Yasmin Shiraz

According to a new government report, partially published in The Washington Post, there is a drop in violence going on across the nation. For schools, this means there were 27 homocides of “victims ages 5 to 18, traveling to or from school or at a school-sponsored event in the 2006-2007 school year.” But in 1992-1993, there were 34. That’s the good news.

The bad news is that bullying and other forms of victimization like taunting, being the subject of rumors, being threatened, being excluded from activities, etc—all those things continue. According to this report, “32% of students in 2007 reported having been bullied at school.”

Katrina Baum, one of the authors of the report, “Indicators of School Crime and Safety” who also is a researcher at the Bureau of Justice and Statistics was interviewed in the Post. She seemed to be in favor of anti-bullying programs, “…when they [anti-bullying] programs work well, they change the attitude that kids have toward their school. The kids have more of a stake in the school…”

That’s refreshing to know! Some anti-bullying programs are helping to prevent more children from being victimized. We cannot allow bullying to be the elephant in the room. Talking about bullying with young people will help in reducing the incidents of it.

Resources:

http://www.thewashingtonpost.com

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