It is no doubt that there are many problems facing teens everyday. We are faced with stress, insomnia, cramming, homework, chores, jobs, grades, and life in general. At such a young age we are expected to carry out all of these tasks with ease. Sometimes though, these problems can add up and cause us to come undone because they are too much to deal with. I believe the biggest problem that teens face in today's time is bullying.
Bullying is a worldwide problem that generally everyone faces, but teenagers get the most of it. In the past decade, bullying has gotten so bad that it has not only caused school shootings, but has also caused a higher rate of suicide, and violence.
Studies show that in 2010 alone, suicide was the third leading cause of death in the upper teen age group (15-24). Not only is it the third leading cause of death, but studies also show that over 3.2 million students each year are victims of some type of bullying. The next question that I'm going to bring up is why isn't anyone doing anything about this steady-growing problem? Almost everyone has either witnessed, or been a victim of bullying. Whether it be cyber-bullying, at-home bullying, or just bullying around school - everyone's experienced it somehow. If everyone notices it then why don't they try to stop it?
Most studies show that teens are not happy with the support or help they receive about bullying. Why? Because most schools think that to get rid of bullying only requires a small "chat", and then everything's back to normal. This concept is
incorrect. The way to fix bullying is not by having a small conversation with the victims and their abusers. I believe the way to fix bullying is by actually taking time to analyze and fix the problem.
The number one thing that I can really think of that would relate to teens would be the "Cross the Line" program. What this is is a program that schools do where you gather all of the students of a particular class/age group, and then you put them together in a very large space (i.e. gymnasium). You tape a line down the middle of the room and have all of the students stand on one side of the line. You then read a question out loud for the students to answer. For example: "cross the line if you have ever been bullied." After a few questions you group about five students together in however many groups you can form. The students will sit in a circle and discuss a problem that they all have in common. The objective of this activity is to show students and teens that they all have things in common, and they're all dealing with the same things.
The reason why I think this would be a good idea is because most of the time when students and teens are judged it's because they're different than everyone else. They may not wear name brand clothes, or wear expensive make-up, or never wear the same outfit twice, but they all deal with the same problems. The activity would not only bring the students closer to each other, but it would also point out to them that they don't need to judge anyone because everyone has problems they're dealing with.
Bullying not only ruins people's lives, but it also causes long term effects. Bullying causes people to change themselves to fit in, it can cause suicide, school shootings, school violence, substance abuse, self-harm, depression, anxiety, and many other long-term problems. Teenagers already have enough to deal with, they don't need to deal with such a horrible thing as bullying. We need to put an end to bullying someway, somehow. I truly think that with a little thought, we can end bullying completely.
http://paulocoelhoblog.com/2013/02/03/11-facts-about-bullying-in-usa/
http://www.ditchthelabel.org/the-annual-bullying-survey-2013-results-are-in/
http://www.cdc.gov/injury/wisqars/pdf/10LCID_All_Deaths_By_Age_Group_2010-a.pdf
http://freechild.org/Firestarter/CrossingTheLine.htm
~Taylor xx
