Running head:HAVING LAWS IN PLACE TO PREVENT BULLYING 1
HAVING LAWS TO PREVENT BULLYING 7
Bullying laws:
Should the state or federal government put laws in place to prevent bullying?
Name
University
Word count = 1153
Preliminary
Bullying has for a long time being normalised in the school system. Many cartoons and sitcoms often depict a bullied child and their bully. Often children face excruciating humiliation from their friends and age mates. While some children can overcome this stage in their lives, they are bound to have emotional and psychological scarring that they will carry on in their adulthoods. This outcome, however, is for the lucky. The unfortunate ones nevertheless find ways to end their misery, through either drugs or even suicide. There has been a general feeling that schools are doing too little to safeguard school going children. Moreover, some laws are in place to prosecute and punish persons involved in bullying, but sometimes they are only enforced after something terrible has happened (Hinduja 2017). As soon as the emotional wave and public outcry over the incident are done, it is back to the usual business, until the next wave. Some of the actions done by bullies border on criminal offenses, yet state and the federal government seem to have done little to intervene (Sacco 2012). As a result, this research will deal with the question “Should the state or federal government put laws in place to prevent bullying?”
Background of the study
All through schools, children may face bullying. This term refers to unwanted and unwarranted aggression, violence and verbal abuse towards an individual as a result of a real or imagined power imbalance. For many literate persons, when one mentions the term bullying, their memories flashback to being mocked, having their lunch money taken or even being beaten up for no apparent reason. Today, however, bullying has evolved from the classrooms and onto a more powerful platform; social media. Cyber-bullying is whereby an individual uses online platforms to disparage, abuse, spread malicious lies, or use vile and abrasive language towards a victim (Hinduja 2017). In the recent years, some incidences have occurred whereby teens have been mercilessly trolled online pushing them to their sudden deaths. Unfortunately, despite the gravity of this matter, little has been done to curb the trend.
On the other hand, there are those who argue that bullying has its place in building children interactions. For instance, Dr Guldberg in his article in the Telegraph stated that preventing bullying robs children of the experiences that they require in developing (Volk 2017). A good number of those who underwent bullying understand it as a means to identify one's place in the social hierarchy and find solutions to disputes. Its proponent's further state that by implementing bullying laws, bullies w...
