The Dark Side of Schoolyard Bullying

School is getting back into the full swing of things right now, with all of the classes, the teachers, the learning, the homework, and all of the drama that goes along with going to school. People make friends, learn, and hopefully get prepared for the future. School can be considered the greatest years of your life, which can be a sad indictment that it’s all down from there, but that is beside the point.

There is a dark side to the school yard however and that is bullying. Previously, I discussed the reasons for why bullies have reached that point and believe me, there are many. It is a tricky situation to deal with as most cases of bullying go unreported and many bullies just become far worse with age. People say that you should go to a teacher if you are the victim of bullying but it tends to be a rather longshot that something is actually going to done.

If a bullied student tries to defend themself physically or even stand up for themselves, they tend to be branded by some as hot tempered or disturbed. Granted most bullies will go straight for those who won’t assert themselves but still those who do, will also get in trouble for causing a disruption or even for fighting, despite the fact it was self-defense.

Going back to the informing the teacher thing, what if the teacher is the one doing the bullying? Not the physical kind that would be attributed to schoolyard bullying, but there are teachers who have their share of snide slights towards their students. Teachers use their authority to make themselves feel better by putting down their students. In any number of subtle or not so subtle ways, but the fact of the matter is that power can corrupt.

Emotional abuse from someone in the position of authority, that is far worse in many ways than any physical abuse from a peer. Broken bones, busted lips, black eyes, cuts, and scrapes they all heal. Emotional abuse can be long lasting and can cut deeply. While emotional abuse will come from peers as well, it can cut much worse from a teacher, a person that you are supposed to trust. It is a disturbing trend of bullying.

In this day and age, bullying is something that is gaining more awareness and the long term consequences, for both the bullies and the bullied, but there is still a long way to go before it is brought under any kind of control. Mostly due to the fact that many cases of bullying go undiscovered and thus they escalate until it is too late to nip the problem in the bud. Especially now with the Internet being so prominent, Cyber Bullying has grown in prominence, so even after the bell rings, some people cannot escape the bullying.

http://socyberty.com/issues/the-dark-side-of-schoolyard-bullying/