Thesis Statement on Bullying: Research Essay To what extent does bullying affect Standard Four and Five students between the ages of 10 and 14?

Introduction

Prior to plunging into the data and statistics, how about we complete a quick reflection? As a student have you ever been bullied in any form? How did it make you feel? Is it accurate to say that it was an immediate factor that molded your scholarly advancement? Did it bear any weight with respect to molding the individual that you are today? This research paper seeks to answer the questions stated above, aiming to understand the calamities associated with bullying in Primary Schools. Bully in Primary Schools has been steadily increasing over the years, and with the aid of technology, schools can no longer cover the incidents of bullying.

I chose this topic based on the beliefs of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs by keeping a safe learning environment. Children need to feel safe in their school environment, as a prospective teacher it is my intention to provide the safest environment for all my students, understanding the realm of bullying will allow me to reduce one factor that will create an unsafe environment for my students. In my short Practicum encounters, I admittedly have very few cases of bullying, due to the fact that I was predominantly present in the class when the class teacher was present and the children were on their best behavior. It was in my personal school experience that I saw the full brunt of bullying. I was once on both sides of the spectrum, I was once bullied and then bullied.

Definition(s)

“Bullying is unwanted, aggressive behavior among school-aged children that involve a real or perceived power imbalance.” (Stop Bullying.gov, May 2019). This act of human violation occurs in every school throughout the world. Bullying is an extreme form of control, those who bully aim to seek total dominance of their victim. There are many forms of bullying that occur within the Primary School Education System, they include Physical, Verbal, Cyber, and most disturbing Sexual Bullying.

Physical Bullying: this type of harassment is alluded to as Physical Abuse at the Primary School Level. Stop Bullying.gov, May 2019 describes physical bullying as hitting/kicking/pinching, spitting, tripping/pushing, taking or breaking someone’s things, and making mean or rude hand gestures.

Given that there is a lack of physical scars and bruises, verbal bullying leaves a huge emotional impact on the victim. This form of bullying is just as manipulative as physical bullying, preying to pounce on the weakness, these bullies select the emotional weakness and vulnerability of their victims, and they aim to intimidate, belittle, and demean another person. There is no physical proof or verbal proof, which makes it very difficult for the teachers at the Primary school level to persecute the tormentor. A few examples of verbal bullying are teasing, insults, intimidation, racist remarks, and now homophobic remarks.

Technology innovation has been gradually supplanting the pooch's job as man's closest companion. Technology is an increasingly underlying key factor in every lifestyle decision, task, solution, business venture, and educational practice. The use of technology has made tasks easier; it has bridged communication barriers; it has improved the education system. On the flip side, technology has paved a clear road for Cyberbullying which is known as the new frontier and is the latest form of bullying that has penetrated the defense system of the Education System in Trinidad and Tobago. This form of bullying occurs through Social Media Applications. Applications include Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter, and Instagram. “When a tween or a teen uses the Internet, a smartphone, or other technology to harass, threaten, embarrass, or target another person, this is called cyberbullying” (Gordon 2018). Research has shown that Cyberbullying is slowly becoming the most popular form of bullying.

We might ask, “Which is the most common form of bullying that occurs at the Primary School Level? A Turkish survey conducted in 2013 can shed some light on the question above. Oya Yerin Guneri (2013) reports both quantitative and qualitative information suitable to prove the above thesis statement the article reports “To identify the most and least common bullying behaviors, the participants were asked to rate seven bullying behaviors on a five-point scale from ‘never’ to ‘several times a week’. The total number of times the most common bullying behaviors was 2-3 times a month, once a week, and several times a week. After conducting the research, the results stated that the most frequent form of bullying was ‘verbal bullying’ ‘calling mean names, making fun of, or teasing in a hurtful way’ (38.2%). The least common form