No Bully

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Frequently Asked Questions

Q. Isn't bullying just a minor problem?
A: Bullying and exclusion exist in almost all schools. It goes largely unnoticed by teachers and unreported by its targets. Its extent, however, is shockingly high. Bullying starts in preschool, reaches its peak in Middle School and declines in intensity through High School. A survey conducted in 1998 by the World Health Organization of 15,000 students in the 6th to 10th grades at US schools found that 30% of students reported bullying others, being the target of bullying or both. Similar numbers are confirmed by studies conducted internationally.

Q: Isn't bullying just part of growing up?
A: Yes, issues of assertiveness and aggression, acceptance and teasing, belonging and exclusion, are developmental tasks that every child has to resolve in his or her own way. However, if it is implied that bullying is an acceptable behavior and therefore that children should tolerate it, the answer is categorically no. Kids rate teasing and bullying as their number "big problem", ranking it higher than racism, AIDS, the pressure to have sex, or to try alcohol or drugs. (From the 2001 survey Talking With Kids About Tough Issues, published by the Kaiser Family Foundation and Nickelodeon.)

Q: Isn't it enough to stop students from being physically aggressive to each other?
A: No. The old belief that only sticks and stones cause damage has been shown to be fallacious. Research by Eisenberger and Lieberman (Science, 2003) found that the areas of the brain activated by social exclusion are the same areas that are affected by physical pain. Current thought is that exclusion may cause more lasting damage that physical violence, creating teenagers and adults who tend to isolation, depression, anxiety and conflict.

Q: What is cyberbullying?
A: Cyberspace is increasingly a venue for students that want to verbally bully or spread malicious rumors about another student. According to a 2007 survey released by the Pew Research Foundation's Internet Project, one in three teenagers who use the internet say they have been targets of a range of annoying and potentially menacing online activities. Students use e-mails, instant messaging, web blogs and postings, cell phones, text-messaging and camera phones to gossip and to engage in direct harassment of students. Particularly of concern is the ease and anonymity of electronic communication, where children can hide behind screen names and send out multiple messages at one time.

Q: What is being done to stop bullying?
A: There is a growing movement worldwide to stop school bullying. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child provides, under Article 19, that states should protect children from all forms of physical or mental injury or abuse. The United Kingdom has already passed legislation requiring every school to have an anti-bullying policy. In 2007, the state of Iowa enacted a new law requiring every school district to adopt written policies against bullying and harassment. This brings to nineteen the total number of US states that have laws against school bullying. (The District of Columbia has also passed anti-bullying legislation.) But no change will come until schools themselves take the action necessary to implement change.

Q: If our school launches an anti-bullying program, won't the wider community perceive it as having a bullying problem?
A: Many schools have this fear. It is similar to the fears held by the organizations which first addressed racial abuses or sexual inequality. However, the fact that you are addressing bullying and harassment in your school is not an admission that your school has failed but a statement that you will no longer accept behavior that used to be tolerated or ignored. You will be seen as committed to creating a safe school and in the forefront of progressive schools.

Q: What is different about the No Bully® program?
A: Current research shows that programs which focus upon individual bullies or their targets are generally ineffectual. These interventions fail because they do little to change the school culture. But how do you engage the support of the whole school community – parents, students and all the adults who work on campus - in creating a bully-free culture? No Bully partners with schools and school districts long-term, coaching them on how to be visionary leaders of change, so that students who were once bystanders no longer tolerate bullying but instead become allies. We build teacher and parent skills through a progression of trainings, to help them become effective in addressing bullying and solving student conflicts. And we certify selected faculty members in being Solutions Team facilitators, training them how to pull together a team of students to resolve bullying incidents as they arise.

Q: Can our school afford it?
A: No Bully has a range of services and fees that we adapt to meet the needs of every school. In addition, schools are often eligible for Federal funding for teacher trainings under Title II and funds for creating an anti-bullying policy and written plan under Title IV (as part of creating a safe and drug-free school).

However, the real question - when bullying has been shown to cause enormous psychological damage, compromises academic performance, and result both in suicides and school shootings - is whether your school can afford not to take action. Parents are claiming high legal settlements from schools for their failure to provide a safe place of learning. But beyond this, the cost of not taking action is a lost opportunity. If we do not counter the teasing, bullying and exclusion in our schools, students are left with the message that it is all right to ignore violent and abusive behavior. We are failing to give our children the positive relational values that they need for their adult lives.

If you have a question that was not addressed here, please feel free to contact us by phone or e-mail.

No Bully contact information

 


415-820-3956
info@nobully.com

© 2008 No Bully.