Bullying in schools

Bullying is a very common and serious problem that teenagers face all over the world. It is something most people have been through in their school life and have tried to ignore, but many of the bullied have been mentally affected by all those comments and actions from the bullies. Ways of bullying may range from seemingly harmless jokes, comments and spreading rumors to pranking, verbal if not physical violence. If it is not taken seriously, the person affected by this can go into depression and isolate themselves from their peers and even their family. In the worst cases they can even go as far as to harm themselves or commit suicide.

Even though no reason can be significant enough to justify bullying, the main causes are prejudices and stereotypes created by our society and especially by this generation. One of the main groups of people who are victims of bullying in almost every school are the so-called nerds. These are the studious and (not necessarily) introverted students who do not indulge in ordinary high-school activities like gossiping or partying. These kind of people are ostracized by their peers and in some cases forced to help others to cheat in their classes for better grades. This is one of the main reasons for their low levels of self-esteem and distrusting nature.

Our modern body image is another cause for bullying of specific individuals. Being dark-skinned or overweight can make you victim of bullying in most schools as our generation idolizes “white”, skinny celebrities. In my opinion, this obsession over a fair skin complexion is like a hangover-effect from the colonial time. Anyone with this type of a figure and complexion are considered beautiful and those who do not fulfill these beauty standards are shunned. This often results in rude jokes, pranks and disrespect for the bullied person and this affects them mentally. They may even start disliking their bodies or themselves and may not feel comfortable in their skins.

In many private schools there is the problem that students, who stem from the middle-class or low-income earning families are discriminated and bullied. They are belittled because they do not have branded products or because their English sounds too “low-class”. The constant rude remarks and laughter that they experience may distract and completely demotivate them from studying or even focusing on their aims in life. Of course, not everyone can be generalized to this statement. Some people prove the others wrong by putting in their best efforts and achieving their goals, but they are exceptions.

Bullying, for whatever reason it may be, really impacts the lives of the bullied and the bullies. The bullied ones have difficulties with their own character and appearance as they wonder if it is their fault that everyone disrespects them. They have serious trust issues for a major part of their lives, are very defensive due to all these negative experiences and do not understand the value of their uniqueness. They try to get rid of their individuality and become “normal”, which can even lead to an identity crisis as they are not being accepted by their peers. The bullies do not understand the difference between respect and fear and live delusional lives until they realize their mistakes. They may never realize how the problems that they created in some other individual's life may have hurt and impacted them this deeply. They will never learn until they experience it themselves.

However we cannot generalize and say that bullies are always the “bad” ones in this story. Who knows what might have cause them to behave this way to others? They might have even been bullied or mishandled in the past. Maybe that is just how they let out all the anger, frustration or stress that has been pent up inside them. I know from my own experience that life can be very difficult and unfair. But it gives no one the right to treat another person without any respect or equality.

Some say that bullying can never be stopped and will always prevail in every school. I too agree with them, but only up to a certain extent. Of course bullying will not stop if no one takes any action against it. Of course it will never stop until we all realize that at some point in our lives we had been on either one side of this problem: the bully or the bullied. But it not enough to just realize this. Victims of bullying should acknowledge their strengths and weaknesses and not let themselves be defined by their peers. They should appreciate their individuality and empower themselves. The same way, when bullies realize what they have done, they should take a step towards respecting others and treating them equally. Most importantly, they should forgive anyone who was a reason for their attitude towards others and also forgive themselves.

– R

* I'm not rude, I'm outspoken.