Have you heard about the fights that go on in our school? Or even the bullying in the halls that teachers don’t know about. Some students feel scared to report it as a victim or witness as they are worried the bullying will get worse. According to McMillen Health, it states, “Verbal Bullying is when someone uses words to hurt, harass, or scare another person. Verbal bullying leaves targets feeling ashamed, humiliated, or even afraid” (Marshall). This explains how bullying can impact students negatively. We sat down with a few staff and students to get their personal opinions on verbal bullying. We sat down with Mr. Springer, one of the WHS Dean of Students, on his thoughts on bullying. He said, “I’m against bullying of any kind. Verbal or over various social media platforms. It is a problem, both at this high school and high schools around the area. It has shown many negative impacts on students like their own self-perception or willingness to come to school. So any way that we can reduce bullying is good”. Mr.Springer thinks that verbal bullying is insignificant and people should be kind to others. However, we should never label people who are showing behavior that seems like bullying as a “Bully”. According to the National Bullying Prevention Center, it explains, “Bullying is a behavior, not an identity. Labeling a student as a “bully” can have a detrimental effect on their future and often limits their ability to change their behavior” (National Bullying Prevention Center). Mr.Springer also stated, “Bullying again is a negative statement. Really for it to be bullying, it has to be consistent, it has to be over a course of time, right? So a single incident between two students is not technically bullying. That would be more along the lines of harassment. But if you see a pattern of consistent verbal abuse toward one student to another then it would fall under the guidelines of bullying.” He shares his understanding of what kind of behavior can be classified as verbal bullying and how it affects the victim. We also got a few quotes from people about their opinions on verbal bullying. “Bullying isn’t a good thing and teachers should be able to take more action if they notice a student being bullied,” the student said anonymously. It is difficult to understand why someone would want to use insults towards others regularly, especially if they have been told or asked to stop. Family Lives explains, “There may be various reasons why someone acts in this way towards others: They might be doing this to impress their friends or build up some type of reputation” (Family Lives). This explains one of the reasons why a student might be bullying others.
We also sat down with Mrs.Guzman, another Dean of WHS, and got a couple of quotes. She explained her recommendations to stop bullying within our school. “It is important that students are finding trusted adults in the school so they can make reports when a situation is happening. Ideally, we would want students to report to Student Services, so we can immediately intervene. Otherwise, sharing information with a trusted adult that can communicate with Student Services would be helpful, too. If a student doesn’t feel comfortable talking to an adult directly, they can use the following website: https://www.safe2helpil.com/. It encourages students to speak up in order to create a safe environment in the school.” She states that there are resources in our school that can help students feel safe, and speak up for themselves. What do you think we can do to help students feel safer?
