Randy Nguyen Professor Suzuki English 102 10/12/12
Proposing Argument- We should stop bullying Every year in the United States one out of four teens are bullied. According to Stomp Out Bullying (A National and Anti-Bullying and Cyber bullying program for kids and teens) a child is bullied every seven minutes. A real life example of bullying would be that when a student is walking home from school, and she/he is having a rough day at school with girls and boys making fun of her. She walks near her house and then a car pulls up and throws a soda at her. She runs in her house and hangs herself. This is what happened to Phoebe Prince who moved from Ireland to Massachusetts to start a new life in America ( Boston Globe). That is why I feel someone should do something about bullying, and that it should be stopped as soon as possible. Statistics show that 180,000 children miss school every day due to the fear of getting attacked or annoyed by their peers (Globe Staff). Bullying statistics gathered by experts shows, that one of out every 11 students drop out of school because of the bullying they get every day at school (Globe Staff). Since 2002, at least 15 school children ages 11 to 14 have committed suicide in Massachusetts (Globe Staff). Three years later, the suicide rate among young male adults in Massachusetts rose 28 percent (Globe Staff). I have a huge interest in the Phoebe Prince case because it not only happened in Massachusetts, but it also happened to me. As a kid growing up in Queens, bullying was never a issue when I was in elementary school. However middle school was when bullying started and many groups were created. I can always tell who was good and bad based on the way they act and performed in school. Nerds in school were the ones who got picked on the most and harassed because anytime they would need help on homework or cheat on tests they would turn to them and get all the answers out of them. This was what happened to me in junior high school because in grades sixth to eight I was in the top class. Every time we had a test they would threaten me in the bathroom for answers because we were always the first class to take the tests. They were able to do that because every student had the same teacher, but at a different time. My life changed when I went to high school because the students who were bullied weren’t threated or harassed at all but they were beaten up badly if they didn’t do what they were told.
There are many forms of bullying: physical, verbal, indirect, and cyber bullying. In Phoebe's situation, it was verbal and cyber bullying. People in her school especially girls would call her bad names (Globe Staff). Physical bullying is not just hitting or punching others, but taking someone else's belonging is also considered a sign of bullying( Globe Staff). Verbal bullying not only consists of making racist comments, sexist or homophobic jokes and usually sexually suggestive or abusive language. Indirect bullying consists of spreading rumors about someone or taking someone out from a group. Last, but not least is cyber bullying.
Cyber bullying I believe is the big cause of bullying in today’s society for students. One in three young people have experienced cyber threats online (one cyber bullying). The bad part about cyber bullying is that more than half of the students being affected do not tell their parents when they are being bullied or threaten online (one cyber bullying). Cyber bullying can be performed in many ways through the use of email, cell phone, text messaging, instant messaging, and personal websites such as Facebook, Myspace, and etc (i-Safe Inc). Cyber bullying can also be in the form of stalking or name calling. Incidents of bullying have made a big impact on students. Bullying creates fear towards students who go to school for not just the one being bullied, but towards all the students. All students are affected by