Have these anti bullying campaigns made any difference?

When I was in school sometimes the teachers would talk to the class about bullying and why it is wrong. We never had any of those bullying campaigns but the teachers sometimes did try to get through to bullies. What it comes down to is kids were cruel and they knew it was wrong but they got off on bullying anyways. It was always contagious so if one or two bullied a person, the entire class would join in.

I wonder if the anti bullying campaigns today are making any difference in schools. Just to clear up how cruel and sick teens have become... I remember the teacher talking to us about bullying and students were saying things like if they are too weak to stand up for themselves they deserve it, if they kill themselves they deserved to die.

I can even remember us watching a video about 911 and my class was laughing at it saying they were glad the planes crashed and who cares about those people since they didn't know any of them. This is how sick kids today have become for anybody that wasn't aware of it.

Hi Taylormeister,

Yikes! I really hope those kids in your classes were an anomaly. They sound a ton more cruel and harsh than the kids I went to school with years ago.

I wonder if things like socio-economic status can be a factor in how mean kids are, or feel they need to be. Meaning, kids from rough neighborhoods (lower socio-economic status) feel they have to come off as tougher (and are therefore meaner) than kids who don’t come from rough neighborhoods.

As to the title of your post, that’s a good question. I doubt that there is any real empirical evidence one way or another; likely there will just be antidotal tales from people in regard to those campaigns helping or not.

Bullying is something that has gone on for as long as humans have been around and will continue into the future. I think human nature overall doesn’t change that much (though individual human's can). Maybe the campaigns help the victims feel better knowing they aren’t alone. I’m less inclined to think they have much effect on bullys themselves. Perhaps it gives the other kids an incentive to at least not join in when someone is being picked on. It’s really hard to say. Perhaps someone can chime in with an antidoteal tale at least.

I don't think anti-bullying campaign helps anything. To me it is just one of the societal hypocrices when we pretend that we are doing something when in fact we avoid doing what needs to be done, and what needs to be done is that the bullies have to face consequences of their behavior. They need to know that their behavior is not going to be tolerated. Teachers have to stop looking the other way and pretend that they don't see bullying when it happens. Schools have to stop punishing both kids who got into a fight, but they should take time to figure out what happened and to punish the bully, not the victim. The system has to take a look at what happens in bullies families, as often bullies replicate abuse they themselves are subjected to at home. It's a multi-dimensional problem and every layer of it should be addressed if we want to see changes.

WiseMonkey wrote:I don't think anti-bullying campaign helps anything. To me it is just one of the societal hypocrices when we pretend that we are doing something when in fact we avoid doing what needs to be done, and what needs to be done is that the bullies have to face consequences of their behavior. They need to know that their behavior is not going to be tolerated. Teachers have to stop looking the other way and pretend that they don't see bullying when it happens. Schools have to stop punishing both kids who got into a fight, but they should take time to figure out what happened and to punish the bully, not the victim. The system has to take a look at what happens in bullies families, as often bullies replicate abuse they themselves are subjected to at home. It's a multi-dimensional problem and every layer of it should be addressed if we want to see changes.

I agree, they are just turning a serious issue into a joke.

Taylormeister wrote:When I was in school sometimes the teachers would talk to the class about bullying and why it is wrong. We never had any of those bullying campaigns but the teachers sometimes did try to get through to bullies. What it comes down to is kids were cruel and they knew it was wrong but they got off on bullying anyways. It was always contagious so if one or two bullied a person, the entire class would join in.

I wonder if the anti bullying campaigns today are making any difference in schools. Just to clear up how cruel and sick teens have become... I remember the teacher talking to us about bullying and students were saying things like if they are too weak to stand up for themselves they deserve it, if they kill themselves they deserved to die.

I can even remember us watching a video about 911 and my class was laughing at it saying they were glad the planes crashed and who cares about those people since they didn't know any of them. This is how sick kids today have become for anybody that wasn't aware of it.

Oh my god, what the hell? Maybe that class is just trying to think of the darkest things to say???
What about the families, did they deserve a dead member?

I have no way of knowing if the campaign is working or not but I doubt it. Talk is just talk. Schools have to step up and take action to make sure that bullying doesn't happen. Some things they could try are: hiring security and making sure security actually stops bullying; taking some time out to discuss why bullying occurs; and a zero tolerance attitude toward bullying, meaning that if someone is found to be a persistent bully, he should be expelled. It shouldn't be any different than a professional working environment: if someone is acting in an inappropriate manner, investigate and then get rid of him.

Actually, the kids I grew up with were far sicker than the ones the OP mentioned. Kids I grew up with were poking fun at death, torture, sexuality, etc. There were disgusting jokes about people's vaginas, penises and other graphic things. There was one incident in which we were allowed to see the "museum of torture" on a class trip to a museum, and everyone except me was excited about it. I find torture to be disturbing. These other kids -- they were totally intrigued by watching people suffer.

Maybe it's because I grew up in a major city. However, I think some kids are naturally inclined to enjoy other people's pain. They aren't trying to look tough. They're perfectly secure about their images. They just do it for the sheer pleasure, not because they're insecure.

Nothing will ever stop bullying, plain and simple. It was almost impossible to deal with, but now I'm living as a paranoid hermit, so it worked out