Preventing Bullying: School Anti-Bullying Strategies Prove Ineffective Anti-bullying strategies used by schools are proving to be unsuccessful, as a matter of fact, bullying is getting worse and stronger action is needed. Imposing criminal punishments and turning school staff into bully monitors will not help the situation, and will only worsen the problem. And although schools make persistent efforts to deter school bullies there is still the bullying that goes on off of school grounds. "School anti-bullying programs are bringing the problem into the open.” (http://sks.sirs.com) While more students and staff are aware of how serious bullying is, the steps taken to prevent it are futile. To begin with, inflicting criminal consequences is not working. There are laws that are already in effect or laws that have been proposed to punish teens for bullying. New Jersey's Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights, for example, ” requires that schools adopt comprehensive policies; designate an anti-bullying specialist, as well as safety teams of parents, teachers and staffs; and launch an investigation into every allegation of bullying within one day of receiving a report and complete the probe within 10 school days.” (Downey A.14) While this law may seem effective, multiple complaints and objections have been made stating that because the law covers any type of bullying it will lead to over reactions. There are cases of bullying that stand out predominately but most are just taunts and rude comments that don't rise to a criminal level. In addition, blaming bullying situations and putting the burden of bullying on the educators is another tactic that neither stops nor prevents bullying. School staff are supposed to be held responsible for a students safety. In most cases, teachers and counselors can step in and try to resolve a physical situation, but in the case of verbal/emotional abuse, there's not much anyone can do. In severe circumstances, the constant verbal torment can lead to something violent such as school shootings, suicide, or both. Precautions can be taken to prevent bullying and tragic events such as the ones previously mentioned, but as Kalman, a school psychologist says, "when teachers intervene in bullying episodes it often makes it worse. A child who reports that a classmate called her names is not going to make a friend by bringing in the principal. Now, that child is going to hate her and want revenge" Finally, and possibly most importantly, not all bullying takes place on school grounds therefore making it nearly impossible for schools to target and control all bullies. A huge chunk of what makes bullying even more prominent for the student population is cyber bullying.
"Cyber bullying involves the use of communication technologies such as e-mails, cell phones and social networking sites to send hostile or derogatory messages or even obscene photos with the intent of harassing or harming the reputation of another person. Teenagers are particularly susceptible to cyber bullying because of their increasing reliance on cell phones and computers for social networking. The psychological damage inflicted by cyber bullying can be just as severe as-and have more long-lasting consequences than-physical aggression. Some people think that bullying is part of childhood and that not much can be done to deter it, especially if it is done online. Others say that educators have overreacted