esteem and increased depression rates, even into adulthood.

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