THE WAR ON BULLYING REVIEW BY: SEAN LEAKEHE

PURPOSE All across the nation, schools, teachers, parents, and students have been doing what they can to stop or prevent bullying. In this presentation I intend to evaluate the various attempts to stop bullying that have taken place across the nation. Make no mistake, an attempt to stop bullying of any kind on any scale, is a step to solving the problem as a whole. My intent in “grading” these attempts to stop bullying is not to devalue them, instead, I hope to shine a light on the techniques that I believe to be the most effective. 2

BULLYING BILL OF RIGHTS ACT 3 Location: New Jersey

STICKS AND STONES AND WORDS Student group that researches different types of bullying every week and then acts out scenarios at community meetings. Scripts are re-enacted several times so that the community can analyze the situation from various points of view to determine the best way to handle the situation. Helps others understand how bullying can affect victims as well as helping current bullying victims to find ways to handle the problem. Their goal is to stop blaming the bully and generate awareness in their community. 4 Location: Ashland, Ohio

THE BULLY PROJECT A documentary directed by Lee Hirsch; Already being viewed in schools with severe bullying problems, releases to the public in February of 2013 The documentary offers an unflinching look into real world cases and situation of children who are being bullied through various means Generates awareness to the brutal reality of bullying amongst children The film is aims to unite our communities in the war against bullying. 5 Location: United States

IT DOES MATTER A bullying prevention and awareness campaign going by the name, It Does Matter. Aimed at making their community realize that it matters what they do to stop bullying. Allocates funds and supplies for schools in West Virginia to generate bullying awareness in their community Allows each school to tailor their awareness campaign to what would be meet the needs of their community. The community goals is to educate the community on what bullying is, how they can stop it, and how to identify a bully. 6 Location: West Virginia

REPORT CARD Bullying Bill of Rights act: A+ Sticks and Stones and Words: C+ The Bully Project: A It Does Matter: B 7

THE BREAKDOWN  Of all the attempts to stop or prevent bullying that I read about, this is the one that I believe will have the biggest impact. This attempt to stop bullying is one of the few attempts that has an active plan that goes after those that are caught bullying. At this point in time when bullying has run rampant for years, the only way to start curbing the problem is to punish the bullies. The Bullying Bill of Rights Act not only punishes bullies, but passively generates awareness for the entire state of New Jersey and that is why I believe they deserved the A+. 8 Bullying Bill of Rights Act

THE BREAKDOWN The community meeting held by Sticks and Stones and Words are clearly a great learning tool for the community of Ashland, Ohio. The only “downside” to Sticks and Stones and Words is that they have a small area of effect. I think it would great if they recorded these meetings and uploaded them to a website. Bullying victims are often very shy about their problem and a community meeting can be a very intimidating idea. Recording their meetings and making them available online would extend their area of effect exponentially and also help those who are too shy to attend such a meeting. 9 Sticks and Stones and Words

THE BREAKDOWN Although I have not had the opportunity to personally view this documentary, I have read several reviews written by those who have and it receives nothing but praise. I believe that this documentary will be one of the most effective tools in generating awareness to the bullying problem. I believe this film will be so effective because it is brutally honest. The major benefit of this film is going to be its area of effect. The documentary will be available all over the world. I believe it deserves an “A” because it is the most prominent effort to generate awareness that I came across. 10 The Bully Project

THE BREAKDOWN It does matter is an awareness and bullying prevention campaign that brings something new to the table. Giving more control to run the campaign to each individual school is a wonderful idea. No two schools are going to have the exact same problems meaning the solutions will probably differ as well. Who better to decide how to use the tools and funding provided to them, than each individual school. This campaign allows the schools to personalize their solution, which I believe will make quite the difference. I gave it a “B” because I feel that it is far too passive. From what I’ve seen, solving the bullying problem requires aggressiveness. I realize that the campaign is in it’s early stages, but if they eventually implemented a system that punishes the bullies, I would be happy to issue a better grade. 11 It Does Matter

CONCLUSION Through my research, I have found that society’s awareness and feelings towards bullying are beginning to change. Throughout the nation communities and individuals alike are striving for change. It doesn’t matter if a solution for bullying is large or small scale; as long as there are people willing to push for a change, there will be someone to support them. Society is finally beginning to wake up and respond to our bullying problem. The wheels of change may be moving slowly, but thanks to the efforts of people pushing for change all across the nation, those wheels are picking up pace and I am confident that bullying will come to an end very soon. 12