The Importance Of Bullying In Education

Happiness is the single hardest emotion to define. It varies from person to person, is affected by many different things, however it is generally accepted that it is “a holistic view of a person’s well-being”. While our society encourages the search for happiness and well being throughout our lives, under our current education system we do not set ourselves up for success. Instead of teaching happiness and encouraging well-being from a young age, we stress the importance of grades, bury children in work while expecting them to maintain a social life and taking part in sports. This in combination with the lack of support teens have to deal with in and out of school issues has had disastrous; depression and anxiety in teens is growing every year,

90% of fourth through 8th graders report being victims of bullying and 71% of students cite it as a problem at their school (11 Facts About Bullying). However the problem isn’t that the bullying is occurring, but rather that it isn’t being dealt with. Over 67% of students believe their school responds poorly to bullying, 1 in 4 teachers see nothing wrong with it and only 4% will intervene, and this has to stop. Its negative repercussions are serious and long-term. Students being bullied are at risk of decreased confidence, depression, anxiety and a strong correlation between bullying and decreased academic achievement has been noted. In certain extreme cases it may even lead to suicide and/or school shootings (Effects of Bullying). However not only does it effect the victims in the short term, in the long term they are also hurt, leading to self-esteem issues, difficulty trusting people and social anxiety (Dombeck). This is awful as not only are children suffering in the short-term, they are also hurt in the long run and it hinders their success later in

Many students use drugs or alcohol to cope with stress, some even saying that when they feel particularly stressed, they “feel like intoxication is the best way out” (High GPAs, Low Happiness?). This is particularly concerning when combined with the statistics. 25% of seniors and 20% of sophomores reported having illicit drugs use in the past 30 days. More worryingly though, is that fact that while 73% of teens listed dealing with stress as their principle reason for drug use, only 7% of parents thought they would (Do You Know). This is extremely worrying as it shows a large gap in the understanding of what children are doing, but more importantly on the aforementioned communication problems. Knowing the dangers that drug and alcohol abuse holds, (risk of serious drug use later in life, school failure, and poor judgment which may put teens at risk for accidents, violence, unplanned and unsafe sex, lasting legal issues etc.) (Teen Alcohol and Drug Abuse), it is shocking to see that kids are still able to use these to such extent, especially considering a lot of it is done due to peer pressure. All of this links back to the previous points, as the most important factors for protecting teens from engaging in substance abuse are positive mental health, high academic achievement, engagement in school and close family relationships (Do You know), all of which are things covered earlier that haven’t been sufficiently taken care of and