ONE of the issues that students face within the school environment
is bullying. which has also reached cyberspace and text messages.
Almost 30 percent of youth in the U.S., or 5.7 million, have been involved in bullying
either as a bully, a target of bullying or both.
Kelley M. Butcher, Public School System legal counsel, talked about this issue during the PSS Youth Summit last week.
“In a recent national survey of students in grades 6-10, 13 percent reported bullying others, 11 percent reported being the target of bullies, and another 6 percent said they bullied others and were bullied themselves,” Butcher said.
There are no available CNMI statistics and this is why she is asking
local students to be pro-active by conducting surveys.
Butcher said “bullies are anxious,
insecure, cautious, suffer from low self-esteem and can rarely defend themselves. They don’t retaliate when confronted by students bullying them. They are socially isolated and they lack social skills.”
Bullying doesn’t stop in schools, she added.
“Years after, people are still affected by being bullied. Chronic bullying, those people who bully, maintain their behavior into adulthood.
It negatively influences their ability to develop and maintain positive relationships. It affects people that are being bullied. It increases their social isolation. They become withdrawn, depressed,
anxious and insecure,” she said.
During the summit, Butcher said an anti-bullying activity will be held in February next year.
She asked the Youth Advisory Panel for its help in conducting a survey among students.
Established by the Office of the Commissioner of Education, the panel advises PSS on issues concerning the students.
Butcher said the community should also be involved in solving the problem.
“We need increased teacher-parent involvement and supervision.
Everybody in the school has a role to play,” she added.
